upon it i. e. It shall have as many Senses as they Fancies and Fetches and so justifie Pighius his Blasphemy who called it a Nose of Wax which they may draw out or put together and alter and change as they think good I abhor and so I know do you all these Blasphemies God's Word is not so Broad But yet I thus far yield that it 's a safe way of interpreting Scripture to take it in as broad and large a Sense as all things considered it will bear And if I do so in expounding this place it self will bear me out in it for it saith that God's Commandment is exceeding broad Exceeding broad therefore because every way broad reaching to all Persons in its Commands awing the greatest Kings and in it's Promises comforting the poorest Begger Reaching all Conditions Prosperity v. 14 72. Adversity v. 54. Alâ— Sexes Times Places all parts of body faculties of Soul Actions of both and Circumstances of those Actions I cannot exemplifie them all If you will go no further than this Psalm and but mark what 's said of it in the several Verses you shall find more than I say It 's Life v. 93. Comfort of Life v. 50. End of Life v 17. the Way v. 35. Rule v. 30. Counseller v. 24. a chief Gift v. 29 Better than thousands of Gold and Silver v. 72. It 's our Love v. 47 48. Joy v. 14. Delight v. 16. Choise v. 30. Desire v. 20 40. Hope v. 43. Trust v. 42. Fear v. 120 161. that which he longs for v. 40 82. seeks after v. 45 94. cleaves to v. 31. It 's his All. And if it be all this and much more then sure it 's Exceeding broad But I cannot insist upon all these particulars Only for more distinct Consideration of it we must remember that God's Word is here compared with all other Perfections and its Breadth with their End Now therefore as we heard before of all other best Perfections there was a double End of them Of Length they lasted not alwayes And of Breadth they reached not to all our Occasions and Wants So now on the contrary there is an exceeding Breadth of Gods Word I. Because it reacheth to all Times II. And to all our Wants in them as able to be a Direction and to make a Supply in all 1. For the first Therefore it is exceeding broad because reaching to all Times The place parellel to the Text fully proves it Isa 40. 6 8. All flesh is Grass and all the goodliness of it as the Flower of the Field The Grass withereth and the Flower fadeth But the Word of our God shall stand for ever For ever that 's long but to stand or to be established for ever as the word signifieth is much more and yet no more than is true of every Word of God whether a Command I pray you mark that Expression Heb. 4. 11 12. Let us labour to enter into that rest For the Word of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quick and powerful or as the words are living and active It may be you 'l ask What 's the strength of the Apostle's Reason Strive to enter into this rest for the Word of God is quick c. 〈◊〉 It s from this Ground we are now upon He had before spoken of an Exhortation of David's Psal 95. Of striving to enter into rest which Exhortation the Apostle urgeth upon them in his time Nondum inquit mortua est vâ—x illa Dei vocantis nos Hodie c. Pareus in locum to whom he wrote But now it might be some would say But why trouble you us with a command of David so long time since spoken to the Men of his Generation and now by this time out of Date and antiquated Which kind of Objection the Apostle takes away as though he should say Nay but do not think that David's word is dead with him For it was not his word but God's and therefore as God never dies nor grows old no more doth his Word But it 's quick or living still It 's not dead no nor grown old and weak but it 's as active and powerful as ever And therefore as much concerns you now as it did them to whom David in Person spake it And so we see in this respect God's Commandment is exceeding broad reacheth from David's time to Paul's And so are hiâ— Threats One reached from Doeg to Judas compare Psal 109. 8. with Acts 1. 20. Yea one reached from Enoch the 7th from Adam to the Day of Judgment Jude ver 14 15. And so are all his Promises which David as I said in the Text principally intends In the first Verse of this Ogdoad he saith For ever O Lord thy Word is settled in Heaven A Word of a Promise is in Heaven and settled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there and that for ever a most strong and full Expression that whereas if a Man look to these outward Contentments there 's nothing settled or if settled yet it 's but poorly not for ever according to that as strong Expression Psal 39. 5. Verily every Man at his best estate is altogether vanity or as the Hebrew is all Men are all vanity even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word in both places when most settled and established yet he continues not so long But when full of Riches and happy in Children and so in a seeming settledness yet it 's soon shaken Nay further whereas if a Man should look at God's Word and Promise as it is in our unsettled hearts we are ready to think that it 's as ready to waver as our Hearts are as the shadow of the Sun or Moon in the Water seems to shake as much as the Water doth which it shines in Yet for all this seeming shaking here below the Sun and Moon go on in a stedfast Course in Heaven So the Psalmist tells us that however our Hearts stagger at a Promise through unbelief nay and our Unbelief makes us believe that the Promise often is shaken withal and when we are at our Wits-end we are ready to think that God's Promise comes to an end too as Psal 77. 8. Yet God's Word is settled though not in our Hearts yet in Heaven yea and there for ever as settled as Heaven it self is yea more than so for Heaven and Earth may pass but not one jot or tittle of the Law and therefore of the Gospel shall fail Luke 16. 17. And thus we see that God's Commandment and Promise in this respect is Exceeding broad reaching to all Times Was a word of Command the Guide of thy youth I assure thee it will be as good a Staff of thine age And I assure you a good Promise is a good Nurse both to the young Babe and decrepit old Man Your Apothecaries best Cordials in time will lose their Spirits and sometimes the stronger they are the sooner But hath a Promise cheared thee say twenty thirty forty years ago
Christian men in the clear mirrour of the Gospel of Christ it 's expected that with open face we at least should come to a more full view of the beauty and glorious excellency of the knowledge of Christ Are ye also yet without understanding was our Saviour's sharp check of his dull Disciples Matth. 15. 16. And have I been so long time with you and hast John 14. 9. thou not yet known me Philip was a quickning Item for his unproficiency And have not we need of the like Goads in our sides Hath Christ been so much taught and so little learnt sol manè fenestras and are our eyes yet shut Nay doth the Gospels Noon-day sun shine and are we yet in darkness like Austins Caeci in sole positi what a terrible thunder-clap is that and which may awaken us out of our deadest sleep and make us open our Eyes and our Ears tingle If our Gospel be hid it s hid in them that are 2 Cor. 4. 3 4 5. lost whose Eyes the God of this World hath blinded As men especially as Christian men ours had need to be enlightned 3. And yet more particularly as University-men if younger it 's the age in which we use to learn other things and why should we not then begin to learn Christ in this morning of our lives which if a friend to the Muses should not be a Stranger to Christ Perge Seneca Ep. 77. propera ne tibi accidat ut senex discas It 's ill beginning to learn then but then better than never At least let the old man when his sight grows dim begin to put on his Spectacles and if it were no shame to some of the Philosophers in old age to go to School to learn that which they had not before studied let it not be deemed a disparagement to the gravest even then to become Scholars to Christ with the ancient is wisdom saith Job Cap. 12. 12. but no saving wisdom unless they truly know Christ and Multitude of years should teach wisdom saith Elihu Job 32. 7. and no shame even then to learn wisdom especially this we now speak of But whether young and so have but few years past or old and so have but few behind to number it concerns us all so to number them that both sorts apply our hearts to wisdom Psal 90. 12. whether young or old as University men as learned men it especially concerns us as such to learn Christ that we may be made wise to salvation for is it not pitty that they who know so much of other things should know so little of Jesus Christ to be among those great wise men of the world Psal 2. 10. and yet for want of kissing the Son to perish from the way v. 12. periti but perituri a thousand pities that such rare polished pieces such curious carved Mercurial Statues should have their end to be burnt in Heb. 6. 8. Mark 9. 43. the fire that never goeth out But I hope better things of you and things that accompany salvation that your other learning will be an introduction to lead you as the Star did the wise men to Christ Matth. 2. an under-step to lift up your desires and endeavours to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this eminently transcendent knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. AND for helps hereto St. Maries Jan. 2. 1652 3. 1. From what hath been before said Be humble if you would be wise and learn to know your selves if indeed you would Serm. III ever know Christ The Laodicean Angel when he thought and said he was rich was poor and blind and stood in need of Christs eye-salve Revel 3. 17 18. By not knowing the plague of our own heart we come not acquainted with the Physician But by being sensible of our own darkness we come better to see how marvellous the light of the Sun of righteousness is that can illuminate it The knowing of our own vast emptiness helps us to know the infinite fulness of Christ that can fill it Thus the Lord filleth the hungry with good things but the rich he sends empty away Luke 1. 53. In a broken glass you cannot so well see your own face but in a broken heart you may best see the face of Christ 2. Take heed of grieving the spirit of Christ for though there be a spirit in man yet it 's the inspiration of the Almighty that gives understanding in other things Nor is it any other than the spirit Job 32. 8. of Christ who is a spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the things of Christ Eph. 1. 17 18. Now whilst thou dealest kindly with thy friend he will unbosom himself to thee and Turn you at my reproofs and I will pour out my spirit unto you and will make known my words unto you saith Wisdom Pro. 1. 23. But how can that Spirit breath which we stifle If thy friend when offended with thee will not speak then wonder not if thy Comforter grieved by thee be silent 3. Solomon supplies us with a third help Prov. 13. 20. where he saith He that walketh with wife men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed A fruitful conversing with them Augustin Tract 2. in Joann that are acquainted with Christ by what we shall both see of him in them and hear from them is a great advantage to our better knowing of him As in Universities there is an air of learning and in them Colledges and Societies founded and erected that by the Lumen convenâ—ûs honestissimi as Quintilian calls it l. 1. c. 3. Conferences and Lectures of learned men we might gain more knowledge in several Arts and Faculties or at least with more speed than by our own studies so in the Church of God where he is so much known Psal 76. 1. in that School of Christ the Communion of Saints if rightly ordered and improved there is a strong breathing of the spirit where by others knowledge and experiences conferred and communicated we may come to know much more of him than it may be we should ever have done by our own Thus the wise-men of the East that they might prove yet wiser come to Jerusalem to enquire of him Matth. 2. 1 2. and the Spouse asks the Daughters of Jerusalem of him when she is at a loss for him Cant. 5. 8. and he himself when his Parents had lost him was found amongst the Doctors hearing them and asking them questions Luke 2. 46. It 's not a little that he gains who hears much and asks oft and that not only of Doctors or others of the highest Form but even of Punies in the School of Christ for if we be sent to learn of the Ant. Prov. 6. 6. and other inferiour Creatures Job 12. 7 8. then a mighty Apollos may profit Act 18. 26. Vide ejus vitam à seipso scriptam by an Aquila and Priscillae's instruction and the poor Country-mans
they are in the sense before explained to be accounted loss that we may gain Christ I. All Worldly Excellencies and advantages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 6. 3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 16. such as the Apostle there calls the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life i. e. Pleasure Profit Honour and the repute of great place learning wisdom ease liberty health life it self Of all which all that I have now to do is to shew 1. That Paul and all the faithful of his spirit ever de facto did and do esteem them all loss and dung in comparison of Christ 2. That de jure there was and is very great reason so to do 3. For application that it is our duty to be answerably affected 1. That Paul was so the Text speaks aloud in the fore-mentioned particulars Nor was it only for a good mood here once but his deliberate judgment and constant frame of spirit at other times in all his writings For Christs sake his profit was lost whilst he served him in much Poverty Hunger and thirst cold and 2. Cor. 11. 27. nakedness that he was fain to send from Rome as far as to Ephesus 2 Tim. 4. 13. for a Cloak to cover it His pleasure exchanged for weariness and painfulness stripes and imprisonments so that he had had a very unpleasant life of it but that for Christs sake he took pleasure in infirmities And as for honour and repute he had learnt in the cause of Christ to digest evil report as well as good to be accounted amongst the filth and off-scouring of the World one who for his sect was a learned Pharisee and for his personal abilities eminent above his fellows whilst he desired to know nothing but Christ Jesus and him Crucified he is content that the Corinthians shall account him a fool and that Felix shall call him a mad man such a dunghil was the world to him whilst Christ was the only Pearl And although he was herein eminent yet not so singular as to be alone in this estimate for Christ was The desire of all Nations The Apostle speaks indefinitely but meaneth universally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2. 7. To you to all you that believe he is precious or as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports the price it self by and in reference to which every true believer prizeth all things and it above all Hence even in the time of the law and before when the Beauty and worth of Christ was seen at a further distance and through darker shadows nothing in the whole City could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prove a Cordial to the Spouse sick of love as long as she met not Hebr. 11. 13. Cant. 3. 5. with her beloved Nay Asaph had none either in Earth or Heaven but him Psal 73. 25. so that it seems all besides him was nothing Israel thrice a year left all to come to the Temple a type of Christ and yet never lost by it It was by the faith of a Messiah Heb. 11. that Abraham left all Isaac and Jacob and the other Patriarks proved Pilgrims that Moses so undervalued the Court Honour and the Treasure of Egypt But especially in the times of the Gospel when the unsearchable riches of Christ were more revealed in the very dawning of the morning this Phosphorus shined so bright that the Magi came from a far Country took a tedious and dangerous journey and ran the hazard of proclaiming him King under the Tyrants Nose But when this Sun of Righteousness was got more up how willingly doth the wise Merchant sell all to buy this Pearl Matth. 13. 46. their garments are made his Foot-cloth their hair his Towel the pretious Box of Spikenard broken and none but a Judas accounted it too costly to anoint even the feet of the anointed Messiah What an honour did they account it to suffer shame for Christ Act. 5. 41. How ambitious of disgrace How greedy of gain by losing all for him They loved not their lives unto death Rev. 12. 11. is but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that loves his life accounts nothing more precious than life and therefore on the contrary he that is said not to love it is prodigal of it and so Beza there rendreth it And this not only with those Apostles and first Disciples and other Primitive Martyrs and Confessors Not only with a Galeacius or Pizzardus or other such more noble Heroes who When bribed with all the World could promise to be drawn from Christ could readily return answer and say Thy money perish with thee valeat vita pereat pecunia veniat Christus And when threatned and pursued with whatever the malice of man or Devil could invent to drive them from Christ yet a Polycarpus could not speak an ill word of his Master whom he had served so long and never had hurt from When called upon but to think what they did an holy Cyprian will not take time to deliberate and in the midst of the flames to a holy Lambert None but Christ None but Christ Blest Souls we envy them not their Aureola who on those higher stilts could thus easily stride over the highest Mountains in this World to get to their Saviour in that other It s our Crown of Rejoycing if haud passibus aequis we can but follow them in this way And truly the poorest weakest Infant-Believer who can but creep yet can go thus far as to be able from the heart to say Christ is All and All in Comparison of Him is Nothing 1. It s the first word that the infant can speak and this it can and doth speak at its first renewed Birth and Conversion This self-denial the first Lesson then taught in the School of Christ The voice of the Crier in the Wilderness that first proclaimed Christ blasted as so much withering grass all the glory of the Creature Isa 40. 6. That eye and heart that as the Prophet speaks before Jer. 22. 17. was not but for Covetousness c. is now so unmoveably fixt on Christ that then at least it overlooks all else and eyeth him only ipsum ipsum cupido tantum spectare vacavit As Statius of himself when invited to Domitians Feast It was Lib. 4. not his rich furniture or costly provisions but himself only that his eye pored on That was the Poets flattery to a Domitian but this is a true Converts real respect to Christ However it is with any of us now and I know not why after our more acquaintance with Christ we should less love him I am sure if any of us ever savingly knew him there was once a time and that was in the day of our espousals and Conversion before we came fully to enjoy him that we then above all did most highly value him One drop of his blood one smile of his Countenance was then worth a
no sadder sight in the World than to behold such a triste bidental such an Heaven-struck forlorn-Sinners grown blind by seeing the light and deaf as they that dwell near the out-falls of Nilus by hearing a more pleasing sound even the word of life more filthy for washing more barren or rather fruitful of poysonous weeds for watering and more desperately and irrecoverably sick by the best Physicians greater care of the Cure so that it cannot be written on his door The Lord be merciful to him It 's pity you say that fair weather should do any hurt but a thousand pities to see a miserably blinded sinner to go into everlasting darkness by the light of the Sun shine of the Gospel to see an unruly stray Sheep that would not be kept in the Shepherds Fold in the Wolfs or Lions mouth dragged through all mire and dirt into his Den and there to be devoured Seest thou this thou seest a miserable forlorn Sinner whom the good Shepherds Rod and Staff could not keep in to be fed in green pastures and led by still waters now forsaken of God like another Cain or Judas made sensless and obdurate in sin and dragged into the pit-fall of Hell to his everlasting destruction 3. Which is the third and last particular before mentioned that eternal wrath and judgment that irrecoverable loss which such Sinners in another World procure to themselves by their abuse of Ordinances when they have not gain'd Christ by them Of all others the Sinners in Sion shall be most afraid when it shall once come to dwelling with devouring fire and everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. Then Capernaum that in enjoyment of Ordinances was once lifted up as high as heaven shall be thrown as low as hell Matth. 11. 23 24. nay to the lowest depths of it where Sodom and Gomorrha's fire shall be more tolerable this furnace being heated seven times hotter whilst the breath of the Lord as a stream of brimstone shall kindle it Isa 30. 33. Mark 9. 43. 45. that Tophet intolerable that fire unquenchable when the sometimes sweet breathings of the Gospel-Spirit and Word and Ministry shall blow it up and keep it burning to Eternity Oh! No Condemnation to Gospel-Condemnation No wrath so fierce as that when after grace turned into wantonness patience shall be turned into fury How low low will that for-ever-lost Soul be sunk that in those unsupportable torments shall everlastingly have time and cause to think and say How shall I ever escape that have neglected abused despised so great Salvation That of all other aggravates and perpetuates such mens damnation Gospel-Grace and Ordinances which are the Key to open Heaven to Believers lock up neglecters and despisers in the Prison of Hell and roul the heaviest stone upon the mouth of the bottomless pit the unsupportable weight whereof will not only prevent all removal or escape but above all things will pinch and press and sink them down to Eternity Then they will be fully convinced of the truth of the point in hand that all things are loss and dung in comparison of Christ when they shall sadly but unprofitably and despairingly say Oh of how much greater worth is Christ above all other comforts even best Ordinances when notwithstanding them for want of him we are now everlastingly lodged and tormented in Hell whereas had we by the enjoyment of them come to have gained and enjoyed him we had with him in Heaven been happy for ever Which in the Application of it should most seriously advise and Use perswade us in our due both estimate and abearance both to Christ and his Ordinances respectively 1. And first for Ordinances as the former part of the point called upon us highly to prize them and diligently and constantly to attend upon them so what hath been said in this latter should with all sadness warn us 1. Not to rely on or to rest in the bare enjoyment of them 1. They may do us no good therefore rest not in them for as we have heard as they may be so should we thus do certainly they will be empty and at best we shall get no good by them Circumcision is nothing 1 Cor. 7. 19. The Letter without the Spirit signifieth little and the best Ordinances without Christ as to our Salvation will prove just nothing They are indeed in themselves and by God's Institution Wells of Salvation but to us in the issue they will prove but dry empty Cisterns if this water of life be not conveyed to us by them and therefore in this our journeying to Heaven let us not take up and dwell in our Inne and although the way of Ordinances lead thither yet if we sit down in our way we shall never come to our journeys end In this therefore follow the Psalmists example Psal 121. who when in the first verse he had said I will lift up mine eyes to the Hills of Zion and Moriah the seat of God's Ordinances as Interpreters expound it from whence cometh my help as though he had said too much of them or any Ordinances that his help should come from them as it were correcting himself in the second verse he presently adds my help cometh from the Lord which hath made Vide Augustinum Tract â— in Joannem mox ab initie Heaven and Earth It 's God and Christ only who made Heaven and Earth that can create the fruit of the best Ministers lips to be peace to his people Isa 57. 19. and therefore some Expositors read that first verse of the Psalm interrogatorily should I lift up mine eyes to the Hills as though from them should come my help The lifting up of eyes and soul in Scripture-Phrase expresseth not only delight and desire but expectance and dependance and then although we should come to Ordinances with encouraging expectations of help from God in them yet should we thus lift up our Eyes to the Hills themselves to the highest towring Eloquence or most raised abilities or most sublime piety of the Ministers that we most admire so as to expect saving help from them No. Alas Either They or at least the Event will tell thee that they are but empty Cisterns and dry Breasts which cannot afford the least drop but what Christ the fountain hath put into them and it may be out of thy experience thou maist be able to say to thy self that thou never wentest away more empty and less satisfied than when not making out after Christ in way of a Carnal-Creature-confidence thou expectedst most from them Though thou beest therefore on the Mount of Transfiguration where Christ was Matth. 17. 4. transfigured but they were not Do not sit down with Peter and say It 's good to be here unless Christ be there and in such pure glasses thou seest the face of Christ and art changed from glory to 2 Cor. 3. 18. glory into the image of Christ by the spirit of Christ sit not down satisfied That
Chaldee and Syriack Henifii exercit Sacr. on Luke 21. 16. is to deny and to deny is to betray as Ambrose makes it his Title De proditione Petri cum de negatione agitur Peter became an half Judas the denier little better than the betrayer of Christ But the chast Spouse makes it the matter of her grief and complaint that she should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one that is vailed Cant. 1. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the garb of an Harlot Cen. 38. 14 15. but would kiss her beloved in the open street Cant. 8. 1. you would almost think beyond a Womans modesty And of the true Israel which God hath chosen Isa 44. 1. one shall freely and openly say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and sirname himself by the name of Israel v. 5. as not ashamed of their best Parentage and Kinred but with their own hand enrolling themselves in their chief Captains Musters not only in word and open profession with the Primitive Christians proclaiming Christianus sum but also in their practice and conversation shewing forth the vertues 1 Pet. 2. 9. of him that hath called them so that they may thereby be known to all they converse withal and all that see them may acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed Isa 61. 9. Thus in these and the like respects outward appearances and professions of holiness are not to be undervalued which was the first thing propounded 2. But the second more near to my present purpose is that these are not to be rested in as able in themselves to commend us to God but are to be accounted loss for Christ For notwithstanding the Pharisees were herein conspicuous and indeed over-glaring our Saviour for all that even when he speaks of these their outward formalities Matth. 23. doth again and again cry Wo to them Wo to you ye Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites and when God and Christ in Scripture pronounceth a Wo against any it speaks them in a most deplorable lost condition I do not remember any one instance where it was not irrecoverable It 's Wo even to Scribes Matth. 3. 7. 23. 33. and Pharisees if they be Hypocrites if a generation of vipers as John Baptist and our Saviour calls them foris pictae intus venenosae as he glosseth it If it be but a bare form it 's but a thin lank thing and may well be counted loss in comparison of Christ who is substance as 1. These bare forms and shews are only outward But Christ is within us Christ in you the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Sodoms apples See Chrysoft Hom. 8. in 1 Thess When it is called A form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3. 5. that expression holds forth two things First that nothing is wanting on the out-side but secondly that there is just nothing within Should there be any thing wanting without it would not be a compleat but a defective form And therefore Pharisees Hypocrites herein use to be elaborate and accurate to compleat the Pageant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 6. 1. as on a Stage in a Theatrical ostentation See Hammond Annot. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 16. that they may appear And for that purpose the outside of the Cup and Platter is made very clean and the Sepulchre very fairly whited and painted Matth. 23. 25 27. But now a Jew is not one that is outwardly but is one that is inwardly whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2. 28 29. Now the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart 1 Sam. 16. 7. and therefore is not so taken with out-sides as to be imposed upon by them His Spouse as her outward raiment is of needle work so she is all-glorious within and the inside of Gods Temple was all Gold and Psal 45. 13 14. 1 King 6. 18 21. Cedar materials precious and incorruptible True worth is modest and like the Windows of the Temple is narrowest outward takes up with privacy and retirement from the World and delights not to make too great a noise and glaring in the World think it enough that oftentimes God seeth it in secret now and for rewarding it openly is content to stay till the last pay-day and therefore looks at the Pharisees open praying in the streets as a trivial devotion and esteems him who sets out all on the bulker without any thing in the Ware-house within a very poor man and next door to a Bankrupt is so wise as to set a due price and value on Christ who is the treasure hid in the field Matth. 13. 44. and therefore esteems all these gayes but loss and dung in comparison of him because first but bare out-sides and therefore at the very best 2. Empty of all substantial reality as in themselves so in any comfort and support we can have by them Of all others fearfulness is ready first to surprize Hypocrites in a day of evil Isa 33. 14. when men hate them because they have a shew of Godliness and God more abhors them because they have but a shew who will not be put off with words though they swear to them Jer. 5. 2. But his eyes are on the truth and reality v. 3. And must this then come in competition with Christ in whom God is well pleased How great soever the sound was yet how hollow when nothing within but emptiness How faint will that poor mans heart be who hath indeed a rich and costly sute on but is within deadly sick and wounded Like your Flowers which spindle up all into Flowers usually die at the root so these out-side men that are all for the Gay-Flower with Nabal then have their 1 Sam. 25. 37. hearts die within them for want of an inward substantial support Suh unsavoury salt though it retain its whiteness is good for nought but to be cast to the dunghil and therefore may well be accounted dung But then how infinitely more worth is Christ who is substance Prov. 8. 21. And the Comforts of his spirit real and substantial It 's Compositum jusfasque animi sanctique recessus and inâ—octum generoso pectus honesto firm interest in Christ and solid substantial sincerity and reality of his grace only that will then support them when such neat woven Cobwebs will fail us and such shadows fly away 3. Especially if they be not only thus hollow and empty but as often they prove Covers of a great deal of under-hidden impiety and all other abomination as the Pharisees painted Sepulchre Matth. 23. 14 27. was within full of uncleanness and rottenness And their long Prayer was but a pretence the more cleanly to devour Widows Houses In Tertullian's Language Impietatis secreta superficialibus officiis obumbrant We delight in
〈◊〉 may ever have the upper hand Prefer Jerusalem above our chief joy Psal 137. 6. Love all men as men as the Prophet saith Hide not thy self from thine own flesh Isa 58. 7. but yet so as to love them most with whom we have one and the same spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. Honour all men but especially Love the brotherhood 1 Pet. 2. 17. Let at least humanity prevail with us to esteem and love all that with us partake of humane nature for so far we love our selves but so as to put more abundant honour on them who are made partakers of the divine nature for so we shall love God in them SERMON XVIII ON 2 PET. 1. 4. BUT that We may have this honour and love it will be Preacht at St. Maries June 21. 1657. Vse 3. required that we examine our selves whether we have attained to this true ground of it this truly honourable state of being made partakers of the divine nature Wherein that consists hath already in the general been declared in the former doctrinal explication the main of it was that divine grace was this divine nature Pelagius heretically called humane nature grace we may piously and truly call saving grace divine nature to be Godly is to be God like God is holy just wise good spiritual heavenly and it is his very nature to be so And he that is of such an heavenly spirit and carriage although nil humani à se alienum putat yet totus divinitatem spirat though otherwise he be a poor weak man subject to humane infirmities yet by this his conformity to God he is raised to divine perfection As the eye of faith under all that bloud and spittle saw on our Saviours face his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of grace and truth John 1. 14. so the same eye under the mean outside of him who hath filled out of Christs fulness his measure of grace and holiness even grace for grace beholdeth with awful reverence and complacential love bright rayes and reflexions of divinity In his heavenly discourse it saith Non vox hominem sonat there is more than a man God speaks in him as Junius thought In ejus vitâ of that poor godly man who was one means of turning him from his Atheism And when it beholds his holy and heavenly conversation though it do not say with the Lycaonians Acts 14. 11. that Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men yet though but an Idiot he will report that God is in him of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. But enough of this in general Let us rather for our better direction consider some particular properties of this Divine Nature by which it may be discovered and manifested some from that it 's called Nature and some from that it 's stiled a Divine Nature 1. Nature is an inward inbred principle In natural bodies it 's ordinarily defined to be principium motûs quietis and so this Principium motûs intrinsecum Aquin. 1. 2 ae q. 10. a. 1. corp divine nature in a gracious spirit is an inward principle of power and act the spring that in this divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sets all the wheeles a going like the spirit of the living creatures in the wheels Ezek. 1. 20. In this sense our Saviour saith that the water which he giveth to the thirsty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall be in him but what a well of water springing up to everlasting life John 4. 14. not a Cistern which hath all its water from without put into it It is so indeed as it hath all from God but in regard of outward supplies such a well it is that hath such a spring in it as from it self is continually bubbling and springing up to everlasting life It 's no artificial engine to spout out that water which it had not of its own but a true natural fountain that poureth out of what springeth up in it self Jer. 6. 7. as in the creation the herb brought forth seed and the tree fruit after its kind Gen. 1. 12. from its innate seminal vertue its inward natural temperament and constitution and the stone moveth down to the center and the sparks fly upward from their Job 5. 7. natural propension nature being that ingenita rei vis potentia quâ ipsa à seipsá movetur so in this new creation where there is a Divine Nature there is something within not only a blaze in the lamp but also oyl in the vessel Matth. 25. 4. an inward principle which sets the soul in motion to God and heaven these divine sparks naturally fly upward as it 's said of Timothy Philip. 2. 20. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did genuinely and naturally care for the things of God and his Church and Job said of himself that the root of the matter was in him Job 19. 28. contrary to what is said of the stony-ground hearer that he had not root in himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 13. 21. which is the broad difference between a true born child of God and a formal hypocrite the one flutters and makes a great stir in the things of God but God knows and he himself knows and feels there is no inward vital principle that sets him on work nothing from within unless vain-glory or other finister â—imes and intentions which are only corrupt nature but usually all is from without either the applause or frowns of men and the one as the wind drives about the millsails which else would stand still and the other as those Trochlerâ— or water-works force the water upwards which else would lie below or fall downward But O friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he laid of Plutarch the dead statue which he could not make stand by it self there must be something within that goes to a divine nature an inward principle of Divine life and love which without these pullies and plummets sets the wheels of the soul on going God-ward Doth not even nature it self teach you saith the Apostle in that case 1 Cor. 11. 14. and doth not the Divine nature it self where-ever it is in truth from an inward principle and pondus animae prompt and incite and carry you out towards God in communion with him and obedience to him as Act. 18. 5. it 's said of Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was pressed in spirit occasioned by the Jews obstinacy but there was a spirit within him that pressed him to it But here take a double caution when I speak of this inward principle it is not with our Enthusiasts so to cry up a Christ within them as to cry down a Christ without them indeed without them because never truly in them Christ indeed dwells in our hearts but it is by faith Ephes 3. 17. and that is both brâ—d and fed by his word and ordinances Rom. 10.
sweet Bird mourns when it hath such a stone hung at its leg which keeps it from being upon the wing to which it hath such a natural propensity But the hireling thinks much at the work it self which he hath no inward delight or complacency in and that when not otherwise hindred but by his own wilful averseness and hence it is and from want of an heaven-born inward principle which might naturally mount him thitherward whilst for fear or shame or natural conscience or the like extrinsecal motive he is forced to it all is up the hill and then as weak and unsound bodies climbing up the mountain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they so he pants and blows fast but gets up very slowly and untowardly till at last he tumbles down headlong into deepest gulfs of sin which naturally he delights to swim in and so with Judas goes into his own place Acts 1. 25. 4. From this freedom and delight in natural agents proceeds frequency in their operations That which I delight to do I do often and what is natural is frequent How reiteratedly doth the heart and pulse beat the fountain bubble and one wave in the Sea come on in the neck of another Nature is no slug but like the good housewife is up every morning and afresh resumes her task and perpetuis vicibus turns about her wheel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. James calls it So the sun doth not like Jam. 3. 6. the Persian King or great Mogul to keep state appear abroad but seldom on some high dayes or great Festivals but every morning as the bridegroome cometh out of his chamber and every day Psa 19. 5. repeats his race and for the wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Solomon Eccles 1. 6. most elegantly expresseth it it whirleth about continually and returneth again according to his circuits or as Broughton rendreth it the wind whirleth whirleth walketh and into his circuits returneth the wind Nor are the breathings of the Divine spirit less restless and uncessant where he breaths freely God in his own nature is a pure act and therefore continually acting My Father worketh hitherto and I work saith our Saviour John 5. 17. and so doth his spirit too The Divine Nature is continually acting in the government of the world nor is it less operative in the believers heart being in the place before cited a well of water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present tense expressing a continued act of springing and bubbling up and so working out sin as the troubled fountain doth defilement The Divine Nature is continually offering up a judge sacrificium a daily sacrifice to God David morning and evening and at noon Psal 55. 17. even seven times a day Psal 119. 164. Paul had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no rest or relaxation or intermission either in his flesh or spirit 2 Cor. 2. 13. but would spend and be spent in the service of God and his people 2 Cor. 12. As of Baruch Nehem. 3. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 15. There was much of God and of an heavenly Divine Nature in those worthies who as the heavens were in a perpetual motion And although this height and degree many that are truly godly according to their lower attainments and less participation do not it may be shall not here rise up to till they arrive there where they rest not day and night saying Holy Holy Holy c. yet whereever this Divine life is the man is breathing Rev. 4. 8. and the pulse beating though in some sick fits sometimes too slowly and very weakly even when asleep the heart is waking and Cant. 5. 2. silently working But if on the contrary instead of this frequency such intermitting pulses and Syncope's be frequent the case is very dangerous but if always stone-still or but very seldom and only in some few good moods at a Sacrament or a searching Judgment on our selves or others we faintly move God ward here is dead nature no quickning spirit an ominous Comet that sometimes in an Age appeareth to be gazed on and forebodes some evil no Sun of Righteousness here which ariseth every morning to run his daily course like a mighty man that faints not Which leads to 5. The fifth Particular For Nature as it is frequent and instant in its work so it is also constant nay groweth stronger and quicker towards the end of its motion The stone in its natural motion downward if not hindred stayeth not till it come to its centre and the nearer it cometh to it it moveth the faster This Divine Nature is heavenly and therefore moves amain heaven-ward up the hill and yet finally stops not is a spring of water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 springing or leaping up and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even to everlasting life in the place now so often mentioned and which hath helped us in most of these Particulars I deny not but this well by earthly cares and other occasions may for a time be stopped that it floweth not so fully out as the Philistims stopped Abrahams wells with earth but that it did not so dry them up but when Isaac digged them again they gave out their water as formerly Gen. 26. 18. Hindrances and stops from within and without the man of God may have in the way of God but no total intercisions no final Apostasies but when at liberty he mounts up with wings Isa 40. â—1 as an Eagle runneth and is not weary walks and doth not faint And therefore for trial as the clock which for a while goeth right but when weights are taken off stands still and moves not sheweth that it 's not natural but an artificial piece of workmanship so seem we to move never so fast in the ways of God if when outward compulsion and motives cease we stand still or go backward it plainly sheweth that all was but an artifice and nothing of this Divine Nature which as in God is eternal and unchangeable so as it is in his Children as the seed it is begotten of 1 Pet. 1. 23. is incorruptible and immortal But yet in us it may have its stops for a while and partial intermissions as when there is life yet in sickness and fainting fits the puâ—se may be very weak and sometimes intermitted But even in that Case 6. In Nature there is a principle of recovery as Eutychus though Principium as constitutionm so restitutivum taken up dead yet because life was in him came again to himself Act. 20. 9 10 11. The Seed though corrupted under-ground yet at last sprouts out again and the live-spring though for the present defiled with filth cast into it yet by little and little is still working out that pollution and rests not till it hath wrought it self into its former clearness Such falls and defilements may a live Christian a Saint sometimes fall into as David Peter and others but as you read of their falls so
of their recoveries The Sheep may fall in the dirt but it 's the unclean Swine that continueth to lie and wallow in it The seed of God may sometimes be 1 Joh. 3. 9. under-ground but if it abide in us as the Apostle speaks it will at last get up and out again As there is hope of a tree though when cut down the root thereof wax old in the earth and the stock thereof die in the ground that through the scent of water it will sprout again and bud and bring forth boughs as a plant as Job speaks cap. 14. 7 8 9. So even a plant of righteousness may sometimes be so nipt and blasted that all may seem to be dead but being planted by the river implanted into Christ by the scent of water from this Divine nature and supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ after such a nipping Winter doth recover again its verdure in the spring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle of his Philippians Cap. 4. 10. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care hath flourished again Not like Jude's trees twice dead and pluckt up by Vers 12. the roots and so even dead without possibility of after-growth Till Nature be quite spent and extinct which the Divine Nature never can be it hath an inward natural Balsam in it which helps on its cure and recovery and as long as there is any breathing of the Divine Spirit it will at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up that 2 Tim. 1. 6. grace which seemed to be raked up under the dead ashes and blow it up into a brighter flame And therefore after such falls and stumbles labour we to express this Divine nature by these happy As corrupt nature breeds these decayes so let this Divine nature work these recoveries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. advers Colot as Cyprian Ep. 2. ad Donatum Quod sentitur antequam discitur after recoveries Nor doth it only play such after-games but is much discovered by its forehand quickness Grace is preventing as well as subsequent And this adds A seventh particular Nature hath its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sympathies antipathies its hints instincts and impetus which antevert the Acts of Reason prevent discourse and deliberation At the first blush the heart closeth with this thing or person before it can think why and riseth up in abhorrency and loathing of that other when it cannot tell wherefore Non amo te Volusi nec possum dicere quare It 's so with the Divine Nature It doth abstain and on the sudden start back 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the very first appearance of evil 1 Thess 5. 22. quicquid malè fuerit coloratum as Bernard phraseth it Some expound it of matters of Doctrine De Considerat lib. 3. and so the good Womans Spirit rose against false Doctrine preached though she could not say it was so some understand it of practice and so the chast Soul hates even the garment spotted with the flesh Jude v. 23. is troubled sweats and faints at the first appearance of it as some naturally do at the presence of that against which they have a secret Antipathy On the contrary at first sight or speech by an unio animarum closeth with persons of the same spirit and things that are as it were connatural before it hath time or leisure to give a rational account of it I know the word of God must be the standing rule both of our Faith and practice and am far from indulging the wild phansies and the sudden violent impetus of rash inconsiderate men and yet in some cases give much to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and propendency as also to the aversation of the spirits of sober godly men especially if of all or most as having in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something of the workings of this Divine Nature in them which anticipates their discourse and as John out-ran John 20. 4. Peter is got out before they can come to any deliberate resolution By its nature the Lamb dreads the Wolf when so young that it cannot discern him and we should discover more of this Divine Nature if by the divine instinct of it we can loath sin when we are otherwise so weak or surprized that we have not time or Nature doth act always as high as it can and then how high should this Divine Nature carry us ability to make a deliberate judgment of it 8. As Nature sometimes anticipates Reason so this Divine Nature always exceeds and goeth beyond that which is only humane Divinity is above Humanity Grace above Nature A Christian is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bare man but more than a man And therefore to have or express no more than what Nature can work or natural men by other helps can attain to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk as men with the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 3. terminus minuens or as Cap. 6. 7. he calls the like it 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a defect in which we fall much short of and below that which a man or God that is made partaker of the Divine Nature should arrive at and come up to For as man by nature and kind is and acts above other creatures so a Christian man should even above himself as a man and above other men that want that Divine Principle The widwives once said that the Hebrew women were not as the Egyptian women Exod. 1. 19. And truly the men of God should not be as other men I mean not more proud and froward and worldly but more holy and humble and unblameable than other men Samson the Nazarite became then only like another man when his locks were shaved off and the Spirit of God departed from him Judg. 16. 17 20. But as long as the sanctifying Spirit acts and abides in us we are true Nazarites as by our holy Vows separated to God so we should be though not wholly separated yet very much distinguished from other ordinary men Christ expects from us a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where much is given much is required and more than a Divine Nature could not be given therefore there he requires most Mat. 5. 47. something singular eminent and transcendent a proportionable distance from others in our lives which may answer that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we expect to be fixed between them and us after our deaths Luc. 16. 26. Contarenus de Justificat makes the comparison of the manners of a Rustick and of a Citizen or Courtier and a like difference he saith there is between the carriage of an earth-born sinner and a Saint made partaker of the Divine Nature The Sons of Princes should not be in the garb of Peasants children but that comparison is too low Between Nature and Grace there should be a more vast distance A Child of God should be as much above a natural man as heaven is above the
asunder of joints and marrow but this of the Word only of the soul and Spirit to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 4. 12. to sit as Judge and Critick in the inward tribunal of the heart and to take cognizance of all priviest matters there This is salt indeed that searcheth far pricks some at the very heart more kindly Act. 2. 37. and cuts others to the heart and makes them rage more desperatly Acts 7. 54. And no wonder seeing it was salt that was applied animis crudis to raw flesh in the one place besmeared with the blood of the Prophets and in the other yet reeking with the blood of Christ And accordingly whilst the Word like spiritual Doctrine is spiritually delivered for Spirit passeth where flesh sticketh our sins and Christ's sufferings the doctrine of Faith and Repentance of self-denial and mortification of cutting off right hands and plucking out of right eyes Mark 9. 43 to 49. is plainly and powerfully preached and people told that they must be salted with such unpleasing salt to flesh and blood here or else be salted with fire namely with unquenchable flames hereafter vers 49. This this is salt and in preaching this Ministers Veritas amara â—st carni Zuinglius are salt and good salt too vers 50. as here also in the Text they are so called when called to express Poverty of spirit Mourning Meeknesse and such other graces in the former verses Which kind of doctrine is indeed as fretting salt to proud flesh invisa putrescenti mundo as Musculus expresseth it And therefore no wonder as Chrysostom observes nor should we be discouraged if in our Ministry we find the World fret whilst our Word smarts it 's a sign that it meets with raw corrupt flesh and that it 's good Salt So that at once their corruption and the integrity of our Ministry are discovered together for if the Flesh be whole though you sprinkle Salt on it yet it smarts not as Chemnitius rightly observes that our Saviour having made mention of Revilings and Persecutions which they were likely to meet with in the two foregoing Verses Mox subjicit quasi causam presently adds in this You are the Salt of the Earth as the Cause or Occasion of it And therefore on the contrary for this first Particular the Salt hath lost his savour when the Preacher in his Ministrations 1. Is wholly insipid so flat and dilute without the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Acrimony or Spirit or Strength that it 's altogether Inscitiâ vel inertiâ insulsi Cartw. not only toothless but also to any right Palat wholly savourless The Iron so blunt as it will not enter though it strike often unless it had more strength Such kind of frequent Teachers Plutarch compares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praecept moral pag. 836. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to such as snuff the Lamp oft but put no Oyl to it In such according to the expression of the Text the Salt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without a Trope properly and simply Sal infatuatus est the Salt is become foolish as the Word signifieth in such Zech. 11. 15. foolish Shepherds handling of it 2. When he is too affected in preaching vain Froth of carnal â—loquence humane Learning Postillers Conceits Philosophers bâ—â—e Morality or the Schoolmens Divinity who use to make Aristotle's Ethicks their Bible But Nomen hoc Philosophorum daemonia non fugat said Tertullian this name of Philosophers Apologet. cap. 46. In them sales but not this sal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost dispossesseth not Devils nor will any such Philosophizing season Souls The Apostles that were the Salt of the Earth Paul tells us took another course in their Preaching to season it 3. When he is too base When for fear or favour profit or preferment he will claw and not bite flatter and daub with untempered Morter and with them Isa 30. 10. only speak placentia But what is to adulterate nay to abjure the nature of Salt if this be not As Sugar is called the Indian Salt in Rhodiginus which is indeed Colore Sal but Sapore Mel as Stenchius saith Salt only in Colour but Honey in taste and yet Sugar more like Salt for both cleanse than these corrupt and corrupting Ministers like this Salt the Text speaks of Sal insulsum est qui principatum amat qui increpare non audet saith Jerom. He is unsavoury Salt who that he may have his better In Marc. 9. Fee will apply Lenients to proud flesh which calls for a Câ—rrosive Such Trencher-Salts are too often found in Kings Courts and great Men's Houses But God in the Text cast them out of his as most unsavoury Salt if it were good should make even an Emperor's cut-finger smart Objurga montes corripe colles Contend with the Mountains and let the highest Hills hear thy Voice was given in charge to the Prophets Mic. 6. 1. And the Apostles this Salt of the Earth in the Text took the like course to season it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not by clawing and flattering but by pulling down of strong holds and bringing every proud thought into Captivity to the obedience of Christ 2. Cor. 10. 4 5. 4. I might add when either too negligently careless or cruelly pitiful or sinfully indulgent as Eli in his gentle breath Do no more so my Sons 1 Sam. 2. 23. Which was a sprinkling not of Salt but of Sugar a casting Oyl rather than Water on the flame When we are ashamed to make sinners blush and swoon our selves when we should make others bleed Crudelis haec misericordia this is cruel pity which will rather let such rot than make them smart save the Salt and not save the Soul A fault which is more ordinary than the contrary extream of Ostendit rarius in excessu peccare in defectu saepius insipidos potius quam nimis acres ut plurmum Parte 3. dub too much Tartness as Learned Spanhemius judiciously observes because our Saviour speaks only of the Salts wanting saltness Mark 9. 50. Yet because in the excess of sharpness and harshness all may and some too often do offend know we that as Salt bites and smarts so 2. It cures and heals which was the second Particular of the resemblance namely that as Salt after heals what before it made smart as we often see in a cut-finger it having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophylact in Marc. 9. a restringent quality whereby it makes the wide-gaping Lips of the bleeding Wound close and so it heals So also a Minister especially of the Gospel in this should indeed be like Salt never to make any Wound but with desire and indeavour to heal it and therefore as the Proverb wills that we should Salem oleum emere buy Oyl as well as Salt And Physicians in their use are wont to joyn the one with the other And as Pliny sheweth how Salt is helped with sweet
tota plena te saith holy Augustin Confess l. 10. c. 28. There 's no grief in him when he is all in God he hath a lively life of it when he can sit so near the Fountain of Life as to be filled with the blessed inflowes of it If David cannot tell how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity you had Psal 133. 1. need of the tongue of an Angel and not mine to tell the unutterableness of that delight and Joy when Children and Father Spouse and Husband Head and Members cleave together in closest Union And if Honour use to go in the first rank of the World's excellencies Honorificum then he that 's nearest to God must needs herein have the upper hand Our blessed Saviour is exalted to highest Honour in that he is at the right hand of God and then sure that soul is no base one that lies nearest to the heart of Christ Seemeth it a small thing to you said Moses to Korah that the God of Israel hath brought you near to himself in the Ministry of the Tabernacle Numb 16. 9. in which respect Nazianzen highly extolls the now despised Ministry and Chrysostom lifts it up above Crowns and Scepters but how much more honourable is it to draw near to God in saving Grace than in that Sacred Office which sometimes they that are most unworthy climb up to They were the Grandees of Persia who sat next to the King and saw his face Esth 1. 14. May I never affect greater Grandure in this World than in nearest approaches to see the face of God in Christ though the great ones of the World set me under their footstool I might add a word of Beauty which according to the Hebrew Honestum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 24. 16. phrase hath a kind of goodness in its comeliness But even that is when the parts of the body are joyn'd together amongst themselves and all united to the head which if parted or dislocated occasion horror rather than delight But O the ravishing Beauty of Christ mystical when from him and with him the whole body is fitly joyned together Ephes 4. 16. when met together to meet with Christ they are the Beauty of Holiness Psal 110. 3. This made Moses's face shine when he talked with God Exod. 34. 29. This encompasseth the Saints in their approaches to Christ with rayes of Divine lustre that they need not be beholden to the Limner or Painter for a painted glory Though the Moon be at the full of her light and beauty when she is in furthest opposition to the Sun yet our Full is in our nearest Vnion with the Sun of Righteousness I forbear further instances But that you may further see how good it is to draw near to God give me leave to propound these two convincing Arguments That 's indeed good and good to me that makes me better but so Argument 1 do not the profits pleasures honours and the rest of those things which the World calls good A man may be extremely bad with them and too often whilst they prostitute his body and debase his mind is made the worse by them But was it ever so by our humble drawing near to God Doth it not elevate the mind The soul is then in Apogaeo 2 Cor. 3. 18. enlarge the heart innoble spiritualize and by a Divine Metamorphosis transform the soul into the Image of Christ in its nearer approaches and interviews Intellectus fit idem cum objecto The understanding is made one with him in its Divine Contemplations and love makes him one with it in its cordial embraces not in H. N. his mad phrase Godded with God but yet in the Apostles 2 Pâ—t 1. 4. divine expression made partakers of the Divine Nature Here 's cure by coming near and touching Luke 8. 44. Healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. Life and Joy in his Presence Psal 16. 11. The Prodigal dare not be so bad as he would be unless he run far from his Father's house And that tells you the good child is better Luke 15. 13. for keeping in his Father's presence When we keep near to God Heaven is not only near to us but Heaven is in us we then have not only heavenly Joyes but also heavenly Hearts and is it not good to be there and therefore to draw nearer And again good to draw near because best when nearest and Argument 2 worst when farthest off 1. First best when nearest Angels and Men by nature the best of God's Creatures because in nature they are nearest to him and most resemble him and are capable of communion with him Of Angels they are the good ones that continually behold him Maâ—th 18. 10. and they the best that are nearest and therefore the chief of them are wont to be called Assistentes Of Men as first when was Adam best when now created and enjoyed converse with God or when fallen and then run away from him Of all Men the Saints that are most honoured by him are a people near unto him Psal 148. 14. their first beginning to be well being when at first in conversion they begin to turn towards him and how well are they never better than when in the exercise of Grace performance of service in Meditation Prayer Word Sacrament in doing nay though it be in suffering they can get nearest to him let it be upon the Canon's mouth saith the soul that is truly touched if I may but so make my approaches to my Lam. 3. 25 26 27. God Let my Father whip me if whilst he so doth he takes me into his Arms. The Child is not afraid in the dark if then he have his Father by the hand nor is David in the valley of the shadow of death if his good Shepherd be with him Psal 23. 4. The whole World is not worth a Dungeon's light and a Prison's inlargement when Christ shines in and his Spirit sets the soul at liberty to go out to him The Martyr is not bound when tyed to the stake his soul is upon the wing to take her flight to her Saviour It seems then that it is so good to draw near to God that in so doing the Serpent hath lost it's sting the Lion is become a Lamb the Gridiron a bed of Roses Darkness is no Darkness Psal 139. 12. the worst evils are not themselves It s good to be afflicted tormented to suffer to dye good to be to do to suffer any thing if thereby we â—e set nearer to Christ who is all in all But how good then when in a better conditon when once come nearest in Heaven's full vision and perfect communion there and so to be with Christ what saith Paul of it he wants words and yet multiplies them it 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multò magis melius Comparative upon Comparative which riseth higher than a Superlative It 's much more better even
best of all Phil. 1. 23. which when Peter in Christ's transfiguration had only a glimpse of he half translates my Text and cryes out in an Extasy Lord it 's good to be here Mat. 17. 4. And so when the elevated soul is got into the Holy Mount and there having a nearer stand takes a fuller view of the glory of Christ is so near that being in the Spirit it 's carryed out to him in strongest workings Rev. 1. 10. and heavenly raptures as the inferior Orbs are carried about by the motion of the Primum mobile and when in inward peace can quietly ly down in its Saviours bosom whilst others are anxiously asking who will shew us any good their Corn and Wine is Psal 4. 6 7. nothing to such a lifting up of the light of God's Countenance it sweetly sings its requiem and knows what it saith which Peter did not and crieth out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord it 's good to be here Juvat usque morari Let us here not make a Tabernacle but a Mansion for ever For first it 's best to be nearest 2. Secondly many now do and many more at last will find it worst when farthest off If Devils of all Creatures are in the worst condition I am sure they are at the furthest distance and therefore Satan in ancient Liturgies stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a far-off stranger to Christ and his Kingdom And for Men our first unhappy step towards misery was in our first retrograde from the God of our Mercy whence we came to be estranged from the womb and to go astray as soon as we were born Psal 58. 3. So as the further we go it 's the further from God and nearer to our own destruction leaving him and forsaking our own mercy together Jonah 2. 8. And so at last when we are furthest run from him we are arrived at the lowest pitch of our own misery So when the rich man is in Hell it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afar off that he saw Lazarus in Abraham 's bosom Luke 16. 23. And accordingly that infernal dungeon is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outward darkness Matth. 8. 12. As Prisons were wont to be without the City Acts 12. 10. So those unhappy souls in this sett at the remotest distance from Christ's presence and Kingdom as the Apostle describes everlasting destruction to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the presence of the Lord 2 Thess 1. 9. When the Lord Jesus at the last day shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chide those undone Miscreants into Hell with those soul-sinking words Depart from me ye cursed Matth. 25. 41. Then at least the truth of this Doctrine that it 's good to draw near to God though now not heeded will be by such fully but most uncomfortably resented of which truth had we no other proof we need no better evidence â—han this double witness 1. Of an humble soul in desertion which had formerly felt the sweetness of Christ's nearer presence and is now fainting Cant. 5. 6. and swooning away by reason of his absence how is it starved with such a cold blast when removed out of that warm Sun-shine would not the poor Woman when she feels her self fainting and her Issue running say it would be well with me if I could draw near would not the least touch of the utmost hem be a rich mercy 2. Of a forlorn soul in the estate of despair and damnation Was it not a trembling Cain's saddest Note Thou hast driven me from thy presence and therefore my punishment is greater than I can bear Gen. 4. 13 14. Though malice guilt and horror make such bid God depart from them and make them fly from him yet Job 21. 14. their own present feelings cannot but make them sensible how good it would be to be nearer to him when they find it the extremity of all evil to be utterly and for ever removed from him The ground of all which may be taken principally 1. From Reason the Nature of God 2. Of the Creature in general 3. Of Man in particular And 4. More especially from that new Nature or gracious frame which God works in the new Creature For God Reas 1 From God As Omnipresent Psal 139. 7. 1. First he is an Omnipresent God not far from any of us Acts 17. 27. but more inward than our very souls to every one of us So that there is now no flying from his presence And therefore think whether upon this ground it be not best to draw near to his goodness When Jacob could not escape Esau as an enemy it Gen. 32. Hei mihi quam excelsâ—â— es in excelsis quam profundus es in profundis nusquam recedis vix redimus ad te August Conf. lib. 8. cap. 3. was his wisdom so to apply himself to him as to make him his friend Because we cannot meet God as an enemy be we as suppliants to make him a friend Amos 4. 12. There is no escaping from God but by running to him nor escaping his Wâ—rath if we betake not our selves to his Mercy If we draw not near to the Throne of his Grace we shall be drawn to the Bar of his Justice In a word he is an infinit God so that we cannot avoid him and is it not then good to make a virtue of necessity and so to draw near to him 2. But that we may not be so much driven by fear as drawn As good with Cords of Love Consider we as his greatness so especially his goodness and that 's a strong Attractive hath a wonderful Magnetick force to draw the soul to love and the mind to assent that it 's so good to draw near to a good God that it 's a Conclusion above Demonstration Particularly 1. As God he is Bonum Vniversalissimum All in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. which contains all good in him and so is able to make an universal supply of all that good which we stand in need of from him Christus meus omnia My God is my All my all-sufficient portion who as such sufficienter movet implet voluntatem as Aquinas speaks like the huge Ocean that fills every 1. Aq. 105. A. 4. As in Haman Esth 5. 11 12 13. Creek which the shallow narrow Rivolets of the Creature 's largest perfections cannot reach cannot supply all and the want of any good thing ministers more disquiet than the enjoyment of many Satisfaction I have seen an end of all perfection saith the Psalmist but it 's well that he adds thy Commandments are exceeding Psal 119. 96. broad One God more than enough to fulfil our desires and wants And why then should I not prefer God before my self as the whole before the part Why should I not be nearer to God than to my self How well would it be to have the Head of all our Springs ly in this immense Ocean How good is it to
draw near to that God when by enjoying of him who is more than all we may be sure to want nothing 2. As God he is Summum Bonum Finis ultimus the chiefest good and last end Psal 73. 25. Prov. 16. 4. We Christians must needs believe it seeing all the Sects of the Heathen Philosophers Vide Schedium 2. except the proud * Seneca vid. Heinsis exercit Sacr. 16. in Act. 17. Est aliquid quo sapiens antecedat Deum Stoick who thinks his wise man is in some thing above his God do joyntly acknowledge it Now it's Austin's true rule Rei cujusque perfectio est in adhaesione ad suum principium that it 's the goodness and perfection of every thing to adhere to its principle and to be in a tendency to its last end which therefore makes God the Load stone of the soul that it cannot rest till it point to him the very Center of it that it cannot be quiet till it rest in him as the chief good our chiefest happiness can consist in nothing but in nearest Union and fullest Communion with him 3. As God he is so Omnipotently good that either as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst he is near he can keep evil far from us Psal 91. 7. or so abate it that it doth not hurt us Dan. 3. 27. 6. 22. or so change it that it shall be a means of good to us as Joseph's brethrens bad intention a means of his and their preservation Gen. 50. 20. and Esth 9. 1. turns Balaam 's curse into a blessing Deut. 23. 5. So that out of the Eater comes meat and out of the strong sweetness Grapes are gathered of Thorns and Figs of Judg. 14. 14. Matth. 7. 16. Prov. 16. 7. 2 Cor. 1. 5. 2 Cor. 12. 7 9. Thistles makes my Enemy my Friend my Wound my Cure my Affliction my Consolation and even my weakness my strength whilest I being so weak that I cannot stand on mine own legs am cast into my Fathers arms And was not the Psalmist then upon a safe-guard when at the same time that in one Verse his Enemies drawing near made his heart trâ—mble in the very next Verse his God being as near made his Faith confident Psal 119. 150 151. O how good is it to draw near to this Omnipotent Matth. 7. 27. God who when the Flouds come and the Winds blow can either still the Storm or make it blow us into the Harbour is so good as either to cause all evil to be far away or when near to be far from burting us 4. As God he is purely and onely good so as no evil is either in him or dwels with him Psal 5. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Psalmist in the first words of this Psalm and they may indifferently be rendred either Truly God is good or God is only good and indeed he is most truly good that is only good and so God is a most simple being without the least intermixture of any evil no evil in him none proceeds from him all is good that God sends His good Word 2 Kings 20. 19. His good Spirit Neh. 9. 20. His Creatures good as he made them Gen. 1. 31. Nay his very Chastisements good as he improveth them Psal 119. 71. All good and as they come from him onely good with the pure he is pure Psal 18. 26. A pure heart and way without mixture of sin shall have pure Mercy without mixture of wrath Provoke me not and I will do you no hurt Jer. 25. 6. But now in all other things even in our best Contentments by reason of their and our vanity there is an untoward mixture of evil and good it may be of a great deal of evil with a little good of the worst evil with the choicest good a very Polypus head in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Either in them or in our use of them bitterest choler of sweetest Thucidides honey a most infectious Plague as once at Athens after a most healthful year Worst carriages and best parts in the same See Piccart Observat Historicopolitic Decad. 1. cap. 8. man as in the same Cataline Virtue and Vice were at a Combat but that the latter unhappily got the Victory an Antidote and a Poyson in the same Viper in the same Toad in which is if you could find it the most Precious Stone you may be sure to find the rankest Venom that you have more cause not to touch it for the one than to take it up for the other Such staves of comfort are the Creatures like Moses's take them at the one end and they will be a Staff in your hand to support you but if at the other a Serpent to sting you to the heart So that instead Exod. 4. 2 3 4. of drawing near to them you have need with him to fly from them But how safely then may we and how confidently ought we with Humility to draw near to God who though of our selves are evil and only evil and continually evil yet shall find him good and onely good and everlastingly good If it be good marrying that good Wise which will do her husband good and not hurt all the days of her life Prov. 31. 12. Then how much better is it in chastest love to dwell with and cleave to this God who is so purely and simply good in himself that if thou wilt let him he will do no hurt but good and good only and that to Eternity 5. As God he is Infinitly good and Infinitum non potest transâ—ri We cannot pass over and get through that which is Infinite or get to the end of that which hath none so that though every day we get nearer yet still there is a Plus ultra that thou mayest still be called on as the Angel did Ezekiel to see yet Cap. 8. 6. more We are soon at the bottom of the shallow Creature 's greatest depth and indeed at the first in our expectation gotten far beyond what we after find in the possession so that the beauty of it is best seen at a distance and the nearer we come to it the more blemishes we see in it and on the contrary in our approaches to God's infinite goodness as we cannot think so much before as we find after so the nearer we come the more we meet with so that when thou hast gone so far and gotten so much of God as thou dost want and he can afford no more I 'l give thee leave to sit still but till then I must advise thee that it 's good for thee to get nearer 6. But it may be this Infinit goodness will overpour our weakness and therefore the trembling soul with the poor Publican in the Gospel yet stands afar off and dares not draw near Luke 18. 13. whilest it thinks that as God is Optimus so he is Maximus though infinitly good yet infinitly great and therefore although my
badness stands in need of his goodness yet my baâ—sness and guiltiness had need stand off from that greatness This bottomless Ocean will drown me and although the nearer to this Sun the more warmth and light yet in such nearer approaches that heat will melt my waxen wings and that light will dazle and put out my weaker eye True in our bold and curious approaches Prov. 25. 27. Scrutator Majestatis opprimetur à gloriâ But in our humble addresses we shall find it far otherwise viz. God to be bonum conveniens atque ità maximè appetibile so good as most sutable to our desires and wants Partly as in his own infinite sweetness and condescension he stoops so low that the lowliest heart may freely draw near and touch the top of his golden Scepter as noblest Princes have given freest access to their meanest Subjects His greatness no obstruction to his goodness But principally and to us by our sin estranged from him only as in Christ our Emmanuel God with us we come to have near and close Communion with God in him an holy God and sinful man were at an unapproachable distance But therefore our Saviour God-man came between us a Mediator that we who were afar off may be made near by the bloud of Christ Ephes 2. 13. That as the same Israelites whom the brightness of Moses his face drave away Exod. 34. 30. when he had put a Vail on it drew near to him Verse 31 32 33. So the same sinner who must keep aloof off from his Majesty especially as he looks out in a fiery Law need run far away to escape his wrath and curse Deut. 33. 2. as now he hath put on the Veil of his flesh may safely and comfortably approach and have blessed Communion with him and experimently say with the Psalmist that it 's good to draw near to him SERMON XXX PSAL. 73. 28. At St. Maries Sep. 9. 1649. But it is good for me to draw near to God THe second ground whereof is taken from the Nature of Reas 2 This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text is alone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Almighty is only God All-sufficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himself and therefore alone Self-sufficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hath so his Being from himself that all else have their beings from him the Creature in General which at best is but a depending being not sufficient in and of it self for its own Happiness and therefore must go out of it self to find it in another which ultimately nay immediately is God only Now that it may have it of him it must be some way or other united to him and so from a natural Tendency proportionably to the nature of it looks and moves towards him and as it can draws near and cleaves to him according to that of the Psalmist The eyes of all wait upon thee Psal 145. 1 15. As the Vine to the Elm and the Ivie to the Oak how fast doth it clasp and cleave How doth it insinuate Like the Rivers to the Ocean or Ezekiel's Cedar-branches to the great Eagle Chap. 17. 6. The Soveraign Lord and Creator leaving in the most perfect Creature some defect either for being well-being or continuing in both that it may have recourse to Him for a supply as the Child that cannot defend or it may be carry it self on its own Legs when left crieth to the Father Well were it if we could cry more after ours for that might make God draw near to us when we cannot to him What a dark frozen thing is such a Northern Clime where the Sun's Light shines not and whither its warm Beams reach not But what a very nothing is every thing without a God creating and supporting it The very Chaos could not continue in its imperfect confused being without the Spirit of God brooding upon Gen. 1. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it And therefore when we see the Flowers opening to the Sun and the Birds in Winter-Season flying away into warmer Countries they tell us that as we are Creatures for our being and well-being it 's good to draw near to God and teach Confess lib. 13. cap. 8. us to make Austin's Confession Male est mihi praeter te non solum extra me sed in meipso omnis mihi copia quae Deus meus non est egestas est Lord without thee how ill would it be with me And that not only in regard of what 's without me but also within me Without thee my greatest Plenty is errant Beggary and therefore such a poor Creature stands in need to dwell near to such a Good Neighbour to be warmed by his Fire and fed at his Table Lord it 's good for me to beg an Alms at thy Bethesda though I creep on my Knees to get as near as I can to thee And this the rather if in the third place we consider the Reas 3 Nature of Man as in himself and in reference to God in a special manner made by him and for him and therefore unquiet Fecisti nos ad te irrequi etum est cor nostrum doneo requiescat in te Augustin Confess 41. c. 1. See Dr. Field of the Church lib. 1. c. 1. and restless till it return to him The right Line is turned into a Circle in which the Line is so reflected that in its return it stays not till it return from whence it first came Of a Spiritual Immortal and Understanding Soul of vast apprehensions and desires Of a Sociable Nature pity it should not have acquaintance with God If not good for Adam to be alone without a Meet-help 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 18. as always before him with whom he might be made one flesh How ill to be without a better help nearer at hand with whom he may be made one Spirit Made after Gods Image Gen. 1. 26. and therefore best when he can come nearest to that first and best Copy With an understanding Soul Job 35. 11. And therefore the more he knows the more he understands his own Dependency and therefore seeth a greater necessity of drawing the nearer to the Fountain of his Being and Welfare Of a Capacious Apprehension which nothing but this Primum Verum can fill and therefore wearys himself Eccles 12. 12. in an endless search after Truth in several Arts and Sciences The World is set in his heart Eccles 3. 11. but it 's but little that he can attain Job 26. 14. and not without a great deal of difficulty is tired out in gathering up the Rays of Light and Truth which Scattered as Israel over Egypt to gather stubble this Sun hath scattered among the Creatures but is not satisfied till he find them all and more than all in himself This is eternal Life to know thee and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ John 17. 3. In the
them blasted the Creature to them As soon as they began to live to God the Flesh was mortified and the World crucified But further In their after frequent Experience they have been herein more confirmed that when their Souls have gone out to any Creature to support them they find the best so weak that they cannot or nothing in comparison of God not at all without God Father and Mother cast off when God alone takes up Psal 27. 10. and therefore Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Isa 2. 22. And for others so bad that if they could they would not so that oft-times they are the worse the nearer they come to them The Reed breaks and pierceth the Hand when leaned upon for support Ezek. 29. 6 7. the Briar scratcheth and pricks when gone to for shelter They get as much good by applying themselves to them as Joseph did by going to his Brethren or the Levite by turning in to Gibeah Of all others Gen. 37. the Godly are deserted by Friends and pursued by Enemies and they themselves a poor shiftless helpless People and therefore it 's good for the Conies that feeble folk and so much hunted to make their Houses in the Rock Prov. 30. 26. It 's good for the Vine so unable to subsist of it self and so much pluckt by others to clasp fast to the Elm For me that am plagued all the day long and chastned every morning as the Psalmist said of himself v. 14. for me at least it 's good to draw near to God This by experience they find and therefore as Joshua said to Israel If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you whom you will serve but I and my House will serve the Lord Josh 24. 15. So will every right-born Heir of Heaven however others take offence and go away Joh. 6. 66. yet when asked Whether they also would go away v. 67. with Peter be ready resolvedly to answer Lord to whom should we go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ c. ver 68. We know and have found and felt what thou art in thy self and what thou hast been to us in our keeping close to thee and therefore there 's no talking or thinking of leaving thee The faithful Soul from the very Heart saith what the Psalmist v. 25. expresseth Lord whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee And therefore when others v. 27. by their dear-bought experience find at last nothing but destruction is gained by being afar off and going a whoring from thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod ad me spectat I that know this and have had experience both of the mischief of my being estranged from thee and of the blessing of keeping close to thee I must hold to it and shall ever by the Grace of God bide by it that it 's good for me to draw near to thee Which teacheth us with all humble thankfulness to think Vse 1 and acknowledg how good God hath been to us in giving us Jesus Christ by whose Mediation alone we may have this access and without which as we now are it would be as good for us to draw near to God as for a guilty Malefactor to the Bar of an angry Judge or for Briars and Thorns to a consuming fire Isa 27. 4. for so God is to Sinners out of Christ Heb. 12. 29. And then Who among us is able to dwell with devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. His Majesty is so infinitely glorious that as the Apostle speaks he dwells in Light unapproachable 1 Tim. 6. 16. His Holiness so impatient of sinful defilement that he cannot endure to behold it Hab. 1. 13. so that even the impudent sinner gets as far as he can out of his fight that he may more freely commit it Isa 29. 15. and the humbled blushing sinner cannot stand before him by reason of it Ezra 9. 6 15. His Justice is so strict and his Wrath so dreadful as makes Adam when now under guilt hide himself Cain run out of his Gen. 3. Gen. 4. Luke 18. 13. Rev. 6. 15 16. presence the poor humbled Publican stand afar off and the forlorn damned Souls at the last day desire Mountains and Rocks to fall upon them rather than he should see them and as Basil thinks wish rather to lie still in the Prison of Hell than to be brought out before him to his Judgment-Seat How awful is that sad word of God's being sanctified in them that draw nigh to him Levit. 20. 3 And how dreadful is that Threat of God's drawing near to Judgment Mal. 3. 5 And can it then be so good to draw near to such a God so glorious and terrible I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord said the Rom. 7. 25. Apostle in alike case and so doth the faithful Soul in this I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Through him my Propitiatory I find my Judg on a Mercy-Seat and so it 's good to draw near happy that we may and more happy if we will It was he that engaged his heart to approach to God Jer. 30. 21. That Son of Man that drew near to the ancient of days Dan. 7. 13. and so brings us with him as Joseph did his Brethren into the Gen. 47. 2. King's presence As our near Kinsman taking our Nature into the nearest Vnion of his Person so as in this Glass we see the Glory John 1. 14. Heb. 2. 14. of God so refracted and attempered to our weakness that instead of being oppressed with it we are changed into it 2. Cor. 3. 18. By our blessed Emanuel God is so with us as that we may have free and near access to him Whilst his Holiness and Obedience become a Vail to cover our Defilement And his Blood hath so fully quenched the fiery Indignation of his Father's Wrath that we who by the Law are kept at a distance afar off Exod. 20. 18. 24. 2. have by the Gospel of Christ brought to us a better hope by which we draw nigh to God Heb. 7. 19. And what now remaineth but that seeing it is so good to draw Vse 2 near to God we be all exhorted in his fear to be so good to our selves as to keep no longer at a distance Let Strangers yea Enemies draw near and let Friends draw yet nearer Let not our sins any longer separate us and then let not unbelief dishearten us Remember that as on the one side the Spirit and the Bride say came and he that beareth saith come viz. in the desires and out-goings of their Soul to Christ so he on the other side in his desire of their union with him ecchoeth back again And he that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the
be lost they are lost for ever 1 Sam 9. 3 20. Psal 119 ult 1 Pet. 2. 25. Mat. 18. 11. Luke 14. 4 5. Saul's lost Asses may be again found and so the lost Sheep and such were the best of us in this Life may be also but Souls lost at Death will never be able afterward to find the way to Life nor will all the riches of the World be able to purchase then a Guide to it Indeed in the right improving of them for God and the Poor thou mayst be laying a good foundation as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6. 18 19. against time to come that when Death comes thou mayst lay hold of everlasting Life but the bare enjoying of them though it may set thee on higher ground amongst Men here below yet it will never be able to lift thee up to God's favour in Life or to Heaven in Death The gain of these things is the Devil's Bait and therefore he cast it out as his last device to take our Saviour with All this will I give thee c. Matth. 4. 9. and with which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he enticeth Men to the loss of James 1. 14. their Souls and so the same Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both Gain and Craft or Deceit because by gain he craftily deceives Men to their perdition And so his prime Scholar Simon Magus because as Solomon saith Mony answereth all Eccles 10. 16. Acts 8. 19. things would be chaffering with it for Spirituals but Peter gave him his Answer that his Mony was not current in God's Market but bade it perish with him so that it seems Ver. 20. he might perish for all it with it and if gain be all his Godliness all that his gain will be found to be loss at his 1 Tim. 6. 5. last reckoning and then the Covetous who are most greedy of gain will be greatest losers as the Prophet pronounceth a Woe against such Hab. 2. 9. 3. Nor will the bare enjoying of outward Ordinances though more gainful make Death our gain which yet Men are too ready to phansy and promise to themselves Now know I saith Micah that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest Judg. 17. 13. and it is a Plea which some even at Death and Judgment will knock boldly at the Gate of Heaven with to have it opened to them We have eaten and drank in thy presence and thou hast taught in our Streets Luke 13. 26. And to this day it 's a very short cut that some are ready to make from a Death-bed to Heaven they have been Baptized and by it Original sin was taken away from them and they have gone to Church to Prayer Sermon and Sacrament and if then at the point of Death they may have their actual sins taken off by Absolution and receive the Sacrament upon it for confirmation of it they make no question but they shall go bolt right up to Heaven and whatever their lives be Death will be their gain without all peradventure But Friend be not too hasty to reckon without your Host sit down a little and think seriously of these Scriptures Bodily exercise profiteth little 1 Tim. 4. 8. It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing John 6. 63. Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou beest a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made uncircumcision Rom. 2. 25. It 's not the bare having them but profiting by them in one sense if either in Life or Death thou wouldst be profited by them in another Indeed we read Rom. 3. 1 2. What advantage hath the Jew or what profit is there of Circumcision Much every way and chiefly because unto them were committed the Oracles of God saith Paul and so say I great is the gain that in Life and Death we get by them if we in Life gain saving-Grace and Souls-advantage by them but they will not be so if we live wickedly or but unfruitfully under them and so have our condemnation aggravated by them as some would gather out of Revel 14. those that will not be gathered in Grotius the Gospel's Harvest v. 15 16. will be pressed in the Vintage of God's Judgments v. 17 18. 4. Nor will outward Profession and a fair shew under those Ordinances which too many rest in and hope to gain Heaven by accrue to their advantage at Death and their last account then Paul could say Though I speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels and though I have the gift of Prophesy and Faith to remove Mountains and bestow all my goods on the Poor and have not true Charity it profiteth me nothing 1 Cor. 13. 1 2. And more near to my purpose that 's a sad question Job 27. 8. What is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained this and that and the repute with Men with Christians of more than ordinary proficiency in Grace and Holiness when God takes away his Soul Man thou wilt then be stript for we shall all be judged naked and then as Solomon saith in another case Prov. 23. 8. The Morsel thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words the hid corruption of thy Heart will then up and out to the loathing of both thy self and others and all those sweet words and pretences by which thou didst impose upon others and endeavouredst upon God also will be all lost and thou with them when thou shalt find that of the Apostle Rom. 2. 28 29. made good He is not a Jew who is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of Men but of God Ravennae extat emblema ad picturam Phaenicis Securus moritur qui scit se morte renasci Mors ea non dici sed nova vita potest Expunctâ hâc morte ad immortalitatem venimus Cyprian de mortalitate S. 2. FINIS There are several literal Mistakes and some mispointings in the Hebrew words which the Candid and Learned Reader is desired to amend The other most material here follow PAge 3. Line 13. Read by p. 4. l. 3. r. notional p. 9. in the margent r. John the most Eagle-eyed Evangelist p. 21. l. 32. r. Michal p. 24. l. 8. dele self after him p. 32. l. 31. r. add some p. 81. l. ult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 88. l. 11. r. Josh 4. 18. p. 91. l. 17. r. lumber p. 112. marg r. legis sectam p. 122. l. 8. r. in Christ p. 182. l. 35. for God himself r. Godliness p. 183. l. 36. for cross r. crasse p. 224. l. 18. r. meant p. 230. l. 8. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 232. l. 9. r. adore him for p. 233. l. 13. r. could bestow p. 239. l. 38. for crimes r. aimes p. 247. l. 4. r. is terminus p. 378. l. 1. r. quid p. 403. l. 15. r. this p. 415. l. 8. dele why p. 441. l. 23. r. faedus p. 462. l. ult 463. l. 1. r. none before the guide p. 469. l. 30. r. persons p. 471. l. 15. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 474. l. 21. r. Anaxagoras p. 478. l. 35. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 489. l. 20. r. Rereward p. 511. marg l. 21. r. prima q. 105. p. 537. l. ult r. conflatus à Vulcano p. 538. l. 2. r. firmer p. 542. l. 34. r. there by p. 560. l. 23. r. main chance p. 561. l. 21. r. left p. 564. l. 1. after small insert But the King p. 566. l. 27. r. Abject l. 26. r. rescued p. 594. l. 35. r. the Psalmist saith p. 614. l. 25. after come add when it doth come l. 37. r. enjoying p. 652. l. ult dele of it p. 661. l. 26. r. Jesuates p. 666. l. 24. r. move p. 668. l. 12. after Gen. 30. 29. add But a Christian should say thus with himself p. 672. l. 8. r. inquam p. 678. l. 15. r. privatively p. 686. l. 12 for say r. answer P. 692. l. 31. r. enow
Taste it but now afresh and thou shalt find it as fresh and give thee as much Refreshment as ever If it hath been thy greatest Joy in thy joyful Youth I tell thee it hath as much Joy in it for thy sad Old-age That may be said of God's Word which the Prophet saith of God himself Isa 46. 4. And even to Old-age I am he and even to hoare hairs I will carry you Doth not the Psalmist say as much in the 160. Verse of this Psalm Thy Word is true from the Beginning It 's well it begins well But will it last as well Yes He adds And every one of thy righteous Judgments endureth for ever Answerable to which is that other Expression ver 152. Concerning thy Testimonies I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever For ever and founded for ever O sweet Expression O grounded Comfort Brethren get acquainted with God's Word and Promise as soon as you can and maintain that Acquaintance everlastingly and your knowledg of it shall not either go before or go beyond its Truth Know it as soon and as long as you will or can and you shall never find it tripping or failing But you may after long Experience of God and it say I have known of old that thou hast founded it for ever And so I have done with the First Breadth of God's Word reaching to all Times II. There is a Second answerable to it for God's Word and the New Jerusalem Rev. 21. 16. in this are like Both the Length and Breadth of them are equal God's Word and Promise as it reacheth to all Times that 's the first Breadth so also to all Occasions and Wants That 's the Second Just like the Israelites There I shall have full peace to entertain my self a plentiful store of Ingredients to every Malady to quiet every doubt c. as Dr. Hammond paraphraseth the Text. Garments in the Wilderness which waxed not Old for Forâ—â— years There 's Length and Continuance But withal 〈◊〉 they must grow too as their Children did or else they would not serve their turn So truly here a gracious Promise will be better than a good Garment that will keep a poor Soul warm at heart Forty years together and much longer than so And which is the best of all we cannot out-grow it It will serve to lap the tender Babe in and yet not leave the tallest Christian in any place bare if he will but wear it This is the Second Breadth It will reach to all Needs and Wants which may be further considered in two Particulars 1. Some Word and Promise of God or other is able to reach to all our outward Wants and Evils which no one outward Contentment can do Health only cures Sickness but as many a Man is healthful and poor together it reacheth not to cure his Poverty And Riches take away Poverty but cannot sometimes buy Health Honour persumes a Man and keeps him from stinking in Man's nostrils but many a Man that is well esteemed of may be poor enough One Contentment helps usually but one Want and one Plaister useth not to cover many Sores and truly for outward Matters scarce any Man hath a Plaster for every Sore Say those of you that have most in this kind Have you so much as you want nothing Now truly herein especially is seen the Exceeding breadth of God's Word and Promises Had we but so much Skill as to go to every Box of precious Oyntment in this Myrotheke we might find certainly a Salve for every outward Sore And had we but so much Faith but as to apply it we should find it sovereign too Here 's a Promise that might heal that Wound which a slanderous Tongue hath given me there another which might be my best Cordial on my Sick-bed in another the poor Hunger-starved Body might these hard Times meet with a good Meals-meat yea I assure you and Dainties too I name not more particulars nor have I time to exemplifie any But in general consider only the 92. ver of this Psalm and think whether it speak not one word for all Vnless thy Law had been my delights I had perished in mine Affliction Affliction is a large word and may contain under it many particular Evils Now where 's his Cure for all Truly he hath one Catholicon one Receipt for all Thy Law in the singular number But what of it What can Delectationes in plurali significans nullum esse genus doloris cui non inveniatur in verbo Dei remedium Mollerus one Law do to so many Evils He tells you it's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We read it Vnless it had been my delight But the word in the Original is wonderfully significant in a double respect it s both 1. In numero plurali 2. Forma duplicata In plural number Delights and they doubled too Is my Affliction sickness In God's Word had I but Faith I might get Health and Health again Is it Nakedness I might get Clothes yea and double Clothing And so of the rest Brethren did we but walk so in Obedience to the Word that we were fit for Mercies and then had but Faith to rely upon the Promise for them in this one Bible we might find many Delights and them doubled too Health and Health by the Word is double Health Food and Food with and from a Promise is double Food both first and second Course too So God's Word reacheth to all Wants of the outward Man and in that respect is exceeding broad 2. But secondly It can reach to cover all the Nakedness and heal all the Wounds of the inward Man and if so then sure it is exceeding exceeding broad In this respect though a Man were so outwardly happy that he were clothed and harnessed Cap-a-pe as you say from top to toe in regard of outward Man yet for all this as the Prophet speaks in a like Case Isa 28. 20. This Covering may be narrower than that a Man can wrap himself in it Though harnessed from top to toe in this kind yet truly this is not Armour of Proof Brethren a Man may have a poor naked Soul under all our warm and gay Clothes and truly the Arrow of God's Wrath can wound the Soul through all such Clothes and Armour O Blessed then be God who hath given us his Word which as it can clothe the Body so it can Cover the Soul too that cannot only keep off many a heavy Stroke from the outward Man but can keep the Conscience from many a deadly Wound yea and can heal those which we had got when carelesly we had not it about us I Brethren herein is seen the infinite Breadth of God's Word that one Promise of it can quiet and heal and refresh a weary wounded Conscience which no finite Creature not all the Creatures joyned together can Well are those two joyned together The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul You read