the cheefe Priestes Math. 21.25 the baptisme of Iohn whence is it From heaven or is it of men Is our ministery of God or is it of men For the hearer must confesse his treacher to be sent of God if his teaching beget faith and repentance in him and praise the name of God for it and acknowledge the blessing of God upon his labours to be an infallible token of his lawfull calling Ier. 23.21.22 Mal. 2.46 2 Cor. 3.1.2 On the other side God doth not convert men to himselfe or establish them in grace by false and Antichristian Ministers and meanes The holy martyrs were members of our Church I would likewise aske the Question of the holy Martyrs of our Church which accounted not their owne lives precious vnto them but laid them downe for the truthes sake are these martyrs of God or of the Devil were they members of a true Church or of a false and were they instructed in the faith by Christian ministers or by Antichristian nay doubtlesse they were not ashamed to professe themselues children of our Churches and reuerenced our ministers as their spiritual fathers and would have accounted it no small blessing if they might have beene suffered to heare them Thirdly they are reproued who thinke that above all other things the preaching of the word may best be spared and that the office of the Ministers is least of all usefull and necessary But is faith necessarie is repentance of any use is saluation out of request If these be giftes absolutely necessary then must the preaching of the truth and the publishing of the Gospel be necessary also without which they cannot be attained of us Christ Iesus is the greatest gift under Heaven after him the ministery of the word is the highest benefit whereby we come to know Christ and him crucified I say it is the greatest benefit which God hath given to the Sonnes of men Eph. 4.12 Eph. 4. for the gathering together of the Saints and the edification of the Church Whosoever therefore despiseth the preaching of the Word 1 Thess 4.8 despiseth not man but God and is guilty of his owne condemnation For as our bodies cannot live without food so our soules prosper not without the word Lastly it reproueth all drowsie and carelesse hearers that are a sleepe when they should heare these exclude and shut out faith that it should not enter But how should God open our hearts when we will not keep open our eares or how should he heare our praiers when we will not heare his Fastours Is it not all one altogether to be absent and to be thus present Secondly it serueth for information First it is a matter of great comfort for the lost sheepe of Christ straying from the sheepefold to understand that there is a way left to recover wandering sinners which is the hearing of the word and thereby to come to saluation Secondly it is a speciall blessing to live in such places and among such people where the word is taught and where they may be partakers of hearing Happy are they that hearken to the saving doctrine of the Gospell with a desire to understand it and care to obey it But wofull and feareful is their estate that live in such barraine places where the dearth of the word pineth away the soule we may say of them in deed and in truth Num. 13.32 They are lands that eate up the inhabitants thereof and in that day shall the faire virgins and young men faint for thirst Thirdly it teacheth that the sense of hearing is a great and necessary blessing of God and therefore fitly called the sense of understanding and of beleeving True it is God can worke without and no doubt he doth true it is also that our other senses are good helpes of many notable things especially the eyes are speciall furtherers of knowledge God hath two bookes whereby he teacheth us and wherein we reade his marueilous wisedome the one Psal 19.1 Rom. 1.19.20 1 Cor. 1.21 the great booke of his Creatures wherein we see his eternall power and godhead and learne to give him the glory the other is his written word inspired of God and iâ— profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction and for instruction in righteousnesse that the man of God may bee perfect throughly furnished unto all good workes 2 Tim. 3.16.17 Fourthly where the word is not taught according to the Ordinance of God there ordinarily sinners are not converted to God For there is no other ordinary meanes under heaven to conuert sinners and to worke faith in us than the Ministery of the word How then can we learne what true faith and true repentance is without the word Without which we must perish and be condemned Hence it is that Salomon saith Where vision failâ—th Pro. 29.18 the people perish Behold therefore the misery of the people who are as sheep dispersed and scattered without a Sheepheard and without such leaders as may shew them the good and right way wherein they should walke and so come to the kingdome of heauen Fiftly all such as through negligence carelesnesse contempt and wilfulnesse refuse the hearing of the word doe cast from them the meanes of their salvation and forsake their owne mercies nay they renounce faith and turning to God and account themselues unworthy of eternall life Such were those Iewes which are spoken of Act. 13. who resisted the word Act. 13.46 railed at it and spake against those things that were spoken contradicting them and blaspheming and therby renouncing their part in Christ Iesus Such are many carelesse and dissolute persons among us little better than Atheists who are never touched with any love of the word or desire of it but cast it behind their backe and set it after all the vanitie and pleasures of this life Lastly Mar. 4.24 Luk. 8.18 it is our duty to take heed how we heare For it standeth us vpon to regard not onely what we heare but how we heare and to looke to the manner as well as to the matter For we may perish as well by not hearing aright as by hearing that which is not right and consider that it is not enough to heare the truth but we must heare truly That we may attaine to this we must performe these seuerall duties to attend unto it to marke it to understand it to hold it fast and lastly to apply it The first point required of us The first duty of hearers is that we attend hearken unto it diligently It is not sufficient to heare It is one thing to heare but hearkning and giuing eare is another thing To heare requireth no more but the eares of the body to hearken requireth the eares of the mind Hence it is that Christ saith Math. 13. He that hath eares to heare Math. 13.9 let him heare Where he sheweth that there is a double hearing outward and inward or else he would never charge
sorts of the Ministery of our selves of our families Dan. 9.3.7.8 of our fathers of our Princes of our people and of our whole land For all our fasting is nothing worth without this Fasting is no part of Gods worship but onely joyned to prayer to be an helpe unto it or as a wing to mount is up toward heaven and make it ascend into the presence of God Prayer is avaylable without fasting because it is a lifting up of the heart to him but fasting never without prayer because it goeth not beyond the outward man Prayer is a spirituall exercise of our faith wherein as in an acceptable sacrifice God delighteth but fasting is a bodily exercise which in it selfe pleaseth not God who is a Spirit Ioh. 4.24 and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth God being of a spirituall nature requireth a spirituall service and agreeable to his nature And cry mightily vnto God This is the life and the very quintessence of all the great abstinence before commanded For what had it availed to cover themselves with sackcloth and ashes and to abstaine from food had they not used prayer to God to crave mercy and forgivenesse at his hands Yea this is the end of private or publike fastes that we should call upon God the more fervently and effectually They are not prescribed as hath beene shewed as parts of Gods seruice for whether we eate we are never the worse or whether we abstaine we are not at all the better in respect of any religion or holinesse that consisteth in them but onely as they are meanes to further us in his seruice Now in these words we must observe three things the matter the manner and the object that is their prayer their zeale and the person to whom they prayed their prayer is noted by their crying their zeale by doing it mightily the person to whom they prayed unto God Let us consider these in order The first is the matter they prayed they cryed the end is that thereby God might turne away from his fierce wrath Doct. This teacheth us that prayer is a principall meanes appointed and sanctified of God to remove his judgements Prayer is a meanes to remove Gods judgments This is as it were the tongue or voyce of repentance The prayer of this people was more worth a thousand times than the crying of the beasts and the loud noyse of men women and children They cryed they cryed mightily they cryed to God This the heathen by the light of nature have confessed The Marriners acknowledged this to be the only meanes to obtaine mercy at the hands of God Ion. 1.6 and to remoove his judgement when they were like to perish So did Pharaoh he was glad to fly to it in his misery and calamity Exod. 8.28 Pray for me and for my people to the Lord that this plague may depart So it was with Ieroboam little better than the former 1 King 13.6 1 King 13. So it was with Simon the forcerer they all thought it was the readiest way to remove his judgments from falling upon them Behold sundry examples of this truth in traveilers in captives in sicke men in sea-men and sundry other troubles of which the Prophet saith They cryed unto the Lord in their troubles Psal 107.6.13 19.28 Amos. 7.2.3 4.5.6 and he delivered them out of their distresses We see this oftentimes in Moses the servant of the Lord when he praied for the Israelites Exod. 32. Numb 14. Yea so forcible were his prayers with God that they after a sort tyed up his hands that he could not smite but said Exod. 32.10 Let me alone that I may destroy them So Gen. 19. he said to Let I can doe nothing till thou art gone and Exod. 17. Gen. 19.22 the prayer of Moses prevailed more for the overthrow and destruction of the Amalekites than the sword of Ioshua and the people The reasons are Reas 1 first it hath a promise of blessing to such as use it a right Math. 7. Psal 50. We do not beat the aire nor build upon the sand our labour in the fire Psal 50.15 when we pray unto him but we lay a sure foundatiō upon the certaine rocke of his promise Math. 7.7 which shall never faile us who hath said Aske and ye shall receive Secondly our sinnes cry up to heaven pierce the cloudes Gen. 18.20 4.10 come into Gods presence and call for vengance Gen. 18. Our prayers cry to God for mercy and drowne the noise of our sinnes that the cry of them cannot be heard though they cry never so loud Thirdly we obtaine not because we aske not aright Iam. 4. We aske and receive not Iam. 4.3 we seeke and find not but the cause is not in God the fault is in our selves Vse 1. This reproveth such as pray not at all Vse 1 nor desire to have conference with God as if they stood in no need of him as if they enjoyed all things by their owne labour as if they did not live and move by his blessing as if it were not in his power to stoppe our breath when we must goe hence and be no more and as if any thing could do us good without a sanctifying of the creature to our use Psal 14.4 whereas he can take away the staffe of bread whensoever it pleaseth him All these should be motives to move us to paryer Rom. 10.13 The Prophet maketh this the note of Atheistes they call not upon the Lord. If a man should be waighed in this ballance alas how many would be found to light and if whosoever would be saved must call upon the name of the Lord how many are there that stand not in the state of salvation because they know not what prayer meaneth it is a stranger to them and they unto it Secondly it is our duty to practise this duty to call upon his holy name But it may be said what needeth prayer God hath foreappointed what to do and our prayer cannot altar Gods purpose decree which is unchangable I answer we do not pray to chage Gods decree but to shew our obedience faith toward God It pleaseth him to try them this way whether as his children they will depend upon him or not Again it may be said He knoweth what we need what need we then to put him in mind as if he had forgotten to shew mercy I answer we do not pray to teach God any thing that he knoweth not neither to bring to his remēbrance what he hath forgotten yet this ought to be farre from discouraging of us in prayer and from stopping our mouthes Math 6.8 9. that it rather openeth them wider for asmuch as therefore we ought to be encouraged in prayer because our heavenly father knoweth whereof we have need and thus our Saviour reasoneth your father knoweth your necessities after this manner therefore pray ye
promised to heare us Ob. we obey and yet we are not heard I answer God never commanded thee to pray Answ God never commanded a wicked man to pray he never made promise nor halfe a promise nor peece of a promise to a wicked mans prayer so long as he continueth so Search the whole booke of God and tell me where the Commandement or promise is to be found I can produce a thousand curses against the soule of the ungodly and where he expresâ—y threatneth he will not heare them and that his prayer is abominable but I cannot find either Commandement for the ungodly to pray or comfort for them that they shall be heard and helped in their prayer He that bringeth his gift to the Altar and there remembreth his brother hath ought against him Math. 5.23.24 must leave his gift before it and goe his way to be first reconciled to his brother and ought not they when they come to pray before the Lord the searcher of all hearts and remember the Lord hath a controversie against them leave his worship for a time and go first to be reconciled to him and that much more before they presume to call upon him with their wicked hearts How many are there that thinke it enough to come to the house of prayer as if there were some vertue or inherent holinesse in the place but be not deceived when we tread in the Lords Courts if we leave not our sinnes behind us we were better leave our selues behind also forasmuch as he that maketh prayer without repentance is as if he mingled wholesome meat with ranke poyson Secondly it behoveth us to love the righteous and esteeme well of them because such God heareth and they are much beloved of God For though they be little in their owne eyes yet are they highly regarded of him and much in his favour And though they be never so poore in the sight of the world they are in truth and in Gods account greater then any worldling nay one of them the least the lowest the simplest is in more estimation with him then all the world of the ungodly Heb. 11.38 These are such as the Apostle speaketh off Heb. 11. The world was not worthy of them They are the favorites of the king of heaven the King of Kings and have free accesse to him at all times which no man can have to earthly Princes How great an honour is it in Princes Courts to have an easie entrance to come into their presence and to be in their favour that they hold out their golden Septer unto them but how much grearer dignity is it to have recourse to the Almighty and whensoever we will to put up our petitions before him with assurance to be heard As therefore we have benefit by the prayers of the faithfull whom God accepteth so we are bound to love them by whom we have such benefit Lastly from hence comfort and encouragement ariseth to the Godly to pray often and as the Lords remembrancers to give him no rest seeing they have promise of good successe He will not be wanting unto us if we be not wanting to our selues Let us joyne repentance unto our prayer and he will joyne helping to his hearing but if we separate our repentance from our requestes he may well heare us but we may not looke for deliverance or acceptance at his hands If then we turne unto him we may be well assured he will turne unto us Great is the force of true prayer but it must be seasoned and sharpned with repentance if both these go together like a bird that flyeth with both winges they ascend up to heaven and his blessings descend to the earth and fall upon our heads as a shower of raine that falleth upon the ground and maketh it fâ—uitfull Prayer without repentance is like a Dove that flyeth with one wing or like a cripple that halteth with one foote happy are they that joyne them together as it were to draw in one yoke Hence it is that the Apostle knitteth them in one Act. 8. Repent of wickednesse and pray unto God What had his repentance availed him without prayer or his prayer without repentance as therefore both are commanded so both of them must be practised of us Let them turne every one Doct. Marke in the next place the generality of the Commandement Repentance belongeth to the naturall man who must turne to God Repentance is shewed to belong to all of them These men were meere carnall and naturall men such as were not regenerate by the Spirit of God This teacheth us to whom repentance belongeth that the naturall man not yet called must repent and turne unto God True it is the regenerate must repent also because he hath many corruptions remaining in him and he sinneth daily the image of God in which man was created was lost in a little space yet to repaire it againe perfectly requireth the whole time of mans life as houses may be overturned in an instant as the house that fell upon Iobs children Iob. 1.19 which are long in building againe The regenerate man therefore must still exercise repentance howbeit properly this is renewed repentance rather then the first act of repentance and a proceeding in it unto perfection then the first beginning of our conversion The point then to be considered in this example is that the naturall man hath need of repentance Math. 3.2 This Iohn the Baptist preached Act. 2.23.38 Repent for the kingdome of God is at hand Thus Peter exhorted the Iewes that with wicked hands had taken and crucified the Lord of life to repent and to be baptized in his name 2 Tim. 2.25 So the man of God is charged to instruct with meekenesse the contrary minded if God peradventure will gâ—ve them repentance The reasons hereof are plaine Reas 1 First the naturall man cannot enter into Gods kingdome Ioh. 3.5 except he be borne again It is as unpossible for a man unregenerate to possesse the joyes of heaven as it is for a Camell to goe through the eye of a needle The penitent person hath the gate of the kingdome set wide open to him but no other For such as have not the spirit of God are none of his Secondly such are nothing else but a lumpe of sinne no one part good in them their consciences are impure Tit. 1. Repentance is the life of a sinner without this we are as a dead man that can stirre neither hand nor foot Eph. 2.1 By nature we beare the image of Satan and are more like to him then any child is to his father or can be Let us come to the uses This teacheth us that this present life is the time of our repentance Vse 1 Let us make peace with God and be reconciled unto him while we are yet in the way It had been to late for these Ninevites to think of repentance when desolation had come upon them as a
holy Sabboths so they are still They were drunkards and filthy livers ignorant and blind in matters of faith and religion so they are still Are these humble and repentant sinners do these turne to God where you saw them long a goe and where you left them twenty or thirty yeares a goe there you shall be sure to finde them never a whit changed unlesse happily from evill to worse But let such marke how it hath beene with other penitents and in them behold themselues as in aglasse I meane Paul the woman of Samaria Lydia the jaylour Zacheus the Iewes that crucified Christ the Lord of life Let him that talketh of Repentance boasteth of it and chalengeth it to himselfe even for his owne assurance shew the like fruites in himselfe for it worketh such a change and alteration that both our selues and others may discerne it as easily as light from darknesse So then as the Apostle saith Shew me thy faith by thy workes Iam. 2.18 so may I say shew me thy repentance by thy change For what shall it profit a man to say he hath repentance when he hath no friutes can such a repentance comfort him The third reproofe Thirdly it condemneth civill men that remaine in the state of nature and glory in their outward vertues that they are alwayes the same but these glory in their owne shame These cannot say they are become new creatures they cannot say they were ever borne againe yet without the new birth they cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven Ioh 3.3 They cannot say Old things are passed away 2 Cor 5.17 behold all thinges are made new yet no other are in Christ and made members of his body Such civill men that content themselues with civill honesty and have nothing wherein to rejoyce but nature stand as yet in a dangerous and damnable estate neither can they come out of it untill they begin to deny themselues and to loath and detest even these outward vertues forsamuch as the trust and confidence in them is no better then a selfe deceiving Secondly it serveth for information in other truthes First that no sinne is great and heinous but there is place for repentance if they can repent This was the end of Christes comming to call sinners to repentance Math. 9.13 he sayth sinners without exception This we see in Manasses a Sorcerer an Idolater a murtherer and almost what not yet he humbled himselfe and obtained mercy according as he prayed 2 Chr. 33. 2 Chro. 33.19 Paul confesseth that he was sometimes a blasphemer and a persecutour and an oppressour yet he obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbeleefe 1 Tim. 1.13 1 Tim. 1. The conspirators against Christ and his kingdome are called to kisse that is Psal 2.12 to embrace and obey him and his doctrine and accordingly they which shed his blood by murthering of him did drinke his blood by beleeving him Act. 2. Act. 2.37 A singular comfort for such as feele the burden of their sinnes lying heavy upon their consciences that they goe mourning all the day long and cannot lift up their heads to God unto such the Lord speaketh Esay 1. Come let us reason together Esay 1.16 if ye will wash and clense your hearts though your sinnes were as red as crimsin they shall be made white as wooll And Christ our Saviour calleth such as are heavy laden Math. 11.28 and promiseth to give them rest Math. 11. Sinne often bringeth us to the brimme or border of hell but it cannot bring us so low but Christ Iesus is able to bring us backe and to raise us vp againe by repentance Secondly there in no sinne so small and little though it seeme in our eyes as a more but it is able to bring to hell and therefore craveth repentance The world of naturall men judgeth that repentance is proper to none but to heinous and hideous sinnes as murther theft periury treason rebellion whordome and such like and that if they be free from the outward act of these they justifie themselues like the Pharisee and thinke repentance belongeth not to them as for others if they have any they hope to be dispenced with all It is nothing so with Gods children they have beene touched to the heart for such sinnes as the world taketh no notice off and never sticketh at as for the evill which appeareth in their best workes that they cannot do them as they would but infirmities creepe upon them and defile them not onely for committing evill but for omitting good things Rev. 2.4.5 the Church of Ephesus is called to repentance for leaving their first love they watch over their idle thoughts and idle words Gen 6.5 remembring that every imagination of the heart is onely evill continually and the threatning of Christ that for every idle word that men shall speake Math. 12.36 they shall give account thereof at the day of judgement Davids heart was smitten for cutting off the lappe of Sauls garment privily 1 Sam. 24.4 1 Sam. 24. Every thing is layd to heart of Gods children which he hath softned by the touch of his holy spirit by giving unto them an heart of flesh they will be troubled for the least sinnes accounting no sinne little which is committed against so great a God which offendeth so holy a law which deserveth eternall death as the just wages thereof and brought Christ Iesus from the bosome of his Father to suffer death for them and lastly they are grieved touched to the quick because they encrease not in grace according to the good meanes and occasions that God hath given knowing that the more is given and committed unto them the more is required at their hands and the streighter shall their account be Lastly let us examine our selues whether we be turned from evill to good and from the power of Satan to God This will appeare by these signes and tokens First there is a turning of the heart upward to heaven and a fastning of the eye upon God that it may be sayd of every true repentant that his behaviour is as of one that is journying going up to the heavenly Ierusalem the mother of us all Luk. 9.53 as it is said of our Saviour that his face was as though he would go to Ierusalem Phil. 3.20 So our conuersation must be in heaven and our whole life a travelling thither and a wandering in the wildernesse of this world untill we be brought into the true Canaan that is aboue But if the hearts of all were tried by this rule it would shew how little repentance is in the world when in all our thoughts workes and employments we are carried wholly downeward which way will bring us to hell in the end forasmuch as we have prophane hearts not savauring the things that are of God like prophane Esau Secondly we grow every day better and better when once we
heaven he beholdeth all the sonnes of men from the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth And touching the second branch to wit the approoving of of that which is good Moses declareth when Israel offered their submission to the ordinary ministery being ready to heare from his mouth all the words of the Lord he gave this testimony and commendation of them Devt 5.28.29 I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken they have will said O that there were such an heart in them Math. 8.10 15.28 26.13 that they would feare me and keepe my Commandements alwayes c. Thus Christ our Saviour commendeth the faith of the Centurion Math. 8. of the Cananitish woman Chap. 15. and of the woman that anoynted his feet with precious oyntment I say unto you wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world there shall this which she hath done be told for a memoriall of her chap. 26. Let us see both these branches confirmed unto us Reasons of the first branch Touching the first it is great brutishnesse and folly not to know that God knoweth all things This is as much as to deny his nature and to make God to be no God He may be said to be all an eye all an eare all an heart but to deny this principle what is it in effect but to turne the true God into an Idoll which hath eyes and feeth not eares and hearth not Psal 115.5.6 94.89.10 and an heart and vnderstandeth not Hereunto came the words of the Prophet Vnderstand ye brutish among the people and ye fooles when will ye be wise he that planted the eare shall he not heare he that formed the eye shall he not see he that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know All things have sight hearing knowledge and understanding from him therefore he must heare perceive and see forasmuch as that which causeth a man to be so is it selfe much more so Secondly nothing can hinder his sight nor want of light nor distance of place nor dimnesse of the eye which are causes of want of seeing in us Therefore the Prophet saith Psal 139.7.8.9 c. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I fly from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven or make my bed in the grave or take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea thou art there c. Touching the second Reasons of the second branch he approoveth every good worke for who is it that hath wrought it in us or from whence doth it proceed is it of our selves no doubtlesse every good and perfect gift is from above and commeth downe from the Father of lights And as he must worke it before we can have it Iam. 1.17 so he must strengthen that which he hath wrought in us Secondly to encourage and provoke us to perseverance and continuance in wel-doing It is no lesse vertue to hold fast that which we have gotten then at the first to get it And we have as much need to be exhorted to go on as to beginne seeing we may perish as well by going backe as by not stirring at all or not walking in the wayes of God Heb. 10.35 as also it serueth to draw on others by our example as we also ought by the examples of others The uses follow and first of the first branch And first Vse 1 this directeth us in all our workes to propound to our selues alwayes the presence of God a speciall foundation of Christian religion When thou hast any tentation to sinne or inclination of thy heart thereunto if thou couet to be kept in the feare of God perswade thy selfe of the truth of this principle that whatsoever thou thinkest or speakest or doest Heb. 4.13 all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whrm we have to doe Gen. 39.9 because he searcheth all hearts and say with Ioseph How can I doe this great wickednesse and sinne against God Enoch walked before God and pleased him that he had his power and presence evermore before his eyes Gen. 5.24 in Heb. 11. and Gen. 17.1 On the other side this is a maine cause of all wicked nesse prophanenesse and ungodlinesse among men to be perswaded that God seeeth us not Psal 94. They prate speake heard things Psal 94.4.5.6.7 they smite thy people and spoyle thy heritage flay the widow and murther the fatherlesse what is the cause where is the reason they say the Lord shall not see neither will the God of Iacob regard it It is neere to Atheisme to have such a blasphemous thought as to jmagine that we can hide our counsels deuises from the Lord Esay 29.15 as Esay 29 Woe unto them that seeke deepe to hid our counsel from the Lord their workes are in the dark and they say who seeth us and whoknoweth us True it is men will not speak thus prophanly with the tongue for then all men would condemne them cry shame of them as unworthy to live upon the earth but what should we looke to their words when we may looke upon their deedes or what shall it avail them to hide their counsels when they lay open their conuersations to keepe their mouthes silent when their lives proclaime they thinke there is no God Happy are we if we have the Lord ever before us and have our eyes upon him as we know that his eyes are upon us as the eye of the Master upon the servant to give to every man according to his workes Secondly this offereth much comfort to the afflicted and putteth such as afflict them in mind of their wretched condition wherein they stand 2 Thess 1.6.7 seing it is a righteous thing wâ—th God torecompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest when the Lord Iesas shall be revealed from heaven The Lord seeth the afflictions of his seruants will regard revenge them get glory to his great name in the confusion of their enemies When the children of Israel were oppressed by the Egyptians and afflicted with sore burdens the Lord comforteth them with this I have seene I have seene the affliction of my people Exod. 3.7.9 which is in Egypt and I have heard their groning Act. 7.34 and am come downe to deliver them He considereth the cruelty and injury of the enimy as 2 Chro. 16. 1 Chro. 16.9 the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himselfe strong in the behalfe of them whose heart is perfect toward him It is strange to see the folly of men abusing the essentiall properties of God as were easie to shew in our several state and condition of life sometimes abridging them and cutting them too short and sometimes enlarging them and stretching them too farre See
and are called with an holy calling by the voice of their Shepheard and set apart by the power of the Word as the Nazarites were by their vow To this purpose it is said of the Church Loe the people shall dwell alone Numb 23 9. and shall not be reckoned among the Nations If then we joyne our selves with the world we disjoyne our selves from the Church Secondly true holinesse is begun in their nature Wee beleeve this in our hearts and wee must practise it in our lives Tit. 3.5 Tit. 3.5 2 Pet. 1.10 Matth. 5.16 Hereby we make our election and calling sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Matth. 5.16 No sanctification no salvation Thirdly the holinesse of Christ and his righteousnesse is imputed unto them Heb. 10.10 being washed and bathed in his blood Heb. 10.10 These rely wholy upon his merits for their righteousnesse and salvation not upon themselves Fourthly they cleave unto such as feare God and worke righteousnesse with unchangeable affections as the onely people in the world with whom they become one body Rom. Rom. 12.5 12.5 For as they are one in Christ so they are one among themselves and love one another in deed and in truth as fellow servants of the same family as fellow berthren of the same Father and as fellow Citizens of the same City with all meeknesse patience gentlenesse lowlinesse long-suffering love concord and unity As sheepe will not be alone so neither will they sort with Swine or Beares or Lyons or Wolves Let all our delight therefore be in the Saints Psal 16. 2 Cor. 6.16 2 Thes 3.14 Heb. 10.39 On the other side let us avoid the society of the wicked Come out from among them and touch no uncleane thing separate from them and have no familiarity with them Fiftly they strive with might and maine by sanctification and holinesse of life to exceed and outstrip the deeds and practices of Turkes Papists and prophane persons of the world 1 Pet. 2.9 Phil. 2.15 that these may see their good workes and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven For except our righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises Matth. 5.20 wee cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Our workes not our words onely must speake for us and witnesse with us that we are of this one Church And let us take heed lest by our sinfull lives we slander our profession blaspheme the Name of God our Father dishonour Christ our Head and disgrace the Church our Mother Ephes 1.4 Lastly wee must acknowledge our selves to be Pilgrims and strangers in this world Heb. 11.9 10. as the Patriarkes and holy men of God did For albeit we are in the world yet we are none of the world and albeit we live on the earth yet we must not be earthly-minded Phil. 3.20 but have our conversation in Heaven and from thence looke for our Saviour to change our vile bodies and to fashion them like to his glorious body We live here as in a strange Country but we looke for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God We must therefore use this world as though we used it not 1 Cor. 7.31 And thus being members of the Church militant in this life wee shall be parts of the Church triumphant in the life to come there to remaine with Christ Iesus our Head for ever Little flocke The third point of the division followeth which is the limitation it is little Though it be a flocke yet it is but a little flocke It is a company yet but a small company Touching the company or compasse of the Church we are to consider two things First the errors that stand on both sides and the strength of the reason that Christ maketh against all carnall feare of want and famine Touching the errors on both hands as well on the right hand as on the left some goe about to shrinke up the sinewes of this little flocke and so contract it into a lesser roome then Christ himselfe hath folded it into True it is hee hath shut it up into a narrow fold but many have gone about to pin it up and to tye it shorter then he hath done Thus the Iewes that were of the Circumcision offended who went about to gather it into a shorter summe then they ought to have done for they contended with Peter and tooke it grievously Acts 11.2 3. that he went in to men uncircumcised and did eate with them They falsely perswaded themselves that the promises concerning the Messiah pertained to themselves alone because they heard in the Scriptures that they were called the peculiar people to whom pertained the adoption Rom. 9.4 5. the covenants the giving of the Law and the service of God and so they dreamed that the Gentiles were quite excluded from salvation and severed from the Church of God Howbeit this is contrary to the ancient promise and prophesie that God will enlarge Iaphet Gen. 9.27 that hee shall dwell in the Tents of Shem and hereunto doe other Prophets accord Thus also did the Donatists shut up the Church into a corner of the world onely to wit in Africk August De Haeres cap. 69. as if it had beene utterly perished out of the whole earth besides Thus doe the Anabaptists and sundry of the Separation as if there were no true Church upon the earth but among themselves who in truth are the true Donatists of our time as whosoever knoweth the history of them will easily acknowledge For these Sectaries were Separatists who had their Conventicles apart under colour of great corruptions in other places persons and Churches and they imagined contagion and infection to arise by communicating with all others This is a generation that say as it is in the Prophet Esay 65.5 Stand by thy selfe Come not neere to me for I am holier then thou But here good and evill are mingled together as cleane uncleane in the Arke as wheate and chaffe in the floore and must so continue to the end of the World So likewise doe the Romanists abridge it who fasten the Church to the sleeve of the See of Rome and therefore define it to bee a company of men under one Pastor Bellar. lib. 3. De Eccles cap. 2. and subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome so that let men beleeve never so orthodoxally and soundly otherwise yet they hold them out of the account of the Church and brand them to bee no better then damnable Heretikes who doe not acknowledge their lord god the Pope to be the Vicar of Christ the head of the Church and their chiefe nay universall Pastor Thus Catholike and Romane with them generall and particular shall be all one which Church when it was at the best Rom. 1.8 and their faith spred abroad thorowout the whole world was never taken to be the Catholike Church but a part thereof which now is no sound part or
should never fade nor faile nor fall away Thirdly give no occasion of offence to wicked worldlings to open their mouthes against us to speake evill both of us and of our profession The Apostle warneth us to cut off occasions from them that seeke occasions 2. Cor. 11. 2 Cor. 11.11 And hee warneth young women to guide their houses 1 Tim. 5.14 and to give no occasion to the adversary to speake reproachfully 1 Tim. 5. These are they that watch for our halting and slipping as the Fowler doth for the Bird or the Hawke for his prey They lay nets and snares to catch the simple and heedlesse soule It is meat and drinke to them if they can take them at any advantage If wee suffer reproofe and reproach wrongfully happy are we and great is our comfort we have no cause of griefe and sorrow but rather of rejoycing resting in the testimony of a good conscience Psal 37. 44.11 12 13 17. and the approbation of Gods Spirit who shall bring forth thy righteousnesse as the light and thy judgement as the noone day Thus wee see in the faithfull Psal 44. Thou hast given us like sheepe appointed for meâ—t thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours a scorne and derision to them that are round about us thou makest us a by-word among the Heathen a shaking of the head among the people c. all this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsely with thy Covenant c. But if we suffer as evill doers wee have no comfort at all in any such sufferings but rather much discomfort and matter of sorrow and mourning Fourthly let us from the hatred and harsh entertainment we finde in the world be perswaded to knit our selves more closely to the rest of the faithfull that are brethren of the same Father servants of the same Master and members of the same body Forasmuch therefore as we are hated in the world and of the world let us cleave the more closely to God our Father and to Christ our head Ioh. 15.17 18. 17.26 John 15.17 18. who commandeth us to love one another Hence it is that Christ saith I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Touching this brotherly kindnesse observe these three circumstances the manner the time and the persons The manner of it must bee earnestly fervently constantly and in truth not faintly not coldly not hypocritically not in shew onely for so did Cain love his brother The time must be at all times every season is the season thereof fit to practise it not in prosperity onely and when they have little or no need at all of us but chiefely and especially in adversity in time of dearth and famine which is the time of the triall of our love as Pro. 17.17 18.24 Prov. 17.17 18.24 A friend loveth at all times and a brother is borne for adversity And touching the persons whom are wee to love all the brethren not onely the rich and wealthy but the least the lowest the meanest the poorest among them especially whom the Lord hath chosen to be rich in faith Iam. 2.1 2 5. and heires of the Kingdome of Heaven To this end wee are warned not to have the faith of our glorious Lord Iesus Christ in respect of persons forbidding us to despise poore Christians and to respect onely the richer sort of higher places that abound in earthly blessings Now to effect this brotherly love the better Motives to worke true love in us and to worke it the sooner in our hearts wee must consider sundry motives to move us thereunto laid before us in holy Scripture First we shall be all knowne to be the Disciples of Christ by this charity Ioh. 13.35 as a servant is by his livery to what Master he belongeth John 13.35 Secondly hereby we know that we are translated from death to life 1 Ioh. 3.14 and from the state of damnation to salvation because we love the brethren They are all no better then dead men starke dead in sinnes and trespasses and lying under condemnation that are destitute of this love Thirdly whosoever hateth his brother the Son of his heavenly Father is another Cain a very murtherer 1 Ioh. 3.15 and ye know that no murtherer hath eternall life abiding in him If wee would scorne to bee blotted and branded with such an odious name it behooveth us to avoid and beware the like practice as well as the title It is in vaine for us to goe about to shun and shake from us the name so long as we resemble his nature Nay we are like the Devill himselfe Iohn 8.44 who was a murtherer from the beginning Joh. 8. When the Prophet told Hazael of his barbarous and horrible cruelty that hee should shew against the children of Israel he seemed to scorne it and to startle at it as at an hideous matter Is thy servant a dog 2 King 8.13 that he should doe this great thing but what availed this or was he one inch the further from it because he put it away from him No doubtlesse So what shall it profit these men to cast from them those names of Cain and his father the Devill and think they have wrong offered them to be so esteemed wheÌ„ in the meane season they nourish malice and mischiefe in their sinfull hearts Fourthly hereby we know that we are of the truth 1 Ioh. 3.19 and shall assure our hearts before him by the opposition of the world 1 Joh. 3.19 so that from hence we should gather great consolation and assurance to our selves that we are not married to the world but are divorsed from the world Iam. 4.4 If we be the friends of the world we become the enemies of God because the friendship of this world is enmity with God Fiftly love is of God 1 Iohn 4.21 Iohn 17.3 and every one that loueth is borne of God and knoweth God whereas he that loveth not God knoweth him not 1 Joh. 4.21 howbeit this is eternall life to know him Joh. 17.3 Sixtly God hath loved us first when we deserved no love 1 Iohn 4.9 Rom. 5.8 but to bee hated whereas we often hate those that deserve to be loved yea he so loveth us that hee sent his Sonne his onely begotten Sonne whom he loved and in whom he is exceedingly well pleased that wee might live through him Is not this love of his toward his enemies strong enough to worke love againe in us toward our brethren O what a little feeling have we in our hearts of the love of the Father if it cannot worke thus much in us to cause us for his sake to love his children The bright beames of the love of the Sunne of righteousnesse did never shine upon us to quicken us if wee doe not also warme
wee resolve to hold our peace yet it will breake out This we see in the Prophet when the Word of the Lord became a reproach unto him and a derision daily hee said within himselfe Ier. 20.9 I will not make mention of him nor speake any more in his Name howbeit his Word was in his heart as a burning flame in his bones and he was weary with forbearing so that he could not stay Ier. 20.9 It is not enough for us to mourne in secret for the abominations committed openly but it is our duty to reprove those that dishonour him and such as sinne openly should be reprooved openly as the Apostle teacheth both by precept 1 Tim. 5.20 Gal. 2.14 1 Tim. 5.20 and by example Gal. 2.14 Can a good Childe that loveth his Father heare him in his presence reviled traduced and evill spoken of and yet hold his peace as if he were a deafe man and heard nothing doth he not thereby after a sort give consent to such reproaches and make himselfe partaker of those evils as it were a party and joyne himselfe to his Fathers enemy Or will a good Servant heare his Master disgraced before him and yet say nothing at all How then shall we heare the Lord blasphemed who is both our Father and Master and his Name taken in vaine and yet keepe silence and not answer a word How shall we dare once to call him Father and not blush at the naming of him if there be any shame in us when we have no care to maintaine his honour but suffer it to lye in the dust and trodden under foot as a polluted thing How shall God open his eares at our prayers to powre on us his graces when our mouthes are quite shut up and stopped at his disgraces or how shall we looke to have him confesse us before his Father Matth. 10.32 and the elect Angels in Heaven when we are ashamed to confesse him before the sonnes of men upon earth Alas how jealous are wee of our owne names and upon what nice and tender points of saving credit and reputation doe we stand to maintaine them And ought not the Name of God to be much more deare and precious unto us Either let us cease once to take the name of a Father in our mouthes or else let us shew a more Sonne-like affection toward him in our hearts Either let us forbeare to professe our selves his Children or else let us beare our selves as Children and carry in us a readinesse every way to honour him The sixth signe Sixtly we are bound to love God againe and to answer love for love And so much the rather because he commendeth his love toward us that when we were his enemies hee sent his Sonne into the world to die for us O how great was his love toward us O how little is our love toward him were not he a very unnaturall childe that tasting abundantly of his Fathers kindnesse recompenceth it with unkindnesse stubbornenesse unthankfulnesse and disobedience againe Thus doe we foolish people deale with the Lord and reward him hatred for his love and enmity for his friendship How to knovv vvhether vve love God But how shall we know whether we love him or not Is every mans claime and entituling himselfe unto it a certaine and sufficient rule to know this No doubtlesse this is a marke too generall and may soone deceive us if we leane upon it as a broken staffe or a reed of Egypt If we love him indeed and in truth we will love him even when hee chasteneth and afflicteth us It is an easie matter for us to say we love God greatly when he blesseth and prospereth us and when he mercifully supplieth all things unto us that we desire Such love the hypocrites may pretend and make greater shew thereof then the true Children of God This may all such doe as live in peace and prosperity and yet notwithstanding deceive themselves and others also This corruption doth Satan discover to be in us naturally Iob 1.9 10. Iob 1.9 10. Doth Iob feare God for naught hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side thou hast blessed the worke of his hands and his substance is increased in the Land but put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face But we must testifie our love toward him that we can love him when he chasteneth us and beare the crosse patiently whatsoever hee shall lay upon us and looke for deliverance from him alone And so much the rather because he chasteneth in love toward us and if we endure chastisement Heb. 12.7 God offereth himselfe to us as unto children Heb. 12.7 especially considering hee doth it evermore for our good And if his chastisements proceed from love why should they not worke the same in them that are chastened we have had the fathers of our bodies which corrected us oftentimes for their pleasure and yet we gave them reverence shall wee not then much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live who chasteneth us for our profit that we might be partakers of his holinesse Lastly The seventh signe wee must come out from the society and company of evill men and have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse If wee delight as much in the company of the ungodly as of the godly of the children of the Devill as of Gods we are become one body with them we cannot be assured that we are Gods Children but he that is their Father is become our Father and he that ruleth in them ruleth in us also This note not onely giveth light to our selves but holdeth out the candle to others to know whose wee are and to whom we belong Psal 16.3 15.4 If our greatest delight bee in the Saints we are also ourselves in the number of the Saints and if we honour them that feare the Lord it is an evident token our selves feare him and that a vile person is contemned of us But if wee bee never more merry then with them whose conversation would make us sorry and sigh if the zeale of Gods glory were before our eyes how can we assure our hearts that God is our Father seeing his enemies are our greatest friends and best welcome unto us This doth the Apostle teach at large 2 Cor. 6. who upon the promise that God will be a Father unto us and we shall bee his Sonnes and Daughters concludeth 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Be not therefore unequally yoaked with Infidels what fellowship is there betweene righteousnesse and unrighteousnesse betweene Christ and Belial wherefore come out from among them and separate from them and touch no uncleane thing and I will receive you But it may be said Obiect What needeth this separation to be urged so hotly unto us that live not among any Infidels mingled pell