racketed from one temptation to another till at last he hazard eternal ruine reeling from one extreme to another untill he fall into perpetual misery Therefore to conclude let me implore every soul that expects and looks for eternal life as who doth not to get cleansed from all your iniquities whether secret or open latent or revealed before you come unto the brink of misery from whence is no return before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains wherein is no security let no iniquity ever have any more dominion over you get all your actions salted with true grace that God may smell a sweet savour in your holy devotions and pious services knowing that your best performances are but gilded appearances and glittering abominations if God should with severity inspect them so that we must all say with holy David in the words of my Text If thou Lord shouldst be extreme c. FINIS SERM. III. LUKE 2.7 And she brought forth her first-born son and wrapped him in swadling-clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne Introduction GOd is a most pure Act never was he idle but alwaies in being even when this world was not in being he was in himself love and nigh enough to himself yet when he was so he thought of some eminent act of bounty wherein to produce an Idea of his goodness and accordingly wills thoughts to himself of shewing mercy to mankind for yet he would do good to all therefore all his wayes are good his being and well-being envied as yet by none no not by Satan the first parent of malice and grand enemy both of Gods unspeakable glory and mans eternal felicity not enduring to entertain the least thought of seeing humane nature deified yet God to shew the freedome of his love in rich mercy stamps his own Image upon man for it was his goodness as well as his power that he made us good as well as men but what was at first made good we soon made sin for God made man upright but he hath sought out many inventions so that had not God redeemed us we had been miserable to all eternity much rather had our souls not been then not be happy When man was made holy and had sinned though such iniquity deserved the ruine of what he was before having defaced that image yet God is prone to mercy when provoked goodness would rescue that part of himself from ruine for scarce one had sinned but one was promised to save the Son of God was promised and presented to the Patriarchs being revealed to them by his promises and foretold by his Prophets that God would send his Son he saw a fit vessel wherein he would inclose his son viz. the Blessed Virgin and therefore he sends his Angel to provide a lodging telling her that she was highly honoured of God Luke 7.3 and she shall conceive in her womb and bring forth a Son and shall call his name Iesus that God would give him a name above every name and of his kingdom there shall be no end she examined and believed the Angels Message and and was found with child of the holy Ghost Luke 1. the power of the highest over-shadowing her But loe she is summoned to another travel for there is a decree from Augustus Caesar and behold she takes no small pains to obey for though her appearance might have been excused yet she would not disobey the lawful magistrates command the custome of women is on Mary but alas desolate Virgin she is driven to that pass that having no room in the inne necessity compels her to make a chamber of the stable and to turne the manger the place wherein is laid the food of beasts into a Cradle the now onely receptacle for the bread of life and at once both mother and midwife for she brought forth her first-borne son and wrapt him in swadling-clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the Inne In which words consider with me these four general parts 1 A Virgins travail 2 A mothers tenderness 3 A childs poverty 4 The peoples inhospitality 1 A Virgins travail She brought forth her first-borne sonne 2 A mothers tenderness She wrapped him in swadling-clothes 3 A childs poverty laid in a manger 4 The peoples inhospitality There was no roome in the Inne I begin with the first 1. The virgins travail she brought forth her first-born son Wherein consider 1. The person she 2. The birth brought forth 3. The fruit her first-born child 1. For the woman she was a virgin but what a virgin to bear to bring forth a son a wonder and she her self cryes out I know not a man well might the Prophet Ierem. say Behold a Virgin and the Prophet Isai likewise yet she is the same Isa the 7.14 vers but that Christ was conceived of the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary is an article of our faith not of our understanding best known is the manner to him that hath the power virgins are not usually pregnant yet the spirit ingenders flesh we take it not from his nature but power the Holy Ghost produces the man Christ not of himself but by his power Christ begotten of himself as one with the Father sending him on the great errand of mans salvation for all the three Persons in the sacred Trinity have a share in this great work the Father begetting the Son begotten and the Holy Ghost produced him at the fulness of time I call the Holy Ghost Father as his shadow the virgin his mother as his substance or the matter of his person whereby he is called the son of man that by this means he might be joyned to our nature and so become surety for us as for example we christians are born of water of the spirit are not called the sons of water but of the spirit because of the spirit we are made one with Christ and are thereby become the sons of God that Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost and of Mary is most certain but for our sakes called the son of Mary and not of the Holy Ghost yet hath the son an equality with the spirit and is perfect God as well as man therefore is it that the Holy Ghost concurs with Mary in the conception both agree to make Christ but not one way for t is his the shadow hers the substance hers the carkase his the quintessence how could it be but a holy thing being of the Holy Ghost though she had sin yet Christ took none from her because he would expel it from her for had Christ been born of an Harlot of Mary Magdalen yet she could not have contaminated his integrity but commended his power and mercy he could have sanctified the most sinful person and unhallowed womb Being conceived of the holy Ghost he took our flesh but not our corruption can the sun shine untainted on the
not the soul of a man but the affections thereof for faith that proceeds from hope and hope that relies on righteousness not that our unrighteousness can expect any thing from God this would include presumption or merit but by it we wait for the Righteousness of God through Jesus Christ our Lord who is the object of our hope two ways 1. Iâ—clusively 2 Exclusively 1. Inclusively and that two ways 1. Including as the end all the persons of the sacred Trinity and 2. All the Attributes of God 2. Including the less principal objects of our hope the graces of the Holy Spirit by which salvation is revealed to the soul 1. Including as the end all the persons of the sacred Trinity for Christ is called the Hope not of parts but of persons all those acts of grace that are from God returned are terminated in the Essence of the Sacred Trinity as we believe in God and we love God and hope in God without determining any person or secluding any though the soul look diversly as in himself and so loves God because he is the chief good and faith unites the Soul to God as the principle of good hope the souls anchor depends on his purity though all seem diversly yet they all meet in this God therefore he is called the God of hope Rom. 15.13 Jer. 14.8 and that not as the efficient cause working this grace in our hearts only but as the final cause to which it moves expecting to enjoy the presence of God which is the fulness of joy for evermore Psal 16.11 2. Including all the Attributes of God for these are they on which our hope takes hold nay they are his very being which we may safely flie to and that for any good we expect to receive from God he having put them as the horns of the Altar for hope analogically takes in all the attributes of God and is the Horns of that holy Altar which by grace is erected in the heart of every true believer as holy David said God is his shield his fortress and deliverer yea and the Horn of his salvation also Psal 18.1 For you may in sacred Writ find pregnant examples of Gods Saints which have particularly committed themselves to his severall properties as Jacob to his Truth Gen. 32. the three Children to his Omnipotency Dan. 3.17 the two blind men to his Goodnesse St. Mat. 20.30 the father of the Lunatick to Christs Power St. Luke 9.38 the Leper to Christs Will St Mark 1.4 2. Including the lesse principall objects of our hope by which salvation is declared to the Soul Threefold hope so it flies to God with a threefold hope 1 With hope in the promises of Christ 2. Of the Graces of Christ 3. In the merits of Christ First in the promises of Christ for in him they are yea and amen 2 Cor. 1.20 and these promises of Christ may be considered two manner of wayes 1. Absolutely 2 Conditionally 1. Absolutely as the promise of the Messias Isai 28.16 Or 2. Conditionally and that Legally and Evangelically 1. Legally as the promises which annex eternall life to the condition of perfect Obedience which was at first made with Adam in a covenant of Works under the Law but here 2. Evangelically we have annexed Hope of entring Heaven as our Fathers entred Paradise and that to the Evangelical condition of Faith for it is a far greater priviledge to be brought like sons into the fathers house only upon such conditions as we know are already performed by our Surety and wants only the act of Faith to make them ours then with a servile spirit continually to be enslaved to that bondage from which we can never free our selves which is much more likely a beggerly receiving then a working hand But 2. Hope in the Graces of Christ 1 Pet. 13. Hope that 's the grace that is offered to you and brought to you for by grace ye are saved Ephes 2.8 Nor doth this diminish any thing in Christ when the object upon which our Anchor layes hold is onely Christ Jesus our Lord for we can do nothing by our act of hope but only when grace is propounded as subordinate and the means to the other we may fix both in Christ the principal help to attain Eternal Life it is Christ that can bring a Soul to that happiness he desires and grace that is the instrument and agent towards attaining it 3. Hope in the Merits of Christ whereby to attain Heaven prayer is hope interpretative this hope is the root of prayer but the Merits of Christ is the ground we pray for what we hope and hope what we pray for shall be granted through the Merits of Christ without this Faith would be deperateness and hope presumption our prayers without the eye of faith would be but blind though we had this hand we should but be weak without this staff of hope the merits of Christ would be but to us as unrighteousness prayer is the Dove sent out of the Ark hope the wings that help her in her speedy flight and both return empty except they come with a leaf from that branch that is pluckt from the merits of Christ faith is the hand of the soul prayer the sinews and hope the nerves that act in this conveyance but without the merit of Christ all will be but like a brandish'd weapon clashing against the brazen pillars of our own created confidence this verily must be the support of our devotions that we may pray for what we hope Christ hath merited which consists in justification sanctification and glorification 1. In hope of justification viz. pardon of sin remission and freedome from punishment 2. Hope of grace for sanctification whether it be the inward favour of God as the Apostles blessing when he saith the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with them or the habitual grace of Gods spirit which is dayly given us till we become perfect men and the hope of glory answerable to glorification 3. Hope in glorification where we expect to be made happy in that estate where shall be no intermissions of joy or periods in our felicity where faith shall triumph in vision and hope in fruition and that to all eternity Thus Christ is the object of our hope inclusively 2. Exclusively Christ the obect of hope and that 1. In respect of the creature 2. In respect of our selves 1. The creature for what good is there in the creature without or our selves within for do men gather grapes of thornes or figs on thistles What folly were it for him in the next danger of drowning to catch hold of a twig that might get to the rock or the shore which might secure him yet such is the folly of vain hope that neglects the rock of salvation and trusts to the creature that is but as a rush and a flag within the water 2. Excluding what good there is in our selves for though in regard of naturalls
please others the sins we have committed in our own persons and the sins we have occasioned others to commit the sins we know and the sins we know not the sins that we have so long striven to hide from others knowledge that we have even now hid them from our own memories these O Lord are more in number then the sands upon the Sea shoar or the Stars of Heaven which cannot be numbred We have sinned against the light of Nature and against the light of Grace against thy Law and against thy Gospel against thy Promises and against thy Threats against thy Mercies and against thy Judgements against all vows and promises and resolutions of better obedience against the reproofs of thy word against the many motions of thy good Spirit in our souls against thy Fatherly admonitions against thy loving corrections against the many fearfull examples of thy Judgements against the infinite obligations of thy favours and against the checks of our own consciences These things have we done and because thou held thy tongue we have also thought wickedly that thou art altogether such an one as our selves or that either thou dost not see or dost approve or wilt not severely punish the crimes that we have so long doted on If thou Lord God shouldest be extream to mark what is done amisse Lord who is able to abide it but with thee there is mercy and with thee there is plenteous redemption and thou desirest not the death of him that dies but rather that be should turn from sin and be saved and seeing that without thee it is not possible for us of our selves to be able to please thee Lord turn us to thee and we shall be turned for thou art the Lord our God Draw us and we shall run after thee draw us by the cords of love and with the bands of loving kindnesse work powerfully upon our spirits by thy holy Spirit work contrition in our hearts and godly sorrow for all our sins even a sorrow to repentance and repentance to salvation never to be repented off Break these hard and stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word mollifie them by the oyle of thy grace smite these rocky hearts of ours by the rod of thy most gracious power that we may shed forth rivers of tears for all the sins we have committed Lord make us grieve because we cannot grieve and to weep because we cannot weep enough O that thou wouldest humble us more and more under the true sight and sense of all our ungodlinesse of all our wickednesse and of all our unworthynesse And O thou Father of mercies have mercy on us O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon us thou that takest away the sins of the world take away the world of our sins they are too heavie O Lord for us to bear thou only art able to bear them and thou didst bear all our sins upon thine own body upon the tree O thou that wast wounded for our sins and bruised for our transgressions we beseech thee let the chastisement of our peace be upon thee and do thou by thy stripes heal us Hide us most gracious Redeemer hide us from the wrath of God in the glorious skars of those meritorious wounds which thou didst suffer for us and by the vertue of them create peace in heaven for us by reconciling the Father to us And O thou that wast our Saviour on earth we beseech thee be thou our Advocate in heaven be thou our High-priest still offering up thy self a Victim to the Father for us and besprinkle us with thine own most pretious bloud that through that bloud of sprinkling our persons our services and the desires of our souls may be acceptable to the Father Be thou our King set up thy throne in our hearts dismantle and disgarison all the strong holds and fortifications of sin that sin may no longer have dominion over us but do thou rule and over-rule us enable us to do thy will write thy Commandements in our hearts and thy Statutes in our inward parts put thy fear into our souls that we may fear thee and love thee and diligently live after thy commands Be thou our Prophet leading us into all truth Oh do thou inform us and teach us the way wherein we should go and do thou guide us by thine eye be thou the voice behind us still directing us this is the way walk in it guide us by thy counsels here and hereafter receive us unto thy glory And O Holy Spirit the Comforter do thou help our infirmities and with thy unutterable groans make intercession for us And thou that workest both to will and the deed in us of thine own good pleasure put into our hearts good desires and let the continuall assistance of thy grace help us to bring the same to good effect plant in our souls the love of thy name graffe in our hearts true Religion nourish us with all goodnesse and of thy great mercy keep us in the same so long as we have to live make us to love that which thou commandest and to desire that which thou hast promised that among the sundry and manifold changes and chances of this mortall life our hearts may surely there be fixt where true joyes are to be found And thou that sheddest the pretious ointments of thy grace upon all thy faithfull people O do thou open the eyes of our souls that we may see thee who art invisible that beholding thy glorious but invisible presence in all our actions we may be so awfully affected towards thee that whether either the Devil shall tempt us or the world shall allure us or our own carnal lusts and sinfull affections shall incline us to commit any wickednesse thy Holy Spirit O Lord may in all things so direct rule and overrule our hearts and awaken our consciences to aske us How shall we dare to commit any wickednesse and sin against thee Gratious God keep us from sinning against thee though it were to gain the whole world for it will not profit us to gain the whole world and lose our own souls help us rather we pray thee to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure Help us to eschew and decline all the occasions all the opportunities that have betrayed us unto sin and to hate the very garments spotted with the flesh O Lord with what affliction soever thou shalt punish us do not punish us with spirituall judgements and desertions give us not over to our own hearts lusts to our own vile lewd and corrupt affections give us not over to hardnesse and impenitency of heart but make us sensible of the least sin and give us thy grace to think no sin little committed against thee our God but that we may be humbled for it and repent of it and reform it in our lives and conversations
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of perverse and depraved minds till then all we preach or learn is but as new wine put into old bottles whose strength their weakness cannot contain or as a new peece in an old garment it may help a little to patch up our lives and actions but at length that natural acquired knowledge which with much study labour and sorrow we have obtained will but agravate our sins and make the rupture of our consciences the more desperate and wide therefore while others sit mourning over the loss of some terrene bliss which perhaps was gone before truly enjoyed let us bewail the true depravation of that real goodness once given to the first and now profered us by believing in the second Adam It were folly beyond compare for rebels to imagine that a pardon can be merited by resistance such sturdy okes must be cut down not bowed and cannot we make the case our own drawing this sure conclusion that while at enmity with God no peace of conscience no joy in the Holy Ghost and that we are traterous rebels beyond all contradiction and dispute For there is a double rebellion 1 Of the soul against God Rom. 3.10 As it is written there is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God c. and likewise he goes on shewing the totality of this rebellion verses 12 13 14 15 16 17 18. drawing up this conclusion ver the 16. destruction and misery are in their wayes and the way of peace have they not known there is no fear of God before their eyes When once the reigns of loyalty are laid in the neck of licentious liberty there can be expected nothing but ruine and calamity you have already seen the defection that reigns predominant in the three principal faculties of every unregenerate soul from which it must necessarily follow if the streams abound with so much pollution the fountain and spring must needs overflow with corruption it is the unsanctified heart that occasions all unnatural heats and quarrels against God and his righteous Law Whence come wars and fightings saith S. Iames come they not hence 4. Iames 1. viz. from a lusting and unsatisfied principle that hath taken possession of our souls for ever since man eat of the forbidden fruit the envious one hath endevoured to steal the seed of Gods grace out of his heart that so he might with greater freedome have the larger room wherein to sow his own Tares so that no way can peace be expected from us but by true contrition and holy submission to carry our dead souls in the armes of faith to Jesus the onely true mediatour and beg of him to take away the partition-wall which our sins had erected that so our reconciliation being wrought by him we may have strong consolation through believing 2 As there is a rebellion of the soul against God so secondly it followes that there is a rebellion in the senses against the soul Rom. 7. c. 21. I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me and if the great Apostle found such struglings within his sanctified spirit what reason sure have we to make complaint whose senses are continually boiling up with fiery passions and enormous lusts as might easily be made appear would your patience grant me the liberty but to particularize and shew you how each sense apart hath joyned in conspiracy against the soul and I le begin 1 With Hearing that once heavenly organ whose delight was in nothing when created but to hear the heavenly Anthems the glorious Quire of Angels continually sing with changeable parts and unspeakable ravishment in praise of their and his Creator or to receive the lively oracles and upright rules of life from the mouth of God himself but alas no sooner had the soul sinned then the ear was stopped from the former glorious sounds and that voice which before was pleasant to Adam innocent is now terrible and intolerable to the same person naked and what is now our imployment but to listen after those things rhat cannot profit or else to attend to that which will certainly bring punishment The most heavenly charmer with all his melting rhetorick cannot unstop the ear of an obdurate impenitent but he will persist in the hearkening to those diabolicall lectures whose doctrine is deceitful and application damnable whose propositions are to teach us to sow the seeds of sin and Uses to perswade us to reap the fruits thereof That this is a truth beyond control I need fetch no further arguments then your own sad experience whose daily practice bespeaks the woful knowledge you have thereof 2 The sense of Seeing also is not without its interest in complotting how by rebellion to ruine our souls Indeed I find it sometimes the threatning of Gods angry curse as the punishment of a rebellious people that seeing they may not see lest they should be converted and live Esay 9.10 though for the most part it is the subject of his complaint against both Prince and subjects Priest and people as you may see at large up and down that prophecy that by a kind of spiritual adultery the sight of men is divorced from that object which is best and do we not find that these optick nerves of ours which were made only to be the recesses of glorious and immortal objects are by us made the casements and inlets to all kinds of folly madness that now our blear eyes are either offended with every beam of light the sun of righteousness darts upon us so miserable is the decay of our sight in respect of its noblest capacity and operations or else in its luxuriancy and wantonness runs out glaring upon vain and unprofitable things to the breeding of base disorder and unreasonableness in our minds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysost wicked men are unreasonable men are they not without understanding that work wickedness saith the Psalmist Psal 14.14 such is the extravagancy of our natural sight that it for the most part makes way to the blindness of our spiritual sight 3 Smelling which once was like that of a pleasant field which the Lord hath blessed is now by sinne become abominable to God and nauseous to our selves we lost the savour of that good ointment for which the Virgin daughters of Sion should love us Cant. 4.11 our smell is now become earthy and by a sinful dejection we bend our souls downwards for having in Adam lost the smell of those garments more pleasant then that of Lebanus we are now with holy Iob content to sit and enjoy the savour of a dunghil there is a filth and stench remaining in the heart and conscience of every impenitent sinner that the sweet perfumes of a pure mind and upright spirit which continually refresh the heaven-borne souls are forraign and have no alliance to them whose minds are orewhelmed with the turbulent cares of a tossed
sin unrepented of is able to damne us and the least law transgrest is sufficient to procure our damnation whereas Christs infinite merit onely can obtain our salvation for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God St. Iames 1.20 By all which you cannot but understand the truth of our assertion namely it s the corrupt nature of man to do amiss together with the reasons thereof I shall briefly make some application to our selves and so in order pass on to the second doctrine propounded Use 1 Fall down to prayer and cry out with holy David Enter not into judgement with thy servants O Lord for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified if in the gold of Angels there was much dust found if those pure spirits were charged with folly what extremity of madness and intolerable ire may we expect as the wages of our unrighteousness For if thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss who can abide it you have seen the doctrine cleared let us a little apply it and so pass on to the last conclusion Application Oh consider this ye that forget God lest he destroy you lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Fear ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea Jeremiah 5.22 fear not them that can kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell saith our Saviour 10. S. Mat. 28. for patience provoked turns to the greatest fury and when the malevolous planet of Gods anger shall fall upon our heads like the flying roll in the 5. of Zach. it will dread nothing but everlasting destruction Oh how should all our pulses beat at the remembrance of Gods wrath for sins how contracted our span of of time and how trembling should our clay cottages appear how much better were it for us to measure out the ground by our length before him and in humility to kiss the rod then with impudent foreheads to stand it out against his vengeance how should we with speed lay hold and fix upon all means that may bring us near unto himself how willing should we be with the silken cords of his favour to be led to repentance seeing he is so loth to be severe and waits that he may be gracious to us and withal considering that if God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering which brings me to the fourth and last conclusion That if God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin thou makest his beauty to consume like a moth saith holy David Ps 39.12 But it were well if onely his beauty were gone and his outward comeliness done away but he adds as a greater misery every man is but vanity and every way miserable for what happiness can be expected when Gods heavenly countenance looks with anger upon us for who can bind up that which God in wrath layes open who can speak peace to that soul whom he afflicts or if he withdraw who can comfort us and who can abide his justice when he is severe and looks upon us with the eyes of fiery indignation surely none for then the body will but begin the pain of the soul and the soul endure the grief of both then you may hear the Shunamites child cry out my head my head holy David complaines that his heart is melted like wax before the sun then it is that king Asa is sick indeed from head to foot that holy Iob is sitting upon the dunghil and cursing the day of his birth then oh then indeed it is that King David cryes out his strength is dryed up like a potsheard and that he is become like a Pelican in the wilderness there you shall hear Hezekiah chatter like a crane and mourn like a Dove for when God is extreme in his judgements man must needs be miserable in suffering even in the outward man and yet all these are but the beginning of sorrow as our Saviour saith in comparison of those calamities that will overtake us when our breath shal be turned into sighs our eyes into fountains of tears and our hearts like mournful harpes shall be hung upon the willowes of contrition and our organical musick into the voice of them that weep all which are but as so many doleful witnesses of our sufferings when God shall come to visit for our transgressions so that you see the doctrine cleared and the truth thereof in lively examples illustrated One word of application and then my whole discourse shall be concluded Application Oh be astonished and wonder at the rich mercy of God all you that go on in an uninterrupted course of sinning that God hath not long since made you the subjects of eternal wrath oh let the greatness of his patience encourage you not to go on but repent of your sins lest your destruction come unawares as an armed man and there be none to deliver you Let me therefore exhort all men to make their peace with him betimes before death makes a separation between them and their chiefest happiness before your souls be swallowed up in misery and drowned with an overflowing deluge of useless tears the onely Emblemes of a too late repentance which shall never be wiped off with the smallest remnant of mercy or drunk up with the least spunge of pitty and fatherly compassion for then the Lamb slain for the redemption of your souls repenting will be found no lese then Iudahs Lion enthroned to condemne both soul and body for wilful and impenitent sins so that we must all conclude with the words of my Text If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it Regi seculorum immortali invisibili soli Deo honor gloria Amen SERM. II. PSAL. 130. V. 3. If thou Lord be extreme c. Introduction THe glory of the Shepherd is the thriving of the Sheep as Saint Chrysostome saith and the fatness of Christs Lambs is the strength of their graces by the one the outward man is refreshed but with the other the inward spirit is rejoiced and in both the glory of God is highly exalted Heavens spotless eye endures not to behold leprous Souls with any other look besides that of vengeance nor can the Creature ever expect to see its Creators face without a renewed mind For without Holiness no man shall ever see God Heb. 12.14 We are but stubble to his consuming fire so that while we are in a state of sinning we are liable to damnation Heb. 10.13 It being a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God whose just severity will wound the hairy scalp of such as willfully go astray why then should we be so stupidly ignorant as
of uncleanness oh that thou wouldest sanctifie and beautifie them by thy glorious presence they cannot be happy or blessed one minute without thee yet shall be as thou art if thou comest but into them but alas we are many of us as the Bethlemites that would not entertain Christ in the inne for there was no room for them in the inne Which brings me to the 4 thing viz. the peoples inhospitality 4 There was no room for them in the Inne What was the suddenness of the journey any cause of the virgins speedy travail or her sudden travail rather a cause of the Bethlehemites uncharitableness poor virgin and yet happy mother of so blest a babe she comes too late to be lodged in the Inne that came too soon to be entertained of her kindred but too late for the Inne and all the room was taken up before she came and therefore must be in the stable rather then an honest traveller will be burthensome the meanest room to his humility shall be great satisfaction indeed some had their delicates and fed onely for wantonness though she wants necessaries the Carpenter that had built many a house now wants a house wherein to rest himself and almost wearied traveller contentedly accepting the beasts for his companions rather then want a lodging just so the God of heaven and earth having left heaven was glad to shrowd himself in this clay of ours Ioseph came to his City and the Citizens received him not because they knew not that the Lord of glory was with him thus the Ox knows his owner and the Asse his masters crib but Israel did not know the Bethlemites did not consider Esay 1.3 Whom have you rejected you Bethlemites Will ye rather reject God in a stranger then entertain a stranger for Gods sake What do you throw God into a stable Know you not that out of you shall come the ruler of Israel Mich. 5.2 And are you so stupidly ignorant that now you will lose the accomplishment of that promise How unlike art thou to Bethlehem the house of Bread in regard thou neither affordest him house to harbour nor bread to succour him But alas woe unto us we censure thee O Bethlehem but if we had lived in thy dayes we should have been worse and now can expect nothing but that Bethlehem should rise up in Judgment against us for in this she is more righteous then we for Christ came but once to them and in humility but he comes often to us in power and we regard not How often doth he knock at the door of our hearts by his Word and by his Spirit yea and that untill his head be filled with dew and his locks with drops of the night but we will not entertain him O! if those rude heaps have had the dust of his feet shaken against them for their inhospitableness how shall these hard hearts of ours that will not receive him be ground to powder Matth. 21.24 when that great milstone shall fall upon us for our hardness and impenitency do not your hearts tremble to hear the sad doom I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye clothed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not therefore ye shall go into everlasting punishment S. Mat. 25.43 46. With what sadness of countenance shall we hear this woe denounced and that by Christ himself and certainly without repentance it will be our portion how then should we pray oh that our hearts were worthy the harbouring of so rare a guest With what diligence and care should we sweep our houses set open our doors and make us in a readiness when we heard of some earthly monarch that were coming to us and thus we should by repentance and holy devotion prepare our hearts that they may be meet Tabernacles for him and labour to get all those graces his Spirit confers on those that love him that so our Lord might not come before expected nor passe by uninvited but freely turn unto us and dwell by Faith in us that we may dwell in him by the same Spirit that Christ dwelling in us here we may dwell with him for ever hereafter In whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore A Funeral Sermon SERMON IV. 1 COR. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable THere is a time to be born and a time to die saith Solomon Eccles 3.2 And the day of a mans death is better then the day of a mans birth for he is born to misery and trouble as the sparks flie out of the fire but by death he is delivered out of the misery of this sinfull world to enjoy true blisse and happinesse therefore why should we hang down our heads like a bulrush and afflict our souls or rather why should we not were it not that we know that God will give us beauty for ashes Isa 61.3 and the spirit of joy for the garment of heaviness or give us the felicity of his chosen and make us rejoyce with the gladnesse of his people or with S. Paul 1 Cor. 15 32. Why should I fight with beasts at Ephesus or contend with unreasonable men Why should I subdue the beastly lusts of the flesh or overcome sinfull corruptions or rather not run to all excesse of riot were it not that after this life there is laid up a crown of glory 2 Tim. 4.8 which God will give to them that love and serve him Why should we arraign and judge our selves for to bring these dayes to an end were it not that upon this moment hangs eternity which we shall be possessed of when death shall be swallowed up of victory 1 Cor. 15.54 and mortality shall put on immortality or why should we account all things loss and dung for the excellency of Christ Phil. 3 8. but that besides the hundred-fold which we shall receive here below God will reckon us among his precious Jewels Why should we not embrace liberty and freedom rather then abide a furnace of trials were there not the Son of God to comfort us and a fiery Chariot whereby to escape the fire that never goeth out And who can dwell with everlasting burning or who can abide with devouring fire Isai 33.14 Why should we not be discouraged at the death of friends and with great despondency hang down our heads in discomfort when we see the lives of our relations are cut off and withall remember that we our selves must shortly turn to dust were we not assured that he who out of stones can raise up children unto Abraham Mat 3.9 will from among these stones raise us again and give us a crown of righteousness And set this crown aside well may the world think Christians the most miserable Take away the hope of a better life I say take away the hope we have in Christ of a
that shall deceive many c. 2 St. Peter 2.12 though indeed he tells us that they were the unlearned and the unstable that wrested the Scriptures to their own destruction ch 16. yet he admonisheth the faithful that they should not be led away by the errors of the wicked 2 St. Peter 3.17 18. and St. Paul saith if he or an Angel from heaven should come and offer any other doctrine let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 which implyes that there would some come which would offer another doctrine and that to the eminent Christians of Galatia and if it were possible the very elect should be deceived so saith our Saviour Saint Matth. 24.24 therefore I say in a matter of so high concernment as divine truth is we cannot do better then to confirme and bear witness to the truth as by speaking of it to the religious so Secondly by speaking of it against the erroneous passing the sentence of condemnation upon them that contradict the Scriptures that by it we may confirme the truth to the faithful by confutation of the opposite errors with the holy Scripture which is the word of truth and as it is the will of God so the rule of righteousness and they that will rove from this rule of truth are erroneous whether it be in understanding or conversation for those teachers that are already gone astray and by breaking Gods commands teach others so to do are chiefly erroneous however they may think to pacifie the world onely with a bare pretence to the truth and call the wisdome that is above their father thereby intending to deceive the simple with a shew of relation unto Almighty God while indeed they are the servants of the Devil for they know that if error should come in its proper shape it would be loathsome to every eye but now that it comes in the name and semblance of truth they think none will refuse it for many saith our Saviour shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many Saint Mat. 24.5 so that you see truth is wounded by her own bow and as Iacob got the blessing in the hairy garment of Esau his elder brother thereby deceiving his Father so the wicked and erroneous men that are in the world seek to deceive the Church and servants of God in the apparel of our elder brother Christ Iesus so the Devil that father of lies could come and tempt our Saviour with the words of holy Scripture for when Christ alledged Scripture against him he did the same to our blessed Redeemer St. Mat. 4.6 no cunninger way for Apostates to bring in others under the same condemation with themselves then by pretending truth and piety to be the ground of theit actions The Prince of darkness will not think scorne to borrow the shape of an Angel of light if he thinks it may prove to his advantage and is it not a countenancing of blasphemy for any nation or people to give dispensation for all manner of heretical opinions who are ready upon all occasions to betray the truth and the professors thereof into a state of sin and misery Examine but Acts 18.19 and 1 Kin. 22.20 therefore seeing the factors of Satan are ready to betray many souls to perdition by corrupting Gods holy word is it not time for us to snatch the sword out of their hands and beat them with the strength and edge of those spiritual weapons which they endeavour to wound our heads withal for the truth is not like wax which is made to receive the image of every phanatical brain no where doubts arise in the holy Scripture they must be answered by its own spirit and not anothers But as we must defend truth with our tongues so Secondly practically by our words and works when the doctrine of Christianity is that way of truth which is evil spoken of and when men in profession are Christians but in conversation are Pagans and Papists c. Ro. 2.24 and St. Iam. 2.7 and when that truth is disgrac'd by the bad lives of men their sins become ours if we rebuke them not therefore Saint Paul saith have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Ephes 5.11 That tongue which rebukes not his brother when he sees him go astray draws all the guilt of the action upon himself and so we make our selves sharers with him in misery for it is most certain he gives consent that holds his peace and no way contradicts the action Num. 30.4 the father by his silence at the daughters vow is there made co-partner with her and not onely the father but the husband also or any other person by their silence are said to give consent to the action as appears at large in that chapter Indeed there are two waies to keep a man from evil The one by reproof The other by not consenting to the action when committed For the truth is any Christians connivance or evil example but Masters and Rulers especially do harden the sinners heart and make him think well or ill of himself according as they approve or condemn the actions they see committed by him the truth is the Ministers silence at the sins which he sees committed often encourageth his people to go to hell therefore it is St. Pauls complaint The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you Rom. 2.24 and God himself hath commanded expresly Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart Levit. 19.17 not to rebuke thy brother when he does amisse is as much as to hate thy brother therefore it is said cry aloud and spare not tell Iudah of her sins and Israel of their transgressions if we please men we cannot speak the truth and we must speak the truth what man soever we displease Indeed there are three things especially which breed enmity in men against us for speaking the truth unto them 1. Displeasure 2. Disprofit 3. Discredit 1. Displeasure for hearing of the truth onely spoken many times galls some for let but truth be rightly spoken or seeme in the application but to touch their iniquities and they will presently like the frantick patient flie in the Chirurgeons face when he searches deep though it be for their safety so sometimes the least touch of truth will make men fret and fume and vent their malice in furious words against them who do but discharge their duty by a faithfull reproof of their sinfull actions 2. If it be against their profit or against their trade when application of truth is so made they cannot endure such doctrine but presently the Minister must suffer an ejection at least for his faithfulnesse and this must be done too with the greatest pretence of Piety for they think it no sacriledge to take the houses of God and make them dens of Theeves so that you may see and cannot but finde that many times the witnessing of the truth against that where the gain of wicked men lies
is but a lame consent yeilded by constraint for he that by a Tyrant is compelled with force of punishment to deny the Truth doth in a sort deny and not deny he denies it outwardly with his lips but his heart greives inwardly for the same because his conscience bears witness to the Truth but he that with a wicked life is given wholly to sin that he hath all his delights in it that man hath made himself perfect in evil 4. From the more full signification we do signifie more of wickedness to be in us by our works than by our words he sits at a farre greater denial of truth that denies it by a wicked life than he that denies it onely with his lips for fear of death though both these are great aggravations since in our lives words and works we are to bear witness to the Truth for to this end were we born and for this cause came we into the world c. Application Our Saviour bids Let your light so shine before men c. Saint Matthew 5.6 then we may hence learn that those that should light others to Heaven by their Doctrine must not darken their way by the evil example of an unholy life and not only must Ministers but people also let the light of holiness appear visible in their lives When God places a man a private Christian in the lower Orbe he puts him there to shine like a starre bright and clear in his own sphere Christians should shine and bear witness in their lives and be cautious how they walk because every sin puts a dimness upon the soul and darkness internal can expect no other but to go to darkness eternal and therefore St. Peter saith that our good works should make those that look on us as evil doers glorifie God in the day of visitation 1 Saint Peter 2.12 There be some that must believe in Christ throughout the world and witness his Truth to unbelievers by a holy life and why may it not belong to us but if on the contrary we be found to live as they live how shall they be brought to believe as we believe It was the saying of a Heathen If I did see the Christians lives better I should think their faith better than mine Religion and the Doctrines of Faith are often disgrac'd by wicked Professors 1 Tim. 1.6 7. the rebellion of a Christian that is a Servant though to an Heathen Master brings a scandal both upon God and on holy Religion Sure I am God and Religion is very much disgrac'd and the Gospel dishonoured and the Church of Christ abused by the wicked lives of those that are called the Sons of the Church Oh therefore that by holy lives judicious reading faithful hearing and constant studying and meditating in the wayes of God and the Truths of God we would make our selves able and ready to give an account of the hope that is in us that so both in our knowledge and practice we bearing witness to the Truth here on earth we may have the truth in our consciences to bear witness to our selves that we are the Sons of God that so he that ascended into Heaven to take possession of his own Glory may in time bring us thither who himself affirmed and after whose example we should walk that as he was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth so we should also account of our selves that we were born and that we came into the world that we might bear witness to the truth that we came into the world this Christian world to witness to the truth as common Christians that we came into the world the Church of God as members thereof to justifie that faith by a holy life unto which our parents had baptized us still indeavouring to carry the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus that as he did so we came into the world to bear witness to the truth for he justified himself before the judgement-seat of Pilate saying in the words of my Text To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth The end of the Sermons Dr. Hewit's publique Prayer after Sermon O HOLY HOLY HOLY Lord God of heaven and earth heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory Glory be to thee O Lord glory be to thee glory be to thee glory be to thee for all those infinite favours which thou of thine infinite goodnesse hast voucsafed to us who are lesse then the least of all thy mercies for the fountain of all mercies Jesus Christ in whom thou hast loved us with an everlasting love before ever we or the world were made that thou hast created us after thine own Image and redeemed us by the bloud of Jesus Christ when we were utterly lost that thou hast called us with an holy calling and in some measure sanctified us by the graces of thy holy Spirit that thou hast spared us thus long and given us so long and so large a time of repentance when as thou mightest have cut us off in the midst of our transgressions whilst we were rebelling against thee Blessed be thy name O Lord for all thy mercies vouchsafed unto us thy mercies to allure us thy promises to wooe us thy patience and long-suffering towards us to lead us to repentance thy corrections to reclaime us thy judgements to affright and better us blessed by thy name for all opportunities of wel-doing for all hinderances of evill-doing for all the good purposes and resolutions thou hast put into our hands to draw our souls from the dregs of sin and ignorance into the glory of thy Saints for any assistance that thou hast given to any of us in any holy performance for the Communion of thy Saints the aide of their counsels the benefit of their Prayers the comfort of their conversations the protection of thy Holy Angels for all corporall spirituall temporall and eternall mercies mercies concerning this life and mercies concerning the life to come Blessed be thy name for thy mercies to us all the dayes of our lives thy mercies unto us this present day for the light thereof the greater light the light of thy truth to shine into our soules to guide our feet into the way of all truth For that portion of Scripture wherein thou hast been pleased to reveal thy self unto us at this time Lord though it be sowne in much weaknesse do thou raise it up in great power let it not be as water spilt upon the ground but let it be as seed sown in good ground that it may take deep root downward in our hearts by faith and bring forth much fruit upwards in our lives and conversations to the glory of thy holy name to the edification of thy Church and people and to the salvation of our souls in the day of Jesus Christ to whom with thy self and holy Spirit we desire to