the day of Adversity wisely considering * Eccl. 7. 16. Insomuch as a right-bred Christian can alledge no cause either from his present condition to take himself off from duty or to perplex his soul with thoughts of after-changes Seeing however it fare with him it is his season to fructifie and whatever may befall him he hath a sap of suitable grace to bring forth in every season 3. And lastly In his Season that is acceptâ quâvis ansâ taking hold on every hint and opportunity of doing good Indeed every time is not meet for every purpose and consequently every work not to be done at random in every time Is this a time said the Prophet to his servant to receive money and to receive garments w 2 Kin. 5. 26. Should I weep said the Jew in the fifth moneth x Zec. 7. 3. that is in which the Temple was finished In Samuel's absence no season for Saul to offer sacrifice y 1 Sam. 13. 12 13. While David was over-powered no season for Joab to be charged with delinquencie z 2 Sam. 3. 13. Till the wine was gone out no season for Nabal to be reminded of his folly a 1 Sam. 25. 37. To every thing there is a season saith the Preacher Eccl. 3. 1. And great difference say our Criticks between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time and Season 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Opportunity is the flower of time and a well-chosen season the greatest advantage of any action b Bishop Hall in his Contempl lib. 21. on Haman c. Like the golden Scepter held forth to Qu. Esther c Esth 5. 2. Like one days Sun-shine in catching weather d John 5. 4. Like those troubled waters to the neerest expectant d and Like the valley of Achor for a door of hope e Hos 2. 15. The more to be lamented is the carelesness of most Christians that make so little use of many precious opportunities of doing or receiving good To whom may be justly accommodated that saying of Elihu God speaks once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not f Job 33. 14. For the voice of the Lord is not only in the words of his Law or in the motions of his Spirit or in the largesses of his goodnesse or in the rod of his displeasure but in those golden opportunities in that price which he puts into mens hands and yet deest animus few have any heart to improve them Wise enough to take notice of natural Seasons to discern the face of the Sky while with those Jewes they care not to know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g Luke 12. 56. regard not the offerture of seasonable hints for the exercise of Christian vertue and the furthering of their accompts with God And hence it comes to passe that as Ahab lost himself by letting Benhadad go out of his hands h 1 Kin. 20. 42. as Felix was most unhappy in putting off Paul to another time i Acts 24. 25. So by reason of this non-advertency this regardlesness of time and judgment the misery of man is great upon him k Eccl. 8. 6. while he neglects those mollia tempora desirable seasons for spiritual advantages which may haply in all his remainder never come about again Wherefore Brethren to prevent this misery let it be our wisedom and care in our several capacities for the glory of God for the behoof of our souls to beautifie our services with suitable seasons and as the Lord in his providence shall hold them forth to improve them in the discharge of Christian duty It may be thou hast a season for some act of piety an opportunity for prayer for praises for mourning for rejoycing for appearing in the cause of God Or a season for brotherly-kindnesse an opportunity for admonition exhortation consolation counsel distribution to the necessities of the Saints Or a season for neighbourly charity an opportunity to compose differences to relieve the oppressed to help the fatherlesse and widow to consider the poor and needy O the preciousnesse of such seasons the happinesse of such souls as have grace to use them For although in their natural account they be but particles and minutes yet in their spiritual and prudential managing the very quintessence of time and the apparatus to eternity O Season Thou art in this like the City of God I sal 83. 7. Glorious things are spoken of thee A word spoken in season so a work performed in season is like apples of gold in pictures of silver l Pro. 25. 11. Like apples of gold such is the preciousnesse in pictures of silver such the lustre the grace and beauty of fruit in season Unseasonable therefore to end here without a word or two for this Season which calls upon you my honoured and beloved Countrymen in expectation of some fruit of this your Brotherly meeting To which purpose I shall take my liberty from the resemblance in the Text to look upon you as so many Trees whom the wise Moderator of all things hath at times transposed from the soyl of your Nativity that ye might go to a City of habitation m Psal 107. 7. ingraffed you into the stock of an honourable Metropolis disposed you by the rivers and springs of water blessed you with the upper-springs the means of grace blessed you with the nether-springs the accommodations of this life and graciously reserved you to the solemnity of this day whereon to record his mercies towards you And now that this great Benefactor hath done all this for you What more seasonable then to renew your wonted consultations in order to some thankful return To say among your selves in the sense and valuation of his favours What is to be done for God For God yea but as Eliphaz answered Job Can a man be profitable unto God n Job 22. 2. The earth is the Lords and the sulnesse thereof o Psal 24. 1. Every beast of the forrest is his and the cattel upon a thousand hills p Psal 50. 10. My goodness saith David extends not to thee q Psal 16. 2. Or as the vulgar Translation hath it Bonorum meorum non eges Thou hast no need of my goods True Non eget quoad potentiam suam as Salvian speaks r Ad Ecclesiam Cath. lib. 4. God in respect of his power of his Majesty hath no need But then his Gospel hath his Church hath your poor distressed brethren yea the brethren of Christ have ſ Mat. 25. 40. O steep your thoughts in the remembrance of Gods dignations embrace this Season for the contrivance of some charitable benefaction Let neither Mirth nor Fulnesse cause you to forget your God nor indispose you in the least for the administration of such a Service as may not only supply the necessity of your brethren but be abundant also in the issue by many thansgivings unto God t 2 Cor. 9. 12. To conclude in few words for it might savour of some jealousie to over-charge an Ingenuous Auditory If ye place any moment in the glory of your Maker any weight in the credit of your Profession any strength in the honour of your Country Let these associate and accord you in your endeavours to doe worthily in Ephratah to be famous in Bethlehem u Ruth 4. 11. And let us all be exhorted of whatsoever denomination to walk in wisedom with a holy vigilancie and circumspection redeeming the time by yielding our fruit in our Season So shall we receive in due season the fruit of our fruits the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls FINIS
description of a blessed man representing him 1. In his Regeneration like a Tree planted 2. In his accommodation by the rivers of waters 3. And lastly in his fructification that bringeth forth his fruit in his season So that not to burden you with any secondary distribution the regeneration of a sinner the accommodation of the regenerate and his answerable fructification these with Gods assistance shall be the boundaries of this exercise And first of the first particular in this description of a blessed man as he is represented in his regeneration like a tree planted Not simply sicut arbor like a tree For a man whether blessed or cursed is capable of that resemblance Arbor inversa as the Philosopher cals him a tree with his root upwards dilating and branching downwards insomuch as the dimmest sighted may say with him in the Gospel I see men walking like trees h Mar. 8. 24. but sicut arbor plantata there lies the discrimination like a tree that is planted And planted not meerly externally as a visible disposall in the Church within whose aspectable Territories many are called few chosen i Mat. 20. 16. but spiritually and mystically by an invisible ingrafture into Christ For otherwise that which is born of the flesh is flesh saith our Saviour k Joh. 3. 6. And not one saith Job that can bring a clean thing out of an unclean l Job 14. 4. If Adam if any of his off-spring beget a son t is onely his own likeness m Gen. 5. 3. Depraved nature cannot act beyond the sphere of its activity The Gentiles before their calling dead in trespasses and sins n Eph. 2. 1. The Jews before their believing children of wrath even as others o Eph. 2. 3. Yea of the lawfull marriages of Gods own people Non generantur filii dei saith Augustine There are not generated children of God but of this world p Lib. 1. de nupt conc cap. 17. Which if the Pelagian oppose with his like from like that learned Father is not behind for answer The Saints saith he beget not after the Spirit of their renascencie but after the flesh of their first Nativity q Non gignunt secundum spiritum per quem renati sunt sed secundum carnem è qua pati sunt To borrow his lively illustration the son ye know of a circumcised Israelite was uncircumcised born r Ser. 14. de verb. Apost Of the seed of a good Olive-tree comes nothing but Oleaster a wilde one ſ Ibid. So the faithfull spring not up naturally as the Oake from an Acorn or the Peach from a Stone but by the gracious operation of a Divine hand Fiunt saith Tertullian non nascimur Christiani t Apost cap. 17. Or as Hierom non nascimur sed renascimur Christiani u Advers Vigil True Christians are not such by their carnal birth but as they are born again and made members of Christ Nothing to speake them blessed till they be implanted into Christ for in him it is and in no other name w Act. 4. 12. that all the Nations of the earth shall be blessed x Gen. 22. 18. And hence you may observe by the way that this implantation is much different from those in our Hortyards where Scions commonly the better correct the Stocks reduce them to their own nature No such matter here We work not an alteration in the Trunk or Stock but are our selves transformed and renewed by it 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature Once unprofitable now profitable y Philem. v. 11. once dead now quickned z Eph. 2. 1. once unclean and with Hierusalem in our blood a Ezek. 16. 6. now sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God b 1 Cor. 6. 11. A Doctrine of such importance as we may not dismiss it without a few deductions For First if the Christians plantation be by way of insition and this insition so necessary in order to true felicity it naturally ensues that a Right and Title to Heaven can never be grounded upon the Nobleness of a Carnal extraction or the naturall qualities of Constitution or the moral habit of Education All these though valuable in their kind are too light in the ballance of the Sanctuary to demonstrate a blessed condition Yea although they should all be found to concenter in the same subject yet as it sometime fared with Naaman the Syrian a great man with his Master an honourable man a mighty man in valour but a Leper c so whether naturall 2 Kings 5. 1. abilities or secular priviledges or moral qualifications or their confluence in any one the state of irregeneracy distaynes them all Some indeed there have been and may be still for ought I know of a judgment extreamly favourable in behalf of heathen Moralists as if the fruit of their fair deportment were no lesse then the fruition of Heaven But it must sound very strange in the eares of sober Christians that such Ethnicks should be transplanted to heaven as were never implanted into Christ or live by vision who never lived by faith or see Gods kingdom who were never born again Undoubtedly the trees of the Paradise of God are none but whom his own right hand hath planted No arbores sylvestres common trees to be found there No inheritance in heaven but for Sonnes of God d Rom. 8. 17. No children of God but by faith in Christ e Gal. 3. 26. And such faith not of our selves Eph. 2. 8. it is the gift of God Well may we admit of Natural Theologie f Rom. 1. 19 20. but as a grave judicious Writer there 's no Natural Christianity g Dr. Reynolds in Psal 110. p. 261. seeing they that believe in Christ are born not of blood of the impure beginnings of their conception nor of the will of the flesh by the power of Nature and Free-will nor of the will of man by the prevalencie of a civill education but of God h Josh 1. 12 13. And except a man be so born by the speciall vertue and work of the Spirit he can neither see nor enter into the Kingdom of God i Joh. 3. 3 5. Wherefore secondly if the case stand thus recount I beseech you how neerly it concerns us to make this ingrafture and implantation sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words of the Apostle Examine your selves whether ye be in the saith And having so done over with it again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates k 2 Cor. 13. 5. It is altogether preposterous to conclude an interest to heaven without assurance of this spiritual implantation Assurance none without experience of a supernatural change An easie matter to pretend to a communion
good work ſ Col. 1. 10. Agreeably to that of our Saviour He that abodeth in me and I in him the saine bringeth forth much fruit t John 15 1. And surely all things considered great reason he should It is the object of divine expectation Isa 5. 7. He looks for the grapes of righteousnesse It is the end of our Saviours passion Tit. 2. 14. that we should be zealous of good works The purpose of our Implantation Eph. 2. 10. Created unto Christ Jesus unto good works The intent of our spiritual marriage Rom. 7. 4. that we should bring forth fruit unto God The drift of divine forbearance Mat. 3. 8. that whereas the wrath of God is ira ventura a wrath to come and the axe but laid to the root of the trees we therefore bring forth fruits meet for repentance So that take away fruit and you crosse them all God's patient expectation Christ's death and passion our marriage and implantation These can never be answered with meer leaves It is not Lord Lord or The Temple of the Lord or a parcel of specious words or a Baptismal initiation or a formal frequenting Gods house or an eating drinking in Christ's presence that can evidence our part in these In the words of a holy Martyr u John Huss Vbi opera bona non apparent ad extra ibi fides non est ad intra The root of faith can have no existence in our hearts if the fruit of it be to seek in our lives If your lives be unprofitable under the name of Christians your conversation fruitlesse under the leaves of profession such fig-lesse Fig-trees doe but cumber the ground and can look for nothing but the axe and the fire w Arbor infructuosa quae non nisi terram occupat duo tantum expectare potest securita scilicet ignem Bern the one for their sudden excision the other for their endless burning To prevent such a woful issue add to your leaves Fruit to your faith Vertue x 2 Pet. 1. 5. and endeavour as those ancient Christians Non grandia loqui sed vivere To be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own soules z Jam. 1. 22. De virtute loqui minimum est a Pers The easiest thing of an hundred to talk of Christianity to discourse y Minut. Felix in Octav. of Religion to hear Christ's Ministers to give applause to their labours Haec sunt folia saith Aug. modò fructus quaeritur These are leaves indeed but the fruit is all Herein saith Christ is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit John 15. 8. And such only shall at last be glorified of him Rom. 2. 10. Glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good For as Fathers observe of the trees used about the building of the Temple that neither post nor spar nor so much as a pin but was made of the wood of some fruit-bearing tree b Bishop Andrewes of the Nativ Ser. 10. So none to have place in that eternal palace of glory but fruit-bearing Christians abounding in the work of the Lord. For by the verdict of the Text he only is the blessed man that brings forth fruit Where to look more narrowly into the Metaphor 't is very observable that in doing the works of Righteousnesse 1. Profert non simulat He vitally beares it not deceitfully counterfeits it The works of his profession are not fruits artificially sembled but naturally yielded not like Zeuxes his painted grapes which deceived the birds nor like Daedalus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which had almost deceived men nor like Pygmalion's Statue on which himself became enamoured but the genuine and unfeigned products of sanctifying grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 1. 5. out of pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned 2. And in working Righteousnesse profert non cogitur He acts not upon compulsion but of a gracious promptnesse and inclination takes not up duties as tiresome burthens but loves and likes them as refreshing exercises Indeed Virtus nolentium nulla est saith the Moralist To doe good against thy will is in effect to doe ill The service thou dost uncheerfully Fit de te magis quà m facis saith Prosper 'T is rather extorted from thee then performed by thee The blessed man is of another Spirit not hal'd ab externo by the violence of some compulsory Agent but sweetly disposed by an inward principle of grace drawn with the cords of love acted and promoted by a spirit of ingenuity 2 Cor. 3. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty This then for bringing Forth and for bringing forth fruit our two first gradations 3. Fructum suum He bringeth forth his fruit And his fruit if we consult the Apostle is the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. Such as love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts c Gal. 5. 24. to do justly to love mercy to walk humbly with thy God d Mic. 6 8. The fruit of the spirit then is the proper fruit of the regenerate Where haply some may say How can these several Interests accord If these and the like be the fruits of God's Spirit how are they ours Must stakes be parted between God and our selves I answer Upon due consideration here is no Inconsistencie no clashing of Titles at all No prejudice to Gods Interest in affirming the fruit to be ours It is Gods fruit ratione praecepti as in his word he requires it Our fruit ratione Officii as we are bound to bear it Gods fruit efficienter as he gives vertue to yield it Our fruit subjectivè e Vt totum in illo libero arbitrio sic totum ex illa gratia scilicet divina Bern. de grat lib. arbit and as he graciously imputes it Gods fruit in the ultimate end as it makes for his glory Our fruit in the subordinate end as it conduceth to our benefit So far from prejudicing the Divine Interess that indeed the Lord will not own the fruit for his so as to count it for righteousnesse to thee except it be fructus tuus truly thine Thine for personality of thine own bearing and thine for correspondencie of answerable kinde 1. It imports a Personality He brings forth his own fruit relies not upon the vertues and fruits of others Such a lazie dependence can be of no avail for the assecuration of true happinesse The just man saith the Prophet shall live by his own faith f Hab. 2. 4. And every man saith the Apostle shall bear his own burthen g Gal. 6. 5. Insomuch as though Noah a Preacher of Righteousnesse h 2 Pet. 2. 5. Daniel a man greatly beloved i Dan. 10. 19. Job so eminent in uprightnesse and the fear of God k Job 1. 1. though these three men were alive upon the
of this world for did they truly apprehend and rightly value it they would be more in their desires and motions towards it If thou knewest the gift of God said our Saviour to the woman of Samaria and who it is that saith unto thee give me to drink thou woulst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water t John 4. 10. But poor sinful creature she knew it not Nor was it her case alone 1 Cor. 2. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Balaam indeed had a kind of glympse of it in the 24. of Numbers How goodly saith he are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel As gardens by the river side as the trees of Lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar-trees beside the waters Yea but the knowledge he professeth hereof was not by faiths apprehension or upon personal experience or with a cordial valuation only by the vision of the Almighty u Num. 24. 16. Whereas the knowledge which the faithful have is fiducial experimental appretiative delightful They speak but first they have believed Psal 116. 10. I believed therefore have I spoken They see but first they have tasted w Ejus dulcedinem non cogniscitis quia minime degustatis Greg. Psal 34. 8. Tast and see that the Lord is gracious And then for appretiation and delight O how great is the goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee x Psal 31. 19. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts y Psal 84. 1. A day in thy Courts is better then a thousand z ver 10. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Courts We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy Temple a Psal 65. 4. The consideration whereof may serve in the first place to depretiate the adored excellencies and perfections of this world and to take off our spirits from discontentative emulation at the sight of prosperous sinners For alas in the greatest fulness of their external accommodations in the height of their glory and the exquisitenesse of their delights yet for lack of these rivers of water they are but a drie ignoble generation not worthy to be compared with the plants of Christ even in the worst of their outward condition For as he in Plutarch said of the Scythians that although they had not Musick nor Vines among them yet they had gods b Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Regenerate in their greatest want of outward supplies yet so long as they have the Spirit of God and their situation by these still waters c Ps 23. 2. they are not destitute of true felicity Yea by the benefit of those holy streams they are happy in the exercise happy in the increase in the assurance and continuance of received graces In the due valuation whereof the treasures of Egypt were but trash to Moses d Heb. 11. 26. the priviledges of a Jew but dung to St. Paul e Phil. 3. 8. the Tents of Kedar but a prison to David f Ps 120. 5. I had rather saith he be a door-keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the Tents of wickednesse g Ps 84. 10. And accordingly the Emperour Theodosius rejoyced more in his Ecclesiastical membership then in all his Imperial Majesty Wherefore 2. say now ye that are planted in the house of the Lord is it not good being here to keep close to him that hath thus disposed us and tendred our spiritual accommodation O let it engage us and strengthen our resolutions to persevere in the faith of Jesus Christ Remember the trees in Jotham's parable h Jud. 9. 8. c. which being severally courted with the proffer of a Kingdom should I saith the Olive-tree leave my fatnesse Should I saith the Fig-tree forsake my sweetnesse Should I saith the Vine leave my Wine So against all the allurements and temptations of the world should we forsake these rivers of living water these peerlesse priviledges for the momentany pleasures of sin No take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God i Heb. 3. 12. Lord saith Peter to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life k John 6. 68. I will dwell saith David in the house of the Lord for ever l Psal 23. 6. And Let their money perish m In vit Galeac Caracc with them said that noble Marquesse of Vico that esteem all the gold in the world worth one dayes society with Jesus Christ and his holy Spirit Now in the sense of this blessed accommodation what remaines but that we return those Rivers to their Ocean n Suae reddantur origini fluenta gratiae Bern. and improve them to answerable Fruit Who plants a Vineyard and eats not of the fruit thereof o 1 Cor. 9. 7. And that 's our last particular in this description of a blessed man as he is represented in his fructification that bringeth forth his fruit in his season Which words although in a Grammatical Consideration they relate to the Tree yet intentionally to the Regerate compared to it And they lie to be taken up in a four-fold gradation He bringeth forth His fruit Bringeth forth fruit In his Season 1. Edit He bringeth forth is not meerly for receiving but as well for yielding not barely for taking in but joyntly for giving forth for the actus elicitus believing with the heart and for the actus imperatus confessing with the mouth p Rom. 10. 10. For receving by Faith of Christ's fulness and for disbursing by Love to Christ's glory that as out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh q Mat. 12. 34. so the sap of infused grace will soon finde vent for its own disclosure In the place before alledged I believed therefore have I spoken And in 2 Cor. 4. We also believe and therefore speak Howbeit whereas verbal profession is but the leaf of the tree the honest sincere Christian determines not his faith in leaves stopps not there but 2. Edit fructum He bringeth forth fruit renders his faith visible by the adjuncture of New Obedience his profession honourable by translating the form into Power his graces observable by drawing them out into Works As his faith into the work of faith his love into the labour of love his hope into the patience of hope 1 Thess 1. That as Jacob allegorically prophecieth of Joseph A fruitful bough by a Well Gen. 49. 22. So it is the prayer and care of an Israelite indeed that in some correspondencie to his gracious supplies he may be filled with the fruits of righteousnesse r Phil. 1. 11. and fruitful in every