that her affections are placed upon another And are our affections placed upon things below what doth that do but raise the jealousie of Christ against us Jealousie is the rage of man what is it then in Christ Now therefore as you desire that the jealousie of the Lord Jesus may not be raised against you that the ways of God may be made sweet and easie to you that you may never lose your affections or the things affected that you may have a standing relief in the day of your distress that you may have full evidence of the interest in those things that are above and that your portion may lye there Oh Set your affections on things that are above and not on things on the earth Quest What shall we do that we may raise and draw up our affections unto these things above for our affections are indeed too much on things here below How shall we draw them off from them and draw them up to these better things that are above Ans You must be sure to get a new heart affections are the movings of the heart an old heart cannot move unto things that are above First therefore you must get a new heart Affestiones bonas vel malas causat voluntas bona vel malaâ— August tom 5. fol. 169. 2. Then you must get knowledge of these things that are above for ignoti nullam cupido there is no desire of unknown things nor affections to them some desire knowledge and not affections some desire affections and do not labour after knowledge Give me knowledge hearted with affections and affections headed with knowledge for as knowledge without affections make wicked men secure so affections without knowledge make Godly men scrupulous Study therefore to know more and that knowledge shall be a light and lanthorn to the feet of your affectionr 3. If you would draw up your affections unto things above then put your self under the most wooing discoveries of Gospel love Wooings towle out affections Christ wooes in the Gospel there doth the spirit also breath and these motions of the soul can never be stirred up but by the moveing of the spirit on the heart Ezek. 1.12 The living creatures went every one straight forward whether the spirit was to go Now the spirit moves in the wooing dispensations of the Gospel there then place your selves and give up your hearts unto these wooings 4. And in case that any sensible dispensation fall upon you either by affliction or enjoyment let your eye affect your heart affections are sensible movings of the so I doth the Lord therefore speak unto your soul by afflictions or Sacraments he sure that you improve these sensible dispensations to the working up of your affections unto things above 5. And be much in meditation for as reading and hearing doe beget knowledge so meditation doth beget affections either therefore you are in company or you are alone if you be in company mutual Exhortation will quicken your affections unto what is good if ye be alone then sit and meditate on the things that you have heard or read or seen or done and thus your affections will and shall be raised unto things above Quest But my affections are most unsteady though they be raised to day yet they are down to morrow what shall I do that I may so set my affections on things above that they may be settled on them Answ In case your affections have been raised Then 1. take as much pains to keep your affections up as you did to raise them up And 2. In case you feel your affections begin to ool and decline then stir up your self and the grace of God that is in you The Prophet Isaiah complains that none stirred up themselves to take hold on God The like complaint may we take up now for what is the reason that our affections dye and cool away after raisings of heart but because we doe not stir up our selves and hearts to take hold on God in case therefore that your affeâ—â—ions doe begin to abate and cool blow them up afresh and stir up your selves thereunto 3 Be sure that you make use of the varietie in the ways of God which he hath given you varietas refocillat variety is refreshing and affecting God hath given us divers ordinances to be exercised in that if we be dull and weary in one we may go to another if you be weary in prayer you may go to reading if weary in reading then go to meditating if weary in meditation you may go to conference if you will spend your self only in one duty there will grow a dulness and deadness upon you but if you exercise your self according to that variety which God hath given you your heart will be kept up with an holy freshness unto things above But 4. Because that we are much affected with new things therefore study the words and works of God much and be always digging in them then some new truth or new discovery will arise upon you which will affect your heart and ever heap up your affections unto things above And 5. In case that you have any great affections unto what is good be sure that you labour more and more to refine that affection things refined keep longest Distilled Waters keep longer then the leaves out of which the waters are distilled if ye have Rose leaves they will not keep fresh so long as the water that you distill from them those affections that you now have it may be are sweet unto you but they are as the Rose leaves somewhat of a drossier matter which doth adhere to them if you would now take those very good affections and Refine or Distil the same then would they keep the longer Go then and carry in your Rose leaves unto Gods-Still and labour more and more to refine your best affections Thus your affections shall not only be set on things above but be setled on them And my Beloved is it not a good and blessed thing to have sweet and large affections for good Surely it is a great mercy to have large affections in good and for good some of us have had large affections to the things of the world and shall we not have as large affections unto things that are above Old men generally want affections and young people doe abound therein but what will all our affections doe us good if they be set on things here below Alas we shall but lose them and the things affected too But if you set your affections on things above you shall neither lose your affections nor the things affected Wherefore let us all receive this Exhortation Set your affections on things above and not on things on the Earth How to walk with God in our Callings 1 Cor. 7.20 Brethren let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God IN this Chapter the Apostle speaks to a Case of Conscience Whether it be lawful for the Believing Wife to depart from the
condemn no man for that sin which he hath not a power to avoid The Heathens ye know are judged by the law of nature but though they are not able to keep the whole law of nature yet they are able to avoid these sins against nature for which they are condemned so under the Gospel though a man be not able to convert and turn unto God and to keep the whole law of the Gospel yet he may be able to avoid the sins against the Gospel as positive unbelief and resistance for which he shall be condemned thus some But I need not say thus neither shall I need to enter into this debate here for whoever liveth under the Gospel is either Godly or ungodly if he be ungodly he hath power to do more then he doth and if he be Godly his will is freed for whom the son makes free he is free indeed though his will be not libera free yet his will is liberata freed as Austin speaks So that thus now you see there is nothing in this truth that is contrary to Scripture Reason or our own Principles yet give me leave to bound it with two Cautions 1. Though you must do Gods work withall your might yet your moderation must be known unto all men Some will not let Gods work pass through their hands but they will have some tole for their own interest Joshua did not so he conquered the land of Canaan and when he came to divide it what a little Thong did he cut out of that Leather for himself and Family Some will not do Gods work but they will carry it on with their own passion It 's said of Scanderbeg that great Souldier that when he spake sometimes of Christ he would be so earnest that the bloud would spirt out of his lips But as Gods grace has no need of our sin so his work hath no need of our passions Though therefore you do the work of the Lord with all your might yet you are to manage it with mildness and sweetness therein also your moderation is to be known to all 2. Though you do the work of your hand with all your might yet you must not look upon the success of your work as the fruit of your hand but of Gods hand when Israel went out against Amaleck Moses lift up his hands and Israel prevailed then Joshua built an Altar and called it Jehova-nissi for says the Text Exod. 17.15 The Lord hath sworn that he will have war with Amaleck but ver 16. in the Hebrew as the Margent tells It is the hand on the Throne of the Lord and why says Glassius is it said the hand on the throne of the Lord but to shew that this victory was not from Moses hand though it was a praying hand but from Gods hand Luther tells us of Staupitius that when he came to his Government he said I will govern according to Law But when he saw that his Government did not succeed then he said I will govern according to the customs of the place When he saw that succeeded not then said he I will govern by the Scripture When he saw that succeeded not well then said he I will do what I can according to Scripture and Law and leave the success unto God and then his Government prospered And you see how it is with a Child a Father bids him do this or that which he knows the child cannot do therefore he secretly puts his own hand to the work and he praises his child and the child thinks that his hand did it So here God bids us do his work with all our might we do so have success in the work and we think the success is the fruit of our hand whereas in truth it is the fruit of our fathers hand Mark therefore what follows in the next words to the Text in this verse saith Solomon Whatever thou findest in thy hand to do do it with all thy might but in the next words says I returned and saw that the Race is not to the swift nor the Battel to the strong Why doth he add these words immediately but to shew thus much that though we do Gods work withall our might yet we must not look upon the success as the fruit of our own hand And thus now this Doctrine is cleared proved vindicated and cautioned and so I come to the Application Application Now by way of Application methinks this Doctrine looks wishly upon all the Congregation for what man or woman is there amongst you whom God hath not betrusted with some work or other 'T is true indeed that he who had but one Talent wrapped it up in the Napkin Those are most apt to be idle that have least yet every one hath some Talent or other some work or other that every one hath in the power of his hand Now therefore in the Name of the Lord I say unto you all Whatever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might Quest But how shall I be able to do the work which God hath put into my hand with all my might Ans First you must know what that work is which is in the power of your hand else you cannot turn your hand to do it withall your might Now First Look what that work is which is opus diei The work of the day which can neither be done in Heaven nor Hell that is now in the power of your hand to do There is some work which we may do in this life that can neither be done in Heaven nor Hell Preaching and Hearing the word cannot be done in Heaven nor Hell Repentance cannot be done in Heaven nor Hell Patience under affliction cannot be done in Heaven nor Hell Contributing to or helping the poor cannot be done in Heaven nor Hell Now look what that work is that can neither be done in Heaven or Hell that is the work of your present day and is in the power of your hand to do 2. Look whâ—â— that work is which is the work of your place calling or relâ—tion that is the work which is in the power of your hand to do As suppose you be a agistrate it is the work of the Christian Magistrate to safeguard and defend Religion Be wise now therefore O ye Princes and Nobles kiss the Son Psal 2.1 It is the work of the Magistrate to preserve the publick peace for he is the head of the community and therefore must look to the welfare of the body It is the work of the Magistrate to dispense justice and righteousness so as to encourage the good and be a terror to evil doers Rom. 13. It is the work of the Magistrate to assist the Minister By the hand of Moses and Aaron God led his people of old not by the hand of Moses alone nor by the hand of Aaron alone but by the hand of Moses and Aaron It is the work of the Magistrate to see that the poor be
Will unto the Will of God I shall end the affliction with the resignation of my Soul into the hands of God And the more frequently I do it whilst I live the more easily I shall do it when I dye and say in truth with Christ Father into thy hands I commend my spirit Sixthly Study the Sovereignty of God The more your heart is possessed with Gods Sovereignty the more Resignation It is the Lord said Eli let him do what seemeth good 1 Sam. 3.18 And good is the word of the Lord said Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.19 Seventhly Then behold this Example of Christ being before you whom beholding c. The sight of a resigning Christ will make you resign and say Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And thus now I have done with this last speech of Christ on the Cross The words of dying Friends are precious and we remember them Now ye have heard this living saying of a dying Christ You that are the friends of Christ will remember them and the Lord teach us so to remember them that thereby we may learn both to live and to dye both to do and to suffer THE Dignity and Duty OF Gods Called-ones 1 Thes 2.12 That you would walk worthy of God who hath called you to his Kingdom and Glory IN this Chapter you have a Relation of the Apostle Paul's Entrance unto the Thessalonians how they received him and how he preached to them For your selves Brethren know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain But even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully intreated as ye know at Philippi we were bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God with much contention v. 1 2. It was with much sincerity that he preached Our exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile v. 3. In opposition to worldly Interests Not as pleasing men but God which trieth our hearts For neither at any time used we flattering words nor a cloke of covetousness nor of men sought we glory neither of you nor yet of others when we might have been burdensome as the Apostles of Christ v. 4 5.6 It was with all gentleness and love We were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth her children Being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the Gospel of God onely but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us v. 7 8. It was with much industry and labour Labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable to any of you we preached unto you the Gospel of God v. 9. It was with all holiness of conversation v. 10. Ye are witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves among you that believe With all manner of exhortation v. 11. As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children that you would walk worthy of God So here then you have the Matter exhorted to and the Motive pressing thereto Who hath called you to his Kingdom and Glory Or Here you have First The Person calling God Secondly The Dignity called unto Who hath called you to his Kingdom and Glory Thirdly The Duty that flows from thence That you would walk worthy of God who hath called you to his Kingdom and Glory Hence Observe That it is the duty of all that are called to Gods Kingdom and Glory to walk worthy of the Kingdom and Glory of God I shall therefore shew you First What this Vocation or Calling is and that there is that in it that may and should provoke us to walk worthy of God Secondly That when God brings home any man to himself he doth it in a way of calling and why so Thirdly That it is the Duty of all that are called to walk worthy of God Fourthly How a man shall know that he is truly called Fifthly What we should do that we may walk worthy of God who hath called us First This Vocation is an Act of Gods Grace and Mercy whereby we are invited to the great Supper of the Gospel to Communion and Fellowship with Christ As it is an act of Gods grace and mercy so it is opposed to works Rom. 9.11 For the children being yet unborn neither having done good or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth Calling is opposite to works So 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace c. Vocation is an act of Gods grace wholly Secondly Men are invited to the great Supper of the Gospel that is to Fellowship and Communion with Christ 1 Cor. 1.9 God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. If you look unto the persons that are invited to the great Supper Luke 14.16 Matth. 22.1 2 3. that great Supper is nothing but Communion and Fellowship with Christ those that are invited Matth. 22.3 are said to be called He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the Supper And of those that refused to come it is said Many are called but few are chosen v. 14. Onely this Invitation to Communion and Fellowship with Christ is to be considered two ways First Meerly and barely as it is an act of God inviting by the Word Or secondly As it implies our answer or consent to that Invitation As when a man is called to an Office either in Church or State he is said to be called though he does not accept of it but when election and voluntary acceptation meet together then there is a call So our heavenly Call taking it in a large sense All that live under the Gospel are called and invited But in a proper and strict sense men are said to be called onely when they accept and consent upon Gods Invitation This distinction is very necessary For Matth. 22.14 it is said Many are called but few are chosen And Rom 8.30 it is said expresly That whom he hath predestinated them he also called and whom he called them he also justified If those that are called are predestinated and justified how is it true That many are called and few are chosen I answer Taking Calling in a large sense for a bare Invitation many are called Taking Calling in a strict sense as implying our answer and acceptation and consent thereto so none are called but those that accept the Call and are brought home to God Gods Calling is an effectual Invitation of a person to the great Supper of the Gospel whereby a man does accept it and is brought home to God Secondly How does it appear That when God brings home a man to himself he does it in a way of calling and why so I answer If our Conversion be called our calling and the Saints are