l. 13. r. those p. 28. l. 22. place the comma after selves p. 30. l. 14. for may r. must Other lesser mistakes there are as misquotations in figures mispointings especially in interrogative points which are sometimes omitted and sometimes where they should not be and mispellings in some words where the sense is plain all which a little candour in the Reader will easily mend Isai 32.13 .18 Ver. 13. Vpon the Land of my People shall come up thorns and briers yea upon all the houses of joy in the joyous City Ver. 14. Because the Palaces shall be forsaken the multitude of the City shall be left the Forts and Towers shall be for Dens for ever a joy of wild Asses a Pasture of Flocks Ver. 15. Vntil the Spirit be poured upon us from on high and the Wilderness be afruitful Field and the fruitful Field be counted for a Forrest Ver. 16. Then Judgment shall dwell in the Wilderness and Righteousness remain in the fruitful Field Ver. 17. And the work of Righteousness shall be peace and the Effect of Righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Ver. 18. And my People shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places IN the beginning of this Chapter there is a Prophesy of the righteous and prosperous reign of a King whose Subjects shall live in a comfortable and happy condition under his government things and persons shall be called by their right names a wicked man shall be called a wicked man a good man owned for a good man and every one treated rightly and all things managed righteously every person and thing handled according to their true merits ver 1 to 9. And this King is by some taken to be Hezekiah Engl. Annot. But by others Christ under whose reign especially all these things are accomplished Jun. in loc Christ does indeed alwayes rule but there is at some times a more eminent and powerful administration of his Kingdome wherein there is a more visible and plenary fulfilling of the things here spoken of and to some such time may this Prophesy have respect In the latter part of the Chapter the Prophet discourseth of those troubles that were to come upon the Land of his People before their establishment in and under the prosperity formerly described And 1. He begins with a solemn warning and Exhortation to all secure careless ones to be awakened by their misery coming and to break off their evil courses and to betake themselves to humiliation lamentation and so to Reformation if thereby they might prevent or at least moderate the Judgement impending over them Ver. 9 to 13. Rise up ye Women that are at ease hear my voice ye eareless daughters give ear unto my Speech Many dayes and years shall ye be troubled ye careless Women c. Tremble ye Women that are at ease c. Would careless secure Men and Women be awakened by warnings given much of their sorrow might be diverted Had we sinful and foolish People in New-England been wise in season and taken those solemn warnings have been given us much of that sorrow and misery which we have felt and do feel in War sickness and other shakings might have been escaped 2. He declares seeing they had not by Repentance diverted Gods Anger but were secure their settlement under a dispensation of Judgement and the continuance and process of their miseryes to a determined period at which there should be a great turn and change of Gods dispensations towards them ver 13. to 19. read 3. In the two last Verses whether read by themselves or joyned with the foregoing he describes the blessedness and security both of their persons and enjoyments upon and for whom this change is wrought however it sare with others when sorrows come down upon others they shall be secured The expressions here used being probably metaphorical Vide Sanctium in Pol. Synop. In the Text we have 1. A declaration of the settlement of this People under a dispensation of Judgement and the process of Judgements and miseries upon them How troubles sorrows should come grow upon overspread them ver 13.14 Vpon the Land of my People shall come up Thorns Briars Thorns Bryars may be here taken literally so the expression denotes the great devastation depopulation should be made in the Land They may also be taken metaphorically as Ezek. 28 24. There shall be no more a pricking Brier to the house of Israel nor any grieving Thorn of all that are round about them So that by Thorns and Briars coming up upon the Land we may understand pricking grieving pinching and disquieting troubles falling upon the Inhabitants of the Land Vpon all the houses of joy They are called houses of joy because they were at present full of mirth and merriment in them as misdoubting no trouble near Eng. Annot. in loc And upon all these should sorrow come Their troubles should spread among and over them universally and take away their mirth and turn it into mourning In the Joyous City City in a Collective Sense for Cityes the several Cityes throughout the whole Land of Judah Annot. And these were joyous or revelling Cityes given to case delight and pleasure abounding with much Luxury whose profane joy and revelling should be followed with distress Because the Palaces shall be forsaken the multitude of the City shall be left There should be great desolations made in the places of their dwellings both for conveniency and delight And great diminution of their numbers mortality and misery lighting upon them The Forts and Towers shall be for Dens Their places of strength munition defence and safeguard being deserted and lying waste should become Receptacles and Dens for wild Beasts to lye down in For ever or for a long time As the word Gnolam is often used Designat continuationem vel durationem non perpetuam semper sed longam non interruptam per aliquod tempus continuatam ad insignem aliquam periodum Spanhem A Joy of wild Asses These and other wild Creatures should range run at large play and disport themselves there where sometimes dwellings and Castles were A Pasture of Flocks Cattle should graze in those places that were sometimes inhabited they being left desolate These and the like miseryes should be continue and grow upon them being set under Judgement 2. The Period of these miseryes Till which they should be continued and proceed viz. until the Spirit should be poured out upon the People and the gracious Effects of it obtained in them v. 15. until the Spirit be poured upon us By Spirit here which is said to be poured out upon them we may understand not so much the Person of the Holy Ghost Not here to speak of the personal in dwelling of the Spirit in all the Saints as 2 Tim. 1.14 As the saving gifts and graces of the Spirit by the donation of which persons are enlightned regenerated sinners converted
Saints more more sanctified And by pouring out of the Spirit we may understand a plentiful effusion or giving forth of the gifts and graces of the Spirit to the sound Conversion and through Sanctification of a People The dispensation of the Spirit in all the gracious and saving operations thereof is exprest by giving the Holy Ghost Joh. 7.39 This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given And by pouring out the gift of the Holy Ghost Act. 10.45 On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost By the Spirit being poured out upon them therefore is intended a plentiful and abundant measure of the communication of the gifts and graces of the Spirit unto them and this was the determined period of their miseryes See more of this in M. I Mather his Sermon on Isai 44.3 Qu. 1 2. where these things are directly and fully spoken too From on High from God above Father and Son And the Wilderness be a fruitful field and the fruitful field be counted for a Forrest I shall not trouble you with reciting the various Expositions given of this as in the parallel place in Isai 29.17 but only lay down and improve that which comparing them with the Text and one with another I take to be most probable What is therefore exprest in the latter part of this Verse we may take to intimate the immediate effects or fruits of the pouring out of the Spirit wrought upon or in those upon whom it is poured And they are two 1. The Conversion of the unregenerate And the Wilderness be a fruitful Field i. e. Those that have been as a Wilderness barren and unfruitful bringing forth no fruit to God but wild fruits of sin they shall be changed tilled converted and made fruitful to bring forth fruits of holiness unto God 2. The admirable fruitfulness and encrease of grace in the godly And the fruitful Field be counted for a Forrest i.e. They that have a Principle of fruitfulness in them and did bring forth fruit before yet now upon the pouring out of the Spirit upon them shall receive such abundance of grace and be so eminent in the acting of it that what they did before shall be accounted as the fruit of a barren Forrest in comparison of what they do now Such a difference shall there be in their fruitfulness before and after the pouring out of the Spirit on them Or the meaning may be The fruitful field shall be counted for a Forrest i.e. Those that were before fruitful fields shall upon the pouring out of the Spirit fructifie so incredibly that they shall seem rather to be a Wood a Forrest a Thicket then fields of Tillage by an appropriation of such expressions as are sometimes used concerning the incredible fertility of some Fields in grain and fruits unto the exceeding great fruitfulness of persons in grace and spiritual and holy actions And so the Sense is the same as before Vide Angl. Annot in Isai 25.17 and Calvin in Pol. Synops Crit. Ibid. 3. The great turn and change following upon the pouring out of the Spirit v. 16 17 18. Then shall c. The immediate Effects fruits of the pouring out of the Spirit were exprest in the former Verse The mediate or more remote effect and consequent of it is here exprest to be the restoration and multiplication of sure mercies and blessings upon them in the Particulars mentioned in these verses And they respect either 1. Their Sanctification as a holy and heavenly Conversation v. 16. Then Judgement shall dwell in the wilderness i.e. in illis qui olim Desertum erant Forerius in Pol. Synop. Crit. in Loc. Those that were as a wilderness before untilled unt aught unregenerate unsubdued to the will of God being now converted shall give heed to Judgement equity righteousness honesty and piety abandoning all ways of profaneness debauchery dishonesty injustice intemperance and impiety which before once they lived in And righteousness remain in the fruitfull field Ergasia five exornatio effectorum Spiritus Dei in Sanctis erunt inquit fructus spiritus in arvo i.e. Ecclesiâ Dei Justitia c. Jun. in Loc. Christians Professors who have given up their names to Christ shall be studiously carefull to hold fast righteousness sincerity and uprightness in all their carriages and actions towards God and man being plain-hearted right-down fair and square in all their dealings behaving themselves in all things holily justly and unblameably being harmless and without rebuke putting away all semblance of dishonesty unjust dealing unfaithfulness untruth encroaching covetousness double-dealing unsteadiness shifting winding turning and whatsoever else is unworthy the vocation wherewith they are called And these sure are blessed and happy times when there are such fruits of sanctification so generally and universally appearing Or 2. Their Glorification which concern the felicity and blessedness of their lives And they are either 1. Inward and spiritual blessings Peace Quietness and Assurance v. 17. and the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever There shall be peace Soul-peace Peace with God and the testimony of that peace in their Consciences whenee an holy serenity and calmness of soul the peace of God which passeth all understanding keeping their hearts and minds through Jesus Christ a religious composure of mind resting quietly upon God alone and depending on him with confident assurance of receiving protection and all good from him English Annot. in Loc. Or 2. Outward Blessings peaceableness in their habitations security and quietness in their dwellings v. 18. and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellinge and in quiet resting places They shall have peace safety quietness and rest round about together with all the blessings of such a merciful and heaven-born peace Nor is it absurd or immethodical to rank this outward peace of the Saints under glorification for it is to them a real freedome from misery evill of punishment wherein they experience the good-will kindness of God and therefore is a part or degree of Glorification begun Huc pertinet ad Grorificat inchoat scil paterna illa Dei Providentia quae Fidelibus invigilat somper in bonum Ames Medui l. 0 c. 30. th 30. For the timing this Prophesy in the Text concerning the pouring out of the Spirit and the effects and Consequents of it it is variously fixed by Expositors as to the restitution of the Jewish state after Sennacheribs defeat to the Jews return from the Babylonian Captivity to the times of the Messiah in general and to some particular time or times under the Gospel and that either already past or yet expected That this Prophesy in the Text doth respect some particular time mainly and principally is without doubt But what that time is Scriptura prophetica sapius impletur See Mr. Increase
hearts to the words of God to feel them in through meditation that they may be our life One Truth felt in Meditation is worth a world Mr. Mitchels Let. Hence David Psal 39.3 My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned A religious pondering frame would greatly make way for the presence of the spirit of grace in the Soul Psal 119.59 I thought on my wayes and turned Direct 2. Be sure not to resist or quench the Spirit When the holy Ghost is moving upon or towards you beware of opposing or stifling its motions As they did Act. 7.51 Ye Stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and cars ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost If persons will alwayes resist the holy Ghost when it is moving towards them how should they come by it to be partakers of it Hence are we so expresly charged 1 Thes 5.19 Quench not the Spirit If when the Spirit moves by the word or moves in your hearts to leave sin to follow God and after holiness if now you withstand refuse or neglect to attend its motions you are not like to obtain the Spirit If you will not give entertainment to the Spirit of God nor embrace its motions how can you be like to receive it Therefore be very attentive to embrace its motions and obey them Hearken diligently to his Counsel and Commands When the Spirit of God is knocking at your hearts and stirs your hearts to accept of him and of his graces which he is willing and ready to work in you by no means neglect them or slight them but lay hold of them presently as one of the greatest mercyes that God is intending towards you bless him cherish them and beseech him to go on with his work in your Souls Do not reject any work of the Spirit neither grieve him by neglecting his good motions Prov. 1.23 Turn you at my Reproof behold I will pour out my Spiâ—â—â— unto you I will make known my words unto you Sedgwick on the Covenant p. 641. Direct 3. Remove all prejudices against the Spirit out of your hearts Our hearts naturally are full of prejudice against the Spirit and the wayes and workings of it of which we must labour to get them cleared There are those things wont to be mentioned as in the Author but now quoted p. 639 wherein we are apt to take up prejudice against the Spirit 1. Against the humbling work of the Spirit 2. The mortifying work of the Spirit 3. The sanctifying work of the Spirit 4. The Derisions that besal men for the Spirits sake That which I have especial reference to here is that we should get removed all prejudice against the mortifying and sanctifying work of the Spirit Beware of being offended at the way of walking in the Spirit for the strictness of it as if it were too streight to be restrained from these and those flesh pleasing actions and to be tyed to these and those religious dutyes and services Be so far from looking upon these as unreasonable as that on the contrary you may account them most equitable and indeed most pleasant As Prov. 3.17 Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness And account that it is your naughty heart only that makes you think them tedious and irksome By all means get your hearts reconciled to those wayes in which the Spirit of God leads those he dwels in that you may from the heart account those happy who by the help and grace of the Spirit can and do walk in them and that you should account it your own greatest happiness if you could obtain to have and walk in the Spirit and in all the wayes thereof and that every way and work of the Spirit of God may be very precious desireable to you They are the most excellent glorious profitable and desireable wayes and works and it is the perverseness of mans heart and will that makes them at any time seem otherwise which perverse esteem of them we must labour to get rid of Dir. 4. Get your hearts pressed with the intollerable load and burthen of sin of which you can no way be eased but by the presence and help of the Spirit of God Never rest nor be quiet till you come to see the intollerable infinite endless evil that is in sin to be sensible that it is an unsupportable burthen That is the reason why many are so little concerned about obtaining the Spirit of God to help and relieve them they are not duely sensible of the dreadful burthen and load of their sin that lyes upon them They have some lighter convictions and humiliations it may be for some grosser sins but they are not deep soaking nor through enough They are not sick unto death of their sin and hence they do not look for or not very earnestly for the Physitian It may be they have some physick of their own something compounded in their own Kitchin some course or work of their own that they account will do the deed expiate for their sin and preserve them from perishing and so they look no further Or if they do look out to this great Physitian of Souls it is only to get some directions what they may do themselves for themselves and they themselves will get it work it and administer it and so they rest still upon their own doing They are not brought so low in themselves as utterly and for ever to despair of their own strength and skill to recover themselves and hence they do not yield themselves wholly and fully to be healed by the Spirit of Christ they do not see such need of it Labour therefore by all means to see clearly the deadly wound that sin hath given you and to have your hearts broken all to pieces under the sense thereof So long as you are whole in your self or think you can make your self whole you will see no need of the Physitian But if you be thus sick heart sick of sin you will then feel an absolute need of the Physitian you will then prize and look after him Math. 9.12 They that be whole need not a Physitian but they that are sick Sit not down at quiet till sin become most exceeding bitter Go on humbling to be humbled and to see such intollerable evil in sin and to be so burthened with the wrath of God lying upon you for it as it may make sin everlasting ly odious to you force you to fly for refuge to lay hold on the hope sit before you and to have strong consolation there Mr. Mitchel Lee. Do not shun sorrow and mourning for sin Of necessity you must be troubled for sin in this life or in Hell and it is far better to come mourning to God for sin here then to go mourning from him for his Judgement hereafter If we be indeed cast down for sin be in extream bitterness of Soul about it from the sinfulness of it and its contrariety to God appearing to us
then we shall be fit objects for the Spirit who is the comforter to manifest his gracious work upon Isai 57.18 I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and on his mourners Penitential mourners for sin stand fan in the way to be comforted by God Thus it is said the Spirit of the Lord was upon Christ for this end Isai 61.1 2 3. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tydings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to preclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourn To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning If we do not feel sin to purpose as it is to be feared few in these dayes do whatever common convictions many have there is little hope that we should have this blessed Comforter sent to us to take up his abode with us Mourning for sin cannot be too much if it raise the price of Christ in the Soul and draw out a more earnest desire of the applying work of the Spirit to be wrought in the heart Direct 5. Cry mightily to God for his Spirit Ask this boon of Heaven When you feel an utter want of the Spirit of God in you then run flee to the throne of grace and let your Soul cry out to the living God for this mercy Tell the Lord in humble manner what need you have of his Spirit what your misery is without it and earnestly beg of him that he will give you his holy Spirit to work faith repentance and all other graces in you And for your encouragement consider what Christ sayes Luk. 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him and Prov. 2.3 4 5. But you will say We cannot pray without the Spirit Answ But yet go and present your selves before God and spread your case before him as well as you can Bemoan your wants your inability to good your insensibleness of your misery Plead as well as you can for mercy for the bestowing of his Spirit upon you Who knows but when you are endeavouring seeking and striving God may give in his holy Spirit to you and help you to pray to acceptation with him It is our duty to wait let God take his time way to work But be sure to pray that with great earnestness from a deep sense of your distress and danger that God will speedily help you Psal 70.1 Make haste O God to deliver me make haste to help me O Lord Psal 143.7 Hear me speedily O Lord my Spirit faileth hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit It must be with humble and earnest prayer on our part that the Spirit of God will come into our Souls if ever it come there Look therefore to the Infinite mercy of God in Christ to help in this matter Direct 6. Be exceeding diligent in the use of all means especially in attending upon the word of God for the obtaining of the Spirit As we must pray so we must use all due means with praying over them Seek for the Spirit wherever there is hope it may be found in all those wayes which God hath instituted for the giving forth of grace mercy and good to the Souls of men Let Sabbaths be observed Ordinances attended meditation self examination prayer secret Family and publick prayer reading the word of God And especially the Ministry of the word Oh wait there By that the word of God dispensed the Spirit is pleased to convey himself The Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 We read of those upon whom the holy Ghost sell while they were hearing the word Act. 10.44 While Peter yet spake these words the holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word The Galatians Gal. 3.2 received the Spirit by the hearing of faith i.e. the word of faith which the Apostles preached Therefore attend diligently to the Ministry of the Word pray before you come pray when you go from hearing of the word that it might be a blessed means to conveigh the Spirit to you And when you come to the word attend with all your might hear as for your lives do not heedlesly let slip any one Sentence without your careful attention Expect wait long look when by what sentence by what word spoken God will let in his spirit into your Souls Oh if persons would set themselves in good earnest to attend upon the word of the Gospel as the word of God as the Ministry of the Spirit who knows what God might do for them Let the word of God be precious if ever you would have the Spirit of God with you and in you Dir. 7. Enquire seriously and consult with those that have the Spirit of God If you have any serious christian friend you can open your heart to be plain with him beseech him to be plain with you Enquire the way of the Spirit from those who have had experience thereof Jer. 50.4 5. In those dayes and in that time saith the Lord the children of Israel shall come they and the children of Judah together going and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward Where you meet with difficulty in the way seek for instruction Listen what others what Christians of approved godliness and experience say concerning the way of the Spirit of God in their Souls if so be that you thereby might go forth by the footsteps of Christs flock and find him whom your Soul seeks after This is the direction the Lord gives to her Cant. 1.8 If thou know not go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock It is of exceeding use for persons whose desires are intensly set after the Spirit of God to be opening their hearts and conferring seriously one with another about the same Oh the holy breathings of the Spirit that have many times been kindled in the Souls of persons when they have been seriously and sincerely conferring concerning the things and wayes of the Spirit of God! Direct 8. Continue seeking striving and waiting in the use of all means till you find till the Spirit be poured out from on high upon you If the Lord do not come and give his Spirit to you presently yet take heed of giving over or slacking your endeavours Many being some way or other rouzed for a fit are very earnest but not finding the Spirit of God to come quickly they give over they are soon cooled and content themselves with their former formalities in the exercises of Religion Take heed we do not cast away our Souls here How many many perish here Rosolve never to give over seeking and waiting till God be gracious to you and pour out his Spirit upon you If God give you not the holy Spirit to be your Comforter resolve never to take comfort but ly down in sorrow Let nothing divert you from this seeking let nothing satisfy you till you have found the thing you seek for Hos 6.3 Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. Importunity and constancy may at last prevail Luk. 11.5 10. Yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth c. and Luk. 18.1 And be spake a parable unto them to this and that men ought alwayes to pray and not to faint The Lord Jesus spake these things to encourage to importunity and constancy in prayer And for the prevalency and good effect of this we have the famous example of the woman of Canaan Math. 15.22 -28 Direct 9. Make this the business of your lives Look upon it as the main thing you came into the world for Lay out the strength of your Souls about it Drive on this as if you had nothing else to mind or do Make this your work to get the Spirit of God to be in you and all other things subordinate and subservient to this Do not think that for a sinner to obtain all the gracious operations of the Spirit in himself to get a due sense of sin as most odious and loathsome and to rest his Soul upon Christ as most pretious and to shew forth all the blessed fruits of the Spirit in his conversation is a work easily or quickly done And yet you must not rest till you come to this till there be the apparent manifest full breathings and operations of the Spirit in you As Mercy is not like to come to us till the Spirit be poured out upon us from on high So let us wait and labour till the Spirit be poured out upon us fingly and generally that the wilderness may become a fruitful field and the fruitful field be counted for a Forrest and so those mercyes and blessings which are consequent to this may be derived down to and setled upon us For a close let every sincere one whose heart is upon the work and glory of Christ heartily and earnestly joyn with the Psalmist in that prayer profession of his Psal 53.6 O that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Zion When God bringeth back the Capivity of his people Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad FINIS
the reaching of the Conscience and stirring the affection of many others under a common work of the Spirit which usually goeth along with solemn times Fulfilling of the Scripture pag. 142. Edit 2. Oh therefore pray that New England may have such or another such a solemn day before her Sun go down 8. It is necessary to evidence that you have the Spirit that you be earnestly desirous to have more of the Spirit and that both for your selves and others 9. If Christians would in good earnest set to pray for this there would be good hope that the Spirit would be poured out upon us The Lord is not wont to say to his people seek or to stir them up to seek him in vain Isa 45.19 I said not unto the Seed of Jacob seek ye me in vain 30.19 He will be very grasious unto thee at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it he will answer thee More encouragement to instant prayer for the pouring out of the Spirit see in Mr. I. Mathers Sermon on Isai 44.3 pag. 14 to 19. By all let Christians be perswaded to lift up the hands which hang down and set to prayer with a deep sense of our want of the Spirit with a Soul humbling sense that we have so grieved the Spirit as thus to forsake and with hold its gracious operations from us and also with faith and expectation that God will do this for us for the sake and upon the account of Christ And then we might hope that it would go well with us and that that should be accomplished in us which is prayed for by the Psalmist Psal 90.14 15 16 17. O satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes Make us glad according to the dayes wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil Let thy work appear unto thy Servants and thy glory unto their Children And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it Exhortation 2. To All to labour that the Spirit may be poured out upon them that they may hoth have the Spirit and a plentiful measure of the graces of it Let every one endeavour to get the Spirit for himself and so there would be a general pouring out of the Spirit Would we be free from misery would we be happy make this our busmess Let all unregenerate persons rouze and stir up themselves and take the Kingdome of heaven by holy violence Sue and strive by all means that the saving graces of the Spirit may be given to you If we would have the Spirit poured out upon us upon our persons we must be in the way of waiting for it And O that we could use utmost diligence and endeavours in this thing It is a matter of most eminent and everlasting concernment I might here urge those two things hinted in the Text The misery of being without and the blessedness of having the Spirit poured out upon us which comprehend all can be said But more particularly by way of motive consider Mot. 1. If you have not the Spirit you are none of Christs you have no Christ you are Christless persons and have no more to doe with the Son of God in your present state as to any propriety in him then the Devils had Luk. 8.28 You may talk of Christ and it may be profess him but you have no right nor interest in him Rom. 8.9 Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his The Spirit is the bond of union on Christs part and it is the Spirit which works Faith in us which is the bond of union on our part whence Christ dwels in his people by his Spirit Where therefore the Spirit of Christ is not there is no union of that Soul to Christ no faith wrought in the heart and so no Christ dwelling in that soul And now seriously consider what it is to be without Christ to be none of his 1. It is to have no pardon of sin No Christ no forgiveness You are yet in your sins under the guilt of them and can have no pardon so long as you are without Christ All the sins that ever you have committed they stand on file against you and you must answer for them You lye under the heavy load of the guilt of innumerable evils the which if you had any sense might-make your hearts to fail at the thoughts of it Psal 40.12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquityes have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more then the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me It is enough to make the heart of any person to fail indeed to see the load of all his sins lying upon him unpardoned What a dreadfull thing is it for us who have been Transgressors from the womb endless in acting of sin to have all our sins to answer for before God Job 9.3 If he will contend with him be cannot answer him one of a thousand We cannot give a satisfying Answer for one single sin of a thousand But we must answer that is we must be called to an account for them all if they be not pardoned and pardoned they are not if we have not Christ In him pardon is to be had Rom. 3.25 whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God But pardon is no where to be had without him 2. It is to have no favour with God No Christ no favour in Heaven The heart of God will never be towards any that are not in Christ and that continue out of him The world is at enmity with God and reconciliation is only to be had in Christ Jesus God will enter into friendship with or shew favour to no person but by the means and mediation of his Son And therefore if thou art and continuest without Christ God does and ever will look upon thee as an Enemy thou shalt find no favour in his eyes He that made thee will not have mercy on thee he that formed thee will shew thee no favour There will never be other then anger in the face and heart of God toward We are all by nature children of wrath and Enemies but they who are gotten into Christ they are thereby reconciled Col. 1.2 22. You that were sometimes alienated and Enemyes in your minds by wicked works yet now hath be reconciled in the body of his flesh through death c. But for others the wrath of God abides on them and there it will abide to Eternity for they can have no favour if they continue out of Christ Joh. 3.36 He that believeth not the Son the wrath of God abideth on him 3. It is to
not repentance and reformation in a people there is no likelihood that Gods wrath should be pacified by Judgements formerly inflicted but rather that there will be a procedure to further greater and sorer Judgements For when the Soveraign God hath once taken a people thus into his hand it is likely in reason that he will have his will of them or bring them very low mend or mar them bow or break them Lev. 26.23 And if ye will not be reformed by these things and ver 27 28. And if ye will not for all this bearken unto me but walk contrary unto me then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury 3. Because where there is not repentance and reformation under Affliction there will be an encrease of provocation The Lords expectation is frustrated and thereby will he be provoked Besides such who thus frustrate Gods expectation they will grow more hardned in sin and security by affliction if not more bold to sin Zeph. 3.7 I said surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction so their dwelling should not be cut off howsoever I punished them but they rose early and corrupted all their doings And this will be like to continue and encrease their affliction Hos 13.2 3. And now postquam moniti fuerint castigati Rivet After they have been warned and chastned they sin more and more Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud as the early dew it passeth away as the chaff that is driven with a whirlwind out of the floor and as a smoak out of the Chimney By which four similitudes the greatness and certainty of their calamity is denoted and that that flourishing prosperity which they hoped for should come to nothing Prop. III. The miseries of such a people will be like to proceed till there be a pouring out of the Spirit from on high upon them to their sound conversion Vntil the Spirit be poured upon us from on high c. Text. ver 15. If God hath once so far taken a people in hand as to set them under a dispensation of Judgement there is no grounded hope of their deliverance and release in mercy till God do in a gracious manner pour out his Spirit upon them or wonderfully work a saving change in them and among them by the effectual operation of his holy Spirit Till abundance of grace be given forth for the procuring and effecting of their found conversion The Spirit is given or poured out for that end that there may be Conversion And that either 1. The Conversion of sinners which is exprest in the Text by the Wilderness becoming a fruitful field Psal 51.13 Sinners shall be converted unto thee The Lord sends down his Spirit for this end to convince awaken convert regenerate and sanctifie sinners Joh. 16.8 11. to open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God This is the work of the Ministry Act. 26.18 which works effectually only through the power presence and assistance of the Spirit accompanying of the same It is the work of the Spirit efficiently to deliver sinners out of the power of darkness and translate them into the Kingdome of the dear Son of God to make them of unholy profane proud and vain serious humble holy pious and conformed to the image and will of God to love those things of God which they have not loved nor regarded and to hate and abandon those things of sin world and vanity which they have loved and set their hearts upon 1 Cor. 6.11 And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Or 2. The Conversion of Saints and Christians Which is exprest in the Text according to the interpretation given by the fruitful field being counted for a forrest Peter was converted before Satan fifted him and made him deny his Master for saith Christ I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not But he must be converted again and therefore Christ sayes to him When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Luk. 22.32 though the relative charge of state in believers is but once wrought it is wrought at once and continues for ever and the real change in their persons by sanctification is perfect in its parts yet this latter admits of degrees It is so wrought in the believer as that it needs constant carrying on in this life and it may so decay as to need to be done over again and so the Christian to pass under the work of Conversion again a second time Hence David prayes when he had as it were lost the work or effect of former Conversion that God would create in him a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within him Psal 51.10 Apprehending himself deprived in a manner of that holy disposition and power of godliness which God had formerly wrought in bm asi before he begged for pardon so here for the sanctification of Gods Spirit The word Renew I conceive hath reference to his former piety which he found greatly decayed in him wherewith he desires to be established again Jackson in loc Now this is the work of the Spirit to renew the work of Conversion and carry on the work of grace in believers He is given for this end for the furthering the work of grace and holiness in believers in renewed and more strong acts of repentance saith and obedience to make them more free from sin end pollution more and more conformable to the will of God in all things more abundantly fruitful in every good work to enlarge them in duty and to make their faces and conversations to shine that they shall in good carnest be engaged for God his service and glory Hence when the Spirit is poured out upon a people All or the generality of them or at least very many among them will be either enquiring for or walking in the way to Zion with their faces thitherward Jer. 50.4 5. In those dayes and in that time saith the Lord the children of Israel shall come they and the children of Judah together going and weeping they shall go and seek the Lord their God They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward Which last expression may intimate their sincere intention and fixed resolution to go on in the way they enquired after To set ones face is to fix the Affections and actions without declining to any other way Wilson Christ Diction Such a people will be bound for God having received the Spirit of God every one will go bound in the Spirit to the performance of his duty and the glorifying and honouring of God They shall be signally carryed out in seeking Gods face and doing of his will There would appear a right and full bent of Spirit for God in persons doing all sincerely in the name and in an evangellical manner exactly according to the
saw that there was respite he hardned his heart and hearkned not Renewal of stroaks hath not done it After respite and deliverance granted God hath taken us into his hand again But alas that it should be too truly said of us We set not our hearts to this also So that there is little or no hope till this be till God by his Spirit work a saving through change in our hearts Truly we are grown so irrational as to spiritual concernments that it is not Gods working upon us only in a rational way that will reclaim us or bring us to his will There must be in a more then ordinary manner the real energetical operation of his Spirit in us to make us other men and women then we are first 3. An universal languishing in the inner man is and will be upon us for want of this pouring out of the Spirit You your selves Christians by your own confession are not so capacitated to the exercise of grace duty for want of this Things go hard with your Souls Those things which remain are even ready to dy As Rev. 3.2 Faith love and other graces they are as it were under a Consumption very feeble and languid Iniquities prevail corruptions get loose and waste the strength and vigour of the Soul And will not you stir up your selves to pray for the Remedy This is lamentable Isai 64.6 7. We all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away And there is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee And how do sinners pine away in their iniquities not regarding God nor their own state and condition whilest they are without the effectual strivings of the holy Spirit with them Will you not pity them and earnestly pray for this healing Remedy to be given to them Can you see your own Souls pining and others Souls perishing and not be importunate with God to put forth his hand to revive and save respectively what will become of faith holiness love to God his word Ordinances wayes and one another unless God be pleased to pour out his Spirit on us 4. The work of Christ is like quickly to ly by unless this be If God do not graciously appear to give forth his holy Spirit the work of Christ will be like ere long and it may be not long first to fall to the ground for want of persons spirited to manage it and carry it on And can you be willing to see that day or that it should come though you do not see it and not improve the utmost of your interest with God to prevent it Are you Christs and not concerned that the work of Christ should or should be in danger to lye by Indeed we are like to run all to confusion and misery if God doe not wonderfully and graciously appear this way to work for us to revive us by his Spirit to set us into and keep us in that order which is according to his will There is therefore absolute necessity of the effusion of the Spirit for the continuance of Gods work and glory among us 5. This will be our great security against the expressions of Gods anger Ezek. 39.29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel saith the Lord God And so it will be our security in the enjoyment of all blessings and mercies Indeed it is the only sure way we have to all or any good The nearer God the greatest good is to us the farther sin the greatest evil will be from us there will be peace quietness and rejoycing in the favor of God and in the gracious effects of it 6. It will be for the great honour of Christ By the pouring out of the Spirit is manifested the efficacy of his Redemption and the end and fruit of it obtained which redounds to his honour It is a great evidence of the power of Christs Redemption and demonstrates him to be a strong Redeemer when there is of the travel of his soul to be seen and his people are made willing in the day of his power hence is he glorified Joh. 17.8 10. I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me And I am glorified in them And will not you pray that Christ may be honoured in his subduing the hearts of men to himself that this crown of Glory may be set upon his head 7. You have a promise to improve of Gods pouring out his Spirit This is that which the Lord hath spoken that he will doe especially under the Gospel Isai 44.3 I will pour my Spirit on thy Seed and my blessing upon thine offspring So Joel 2.28.20 Whence you have a bottome for faith to rest upon an argument to plead in prayer for your children of the rising generation You are the Lords people and to such God in these promises gives hold to be taken of himself in this matter Beg therefore that God would fulfil his own word accomplish his own promise Object But it may be some will say These promises and so the Text also respect the latter times and Gods pouring out his Spirit upon the Jews at their conversion and bringing home And therefore what improvement can we make of them for our times Sol. If it be granted that they do respect a signal dispensation of God to the Jews in the last times yet that hinders not but that there is many a like dispensation of God in accomplishing these promises under the Gospel Prophetical Scripture is often fulfilled And though there be in special one grand accomplishment of Scripture Prophesies and promises yet there are also many Specimens beginnings of fulfilling them partile accomplishments like dispensations of Gods providence wherein those prophesies and promises are fulfilled in their measure and degree And so this Prophesy and promise of Gods pouring out his Spirit however it may have its full and compleat accomplishment in some particular glorious time hereafter yet there hath been a glorious accomplishment of it already in the Apostles times as we are informed Act. 2.16 17 18. But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel And it shall come to pass in the last dayes saith God I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh c. Yea and it is fulfilled in a degree wherever the Gospel comes with power Yea further it is observed by some that There is no particular Church where the light hath shined but hath had its special times some solemn day of the pouring out of the Spirit before the Sun went down Which may be observed either at the first breaking up of the Gospel or at some remarkable time and change of her condition Whence a great tack of Souls to Christ hath followed besides