and Harts of the field that you stir not my beloved before he please stir him not by any unseasonable importunity nor by any provocation drive him away for if you do this will be offensive to the Roes creatures easily frighted away that are wild and but beginning to be tamed now this is wise walking and that of the Psalmist The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and a good understanding have they that keep his commandments his praise endureth for ever the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom this is the head the top of wisdom the principal part for this comprehends the first part of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rule that is to say that which guides us to a right worshipping of God in Spirit and in Truth which is the first thing this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the godliness the Scripture so often maketh mention of to be exact in this is the beginning the first born of wisdom and the end of wisdom is to keep his Commandments all his Commandments respecting man and God or else fear of God is put for the inward principle of obedience and keeping the Commandments for the real demonstration of it in a holy and righteous conversation which way ever you take it a good understanding they have that keep them so that it is an effect and argument of wisdom Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth they are usually or would be wise men already I but there is one piece of wisdom that the Laws of men teach not but the School of Christ and that is Kiss the Son lest be he angry ye perish from the way or in the way and so another Scripture saith This shall be your wisdom in the sight of the Nations if ye keep the Commandments of the Lord they shall say surely this Nation is a wise and understanding people I will beleave my self wisely in a perfect way saith the Psalmist if ye walked in a perfect way and exactly it would be wise walking indeed and therefore you shall find that all grace and ability and strength whereby we are enabled to walk the ways of God aright it is called Wisdom get Wisdom get Understanding Wisdom is the principal thing and what is this but an ability to walk the ways of God exactly no more for proof For the further confirmation of this Doctrine take these Considerations First It is wisdom to propound a right end to chuse the chief good for his chief end is a principal part of wisdom the Heathens professing themselves wise they became fools they thought they were able by the creatures to run up to the first being and so the first and chief good but wofully they were mistaken A fool he is that works for no end as many men do they bowl away the greatest part of their lives without any mark that they aim at that is good this is the folly which is bound in all mens hearts it is wisdom then to have a mark whereat men aim in all their actions and to have this mark the chief good the right end whereto all should he directed to make him who is the Alpha the Omega it is no small peice of wisdom The eys of a fool are in the ends of the earth but wisdom is before him that hath understanding here and there and every where vvhen they should be fixed upon some mark or stop to which all should be directed as the Apostles vvere he had his mark in his eye still and they should let their eys look right on this is wisdom indeed Now this is one peice of exact walking and a main one too thus to eye the first and chief good that is to say God himself for our last end to propound him to our selves as the center of our souls wherein alone we can rest with satisfaction Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth I desire in comparison of thee this was a wise man indeed this is the first Wisdom consists in the provision of the end Secondly To provide and make use of the right means to this end in general is another piece of this Wisdom the wise mans eys are in his head if a man have never so good an end and yet know not which way to compass it nor how to go about to gain it this is a fool when a man hath the mark in his eye to set the byas the wrong way and so to go clear off this end argues not skill but weakness his heart is at his left hand and indeed herein is most evident the power of Wisdom to discover the right means for such an end as will make a man happy and to know how to make use of them and accordingly to improve them for that end the Wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way now who is it that doth this but the circumspect exact walker others they turn the byas another way some to prophanness others to heresie c. they tread not the track at all as if a man intending to go South-ward takes his course quite Northward clean contrary So men intend heaven but their course bends hell-ward sure this is folly no no Jesus Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life and he alone and therefore this is Wisdom brethren to know who is the Wisdom of the Father to come to him close with him walk in him as we have received him Thirdly It is Wisdom and great Wisdom for men then to take the nearest way and easiest way to a thing Labour in vain is not the character of a wise man that doth movere non promovere◠now it is labour in vain to go a further way about or a worse way to an end when there is a nearer and better frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora how many miles doth a Spaniel run in his excursions to no purpose whereas if he kept close after his Master he would not nor need to tyre himself so much nothing near and so it is with many a soul that doth follow Jesus Christ indeed but they follow him not closely do rove and ramble many times and then are fain to come in again to the way by the weeping cross the by-paths being rough and harsh and full of pricking bryers and wounding thorns no surely brethren the rule of holy walking is the straitest path that leadeth most directly to heaven there is no nearer way then God hath there chalkt out for us and therefore the exact walker that keepeth closest to this rule to walk according to this rule he goeth the nearest way men dream they have a nearer and an easier way then this strict and strait path but alas it is but a dream when they awake they find they are far wide from the vvay and therefore are drawn
But who may say to God what dost thou He is in one mind and who can turn him and what his Soul desireth even that he doth He performeth the thing that is appointed for us and many such things are with him But though we have nothing to say to God the most wise God about this dispensation yet this saith much to Man This saith much to Ireland whither God sent this burning and shining light Have not they much cause to consider how they prized it how they improved it seeing God put it out so quickly and gave them so short a season to rejoyce in it That he preached so few years to them should be to them an everlasting Sermon And this question should come thick upon the heart of that Church there which was the Candlestick in which God placed this light why was it so why was it so why hath the Lord removed our Teacher into a Corner the very Grave so that our eyes cannot see our Teacher who was also a Pastor after his own heart any more Was he enough in our hearts or was he too much there We may forfeit our enjoyments by too high as well as by too low an esteem of them and by looking too much upon means provoke God to hide it from us But whatever moved the Lord to take him from you it well becomes you to be thankful that you had him though but for a short season in person among you and that so much of him this mant le which fell from him as he was ascending is gathered up and left with you and other Churches as his Monument and Memorial for ever Joseph Caryl Good Reader IT is often seen that good men die soonest our translation to heaven is delayed only till our fitness to enjoy heaven assoon as we are meet for that blessed inheritance we are gathered in like a shock of Corn in its season some ripen for heaven apace and are taken out of the world sooner then others now it is pitty that all their fruit should die with them Christ saith to his Apostles I have ordained you to bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain Intending I suppose not only their reward in heaven and the continuance of Believers begotten by them to God who in a very commodious sense are the surviving fruit of their labours but also their Doctrine consigned to the use of future ages by writing The writings of the Apostles I confess are more necessary then those of private men as making up the Canon and rule of Faith but yet the explications of ordinary Pastors and Teachers have their use and benefit and it is a commendable diligence in them that gather up the fragments of good men that nothing be lost It pleased God to call up this worthy servant of Jesus Christ to heaven betimes it were pitty that the Sermons coming from such a warm and affectionate spirit should die away with the breath in which they were uttered as his fruit remaineth I hope in the hearts of many that heard him so is it wrapt up in these papers by the diligence of his surviving friends to preserve it from perishing and forgetfulness It s an happiness though not to be hoped for yet to be wished for that none would write in this publick way but very holy or very learned men who either from their profounder knowledge of the mysteries of godliness or inward acquaintance with the workings of the Spirit are most likely to improve or keep alive the Doctrine of God in the Christian world this worthy instrument thou wilt find to be a man by no means of dispicable abilities but chiefly excelling in a gracious heart and much inward experience in the things of God and though deep speculations and luscious language is not here to be expected yet many wholsom and heart-warming truths delivered in a grave and unaffected stile which if my hopes deceive me not will be of great use to quicken this dull and carnal age to a greater study and vigour of holiness and therefore being desired I could not but recommend these Sermons to thy best acceptance I am Covent-Garden this 19. of Jan. 1656. Thine in the Lords work Tho. Manton De. Authore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Per Tho. Gloverum Warwicensis Scholae Ludimagistrum De Eodem FAllor an ipse tuo Murcotte per omnia vives Saecula cum terris corpus inane jacet Dignus es aeterna qui laude feraris ad astra Cui novi terras vix peperisse parem Mortuus es Murcotte at saeva morte triumphas Quem non Lethaeis sors dare quivit aquis Membra licet jaceant tristi resupina sepulchro Facta tamen nolunt saecula sera mori Per Eundem CHristian come hither read and reading mind And thou shalt here a Directory find A light indeed but borrowed from heaven Which will direct to keep thy foot-steps even Whilest that a darksom wilderness we tread The fiery Pillar will us safely lead See here 's a Pillar on which who casts his sight Shall see a flame out-shining all false light Through which maugre the spight of mankinds foe He shall to the coelestial Canaan go Where that Star shines now in perfection Which sparkled here for Saints direction per me Tho. Glover Warwicensis Scholae Ludimagistrum The Table of the Scriptures opened and explained in this Volumn  Genesis  Chap. Ver. Page 4 7 120 17 12 487 25 8 329  Exodus  1 13 490 16 25 370 20 20 553 32 12 395 34 7 636  Leviticus  19 23 89 25 41 517  42 ibid.  44 487  45 530  46 ibid.  Joshua  1 5 430 18 3 296  2 Samuel  3 16 523 9 13 219  1 Kings  11 13 394 22 29 159  Nehemiah  8 10 341  Job  2 22 393 5 26 326 8 07 558 16 00 066 19 27 137 21 from 7 to 9 133 31 1 364  21 236 33 26 182  Psalms  1 3 245 4 3 091 18 23 235 36 08 340 40 6 532 51 17 281 75 8 344 76 5 193 84 7 561 92 12 560 94 7 402 111 10 p. 81 See this in the first subject Circumspect walking 119 59 76. See this in the first subject Circumspect walking c.  Proverbs  1 26 315 3 14 367 4 27 61 See this in the first subject Circumspect walking c. 9 1 353  2 ibid.  4 357 12 10 396 24 5 605 26 23 399  Eccles  2 9 558  Canticles  2 7 81 See this in the first subject Circumspect walking  11 419 4 10 350 5 1 ibid.  2 158 168 184  3 160 161  Isaiah  1 5 442 443  6 ibid. Â
that have the name of Christians and yet altogether neglect the honest and harmless conversation among men and are altogether taken up with some small duties of Worship and shews of Religion as the Proverb hath it Angels in the Church and Devils in the House Devils in their Callings such were the Idolatrous Iews the Prophets with one voyce do testifie against them for this thy cried The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these c. but considered not that they made this Temple of the Lord a Den of Thieves a Sanctuary to defend them a cover and cloak for their wickedness and so the Prophet again This people draw near me with their mouths honour me with their lips but are far from me and the conversation also which answers more to their hearts then to their lips it is the very counterpane of their hearts usually 〈◊〉 this an exact circumspect walking do you think thus to impose upon the holy one of Israel doth not he regard think you what your dealings are between man man and how you carry it in your Families in your Shops as well as in the publike altogether this is very reproof worthy our Saviour thought it so and all the Prophets thought it so and O that he would speak this to every carnal Gospellers heart this day Again secondly There are others that are all for morality and honesty of conversation they give every one their own they are not injurious they are no extortioners with the Pharisee they are no drunkards but for the worship of God they know nothing what it meaneth to worship in Spirit and truth this is not an exact walking with God these things you should do and not leave the other undone else you follow not God fully indeed there is many a Moralist that is rather an Atheist then a Christian but I will not stand upon this Pour out thy c. Again thirdly There are a sort that neither fear God not reverence man and yet will not indure but to be called Christians for the worship of God if they come at it in the publike there are their bodies but their hearts are gone they come to see and be seen to mind faces and fashions and so sin and trifle away the Ordinances of God in their houses nothing but hellishness all their words full of deceit and poyson their accents are oaths it is all the emphasis and grace they think of their speech their lives what are they but rottenness and fraud and pride and over-reaching they have no regard to right or wrong good report or evil report all actions are alike to them being past feeling and under a reprobate sence they cannot judge of good or evil but call evil good and good evil Is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk uprightly exactly Ah surely brethren if it be exactness it is of the devils coyning when men teach their tongues to speak falsly as in Shops many do and make nothing of it and teach their hands to work deceit and wickedness this is to walk exactly with the devil to walk as other Gentiles do whose hearts the God of this world doth mightily work to their own destruction the Lord rebuke this power of sin where ever it is Again It may serve to reprove another sort and those are they who are so far from walking circumspectly or exactly that there is nothing more the object of their scorn and contempt then this it is the drunkards song as David was and so preciseness and strictness of walking is ordinary the world cannot bear the burning and shining conversations of some of the Saints they are so cuttingly reproved by them that with those Heathens they curse the Sun that by its shining doth scorch them It is no new thing the seed of the Serpent did alway persecute the seed of the Woman and he that was born after the flesh persecuteth him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now saith the Apostle and so it is now may we say Ismael mocked Isaac and is it not so still or if it be not so bold a sin as formerly it is because the times not sinners hearts are changed they malign them still watch for their halting report say they and we will report it well remember this you that are scorners at strictness and circumspect and exact walking with God you are set down in in the scorners chair the Lord be mercifull to you for few that arrive to that pitch and take up their rest in sin that are therein setled are brought on to Christ you are the Ring leaders in the way which leads to destruction this is another The next Use then shall be a word of Exhortation to us all If it be a duty so much lying upon us then to buckle our selves to it to walk exactly O see to it I charge you all and the Lord lay the charge upon mine own soul as you will ever lift up your faces without spot and with comfort at the day of your summons and appearing before the Judgement seat so walk circumspectly I know none of our hearts but they do or may accuse us of much unevenness in our walking do you know it brethren and will you dare to continue in it I may not descend to particulars but do not your hearts smite you for looseness of spirit towards God hanging back often neglecting shuffling and cutting with God putting him off with any thing and is not this a cursed thing to do Gods work negligently to bring a female when he have a male doth not your hearts smite you for this you do not take heed to your ways lest you sin with your tongues there is much falshood therein lightness and foolishness if not poyson and destruction there nor to your feet they make haste to vanity you shun not occasions of sin as you would an infected person or family O surely if it were not so an importunate duty the Apostle would not so charge it upon Christians that make Christianity their business to walk so exactly but a little to move us to it I will add some few Considerations and then some words â—f Direction which you may look upon as an Appendix of this Use or else as a distinct Application of this Point First Motive Consider that the way wherein you walk is all overspred with snares and nets to trap you and that your ways 1. To trap you in sin 2. To trap you for sin First To trap you in sin had not the Bird need to he wary and heedfull and make good use of her sences to discover where she may light without danger when every place is full of Limetwigs is there an hook under every fair baite and had not the fish need to take heed how she biteth or nibleth lest she be taken this is the case there is a truth and a great one in it there is nothing we
of man had not where to lay his head you must forecast to meet with many tribulations in the way to heaven if you dream of a vvay strewed vvith Violets and Roses and find Briers and Thorns what a sore discouragement vvill this be and a temptation to forsake the vvay to turn aside from following the Lord expect then that you may be assailed by the frowns yea and smiles of the vvorld vvhich is more dangerous of the two that you may lose friends relations the love of all and be hated of all men for the name sake of Christ the more exactly you walk for the vvorld cannot bear too great a lustre and glory of holiness in any expect this it vvould be no strange thing to you then no more then you look for and then it vvill not be so dangerous to thrust you aside from following the Lord. Tenthly Labour to arm your selves vvith a strong perswasion of the Al-sufficiency of God to keep you in and deliver you from the threatning evils you may meet vvith in your vvays and of the Al-sufficiency of his goodness to be your exceeding great reward though you have but little with righteousness here in this world and then brethren you will hardly be drawn to the right hand or to the left what is the reason that fear turns many men aside and it is very ingenuous to find out diverticula as Calvin saith and as you see in the case of Peter and Abraham when he lyed to save his wife and so David when he spake untruly to Abimelech the Priest first and then afterward to Achish King of Gath as you have it in the Story in the first Book of Samuel his fear overwhelmed him he had forgotten his rock the Lord Jehovah and so for God would men be so full of self-seeking as they are if they did believe that God were able to make an abundant recompence to them though they had little in the world for their service of him it is a very plain case Abraham would not take from a thread to a shoo latchet of the King of Sodoms goods they should not say they had made Abraham rich he had God was an al-sufficient portion to him Oâ—if men were of this spirit of faith in Gods al-sufficiency the smiling world would very little prevail to draw any aside to the thriving side or opinion as I doubt it is well then labour for this perswasion and you shall find it a wonderfnl support to keep us upright in our goings which is a great part of this circumspect walking Alas But you vvill say this is a difficult duty indeed to walk thus exactly and as I may say in a frame and if this be so who then can walk the ways of God if there must be this strictness To this I answer First Plead not the difficulty against a duty for difficult duties must be done by how much the more difficult by so much the more excellent and vvhat else were the difference between the form and the power between a Saint and an Hypocrite if the Saint did not take up the most strict inward spiritual difficult services as well as the more slight and outside and overly lay the necessity then in the other ballance against the difficulty and see which will weigh down the other Secondly Suppose thou be weak and find thy self far short of this duty yet there is no reason thou shouldest be discouraged but lift up the hands that hang down and stir up your souls to it and buckle to the work there is nothing so hard but diligence will overcome specially if you consider the condition thou art in if thou be in Christ for then thou hast a fulness of strength in Christ through him saith the Apostle I am able to do all things and why not thou as well as the Apostle is there not as much fulness now and is not Christ as free to communicate it now as then only thou sittest down discouraged and wilt not go to the Fountain for relief Again 2. In Christ thou hast all the Promises Yea and Amen now how many such promises are there He will give the Spirit to them that ask and he keepeth the feet of his Saints and such as have no might he will renew their strength and they shall run and not be weary and walk and not faint and the way-faring man though a fool shall not err therein in this way of God which is cast up you let these precious Promises lye dead why do you not improve them plead them with the Lord Say then with the Psalmist O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes say to him Lord thou requirest a circumspect an exact walking before thee there are so many stumbling blocks and snares within and without and I am so foolish and weak I am ignorant of Satans devises I cannot order one of my steps to avoid them thy promise is the foolish shall not wander thy Promise is to give strength to them that have no might I am the poor creature that hath no might to will is present I would fain walk thus circumspect but how to perform it I find not O see if the Lord do not condescend to take you by the arm and to teach you to go and to keep you close to himself in his ways and in every respect be as good as his word to you and at the end himself be your exceeding great reward for your so walking before him We have done with the Apostles Exhortation to walk wisely now we come to the Argument he enforceth it with Not as fools but as wise Sapientia primâ— stultitia caruisse the Apostle setting the contraries one against another would make it the more clear and emphaticall and therefore this maner of speaking is often used in Scripture If we spake to one part the other will follow by the rule of contraries and we shall in the enlargement meet with it by way of Doctrine The Doctrine therefore is this It is an Effect and an Argument a Proof of Christian Wisdom indeed to walk circumspectly exactly If you would approve your selves to be wise memas you profess your selves to be then walk circumspectly exactly this is one of the highest demonstrations of it you can give I shall endeavour to prove this by some Scripture and then shew in some particulars how it is apparently wisdom thus to walk and then make some Application of it For the proof of it there are many Scriptures which make it appear walk wisely toward them which are without redeeming the time where exact and circumspect walking towards them which are without lest we offend them drive them away from Christ prejudice them against the ways of Truth is called a walking wisely there is great need of wisdom then to all other parts of this circumspect walking it is of the like force with that of the Spouse I charge you by the Roes
doth grate upon It may be brethren to come a little nearer thou hast long heard of coming to Jesus Christ that thou mightest have life and thou hast been as much woed and intreated as many others and thou art even weary of this lesson What ado is here about coming to Christ what do we not come to him do we not follow him Ah dear friends It is the work of your whole lives and why may it not be the work of our whole lives yea it is to be feared thou with whom so sweet a word relisheth no better that thou hast never known the worth of it experimentally Be not deceived brethren you may be mistaken and far enough off from him when you think you come to him but suppose you are come to him may you not draw nearer then you are come have you not many back-slidings Do you not miss a stroke sometimes and are carryed down the stream the Lord knoweth how far and had you 〈◊〉 need of hearing then of coming to Christ renewing your acquaintance with him Alas Brethren if many of us had not had this truth beaten upon us often we had never come to him canst thou tell how often thou hadst in the Gospel a crucified Christ held out to thee before thou hadst a heart to look on him and mourn over him and over thy self whose hands have been imbrued in his blood here thou hast seen him here crucified and there crucified in this Sermon and that Sermon in this Sacrament and that Sacrament and yet alâ—s thy sullen heart would not bleed now if thou hadst never heard of him more it had not been prest upon thee any more what had become of thee if notwithstanding all this thou hadst been sealed up in hardness and unbelief for ever What narrow-mouth'd bottles are we receiving now a drop and then a drop though much be poured out many times little staies or if our heads fill our capacities being large apprehensions quick and memories strong how little is it that sinketh any further there is need of pressing and boring and unspeakable mercy it is if at last the passage between head and heart be opened that so what we have known long it may be yet now we may come to know after another manner even as we ought to know it not to be puffed but humbled to be warmed melted changed by it How often Brethren have we had the Doctrine of love pressed upon us even as John had nothing else in his mouth almost my little children love one another my little children love one another when he could not go as the story saith of him and can we hear it so often but there is somewhat yet to learn that we have not learned may we not grow in it abound in it more and more as the Apostle saith to them even the Thessalonians Ah where is a heart wherein it abounds love to Christ love to his people a little unlikeness to our selves in a thing of no great moment is able to quench our love so far it is from being as strong as death a little earthly enjoyments a house a wife a company of sweet children pretty taking vanities they have such a hold upon our hearts that they stifle our desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ O we see not nor have learned how far better it is to be with him is there not more to be learned by us all in this point And if we can or do love the Saints in whom the Image of Jesus Christ is alas may we not do it more fervently then we do if there be some fervor appearing may we not do it with a purer heart meerly because Christ hath loved them who is the beloved of our souls what meaneth else our having the faith of Christ with respect of persons what meanth else our loving men more for their gifts then for their graces for the common then the special inspiration of the spirit upon them Do we not know men after the flesh and yet haply are ready to be wearie of the Doctrine of love What needeth so much ado to press it upon men the Lord shew us our shortness and humble us under it But I will come a little nearer to the purpose in the Text and the thing in hand which lies before us the Ordinance to which some of us are now called for this of watching for the appearing of Jesus Christ I might have raised indeed a closer observation and more particular when I had finished this but I would not hold you too long upon this which is but the coherence of the words we shall likely meet with it before we have done with the Parable And that is the necessity of pressing this great duty of watching for the appearing of Christ much upon people for this is the thing here our Saviour so muchin sists upon and often in many other places What I say to you I say to all watch And so Luk. 12. 35. Surely there is somewhat more in it then ordinary The duty is more spiritual then ordinary and then our carnal hearts are as hardly drawn to it as a Bear to the stake It hath many a time I know been prest upon us all to get ready and stand ready to wait and watch for his appearing Have we done it How many of us brethren if Christ should come this day would be found sleeping some dead asleep upon the lap of the pleasures and honours and riches of this world and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be disturbed we never dream of his coming Would men think you if they had learned this lesson dare to multiply incumbrances in the world upon them and with so much diligence be casting out their roots in the world as if they would never be pluckt up as if their portion were here below how often have we been warned in the name of Jesus whos 's the warning is take heed your hearts be not over-charged with surfeting and drunkenness and cares of this life and that day take you at unawares hath this sunk with us have we made conscience any of us to ease our selves of any unnecessary incumbrances that we might wait upon him without distraction What day almost brethren goeth over any of our heads or what hour of the day wherein we shall be ready to open if he should knock for us Alas some of us brethren care not how long he defers his coming if he would never come we should be the better pleased for our hearts tell us it will be a woful day to us we have no oyl in our vessels we have no grace in our hearts nor any do we look after we know we are not in him nor are we solicitous to be found in him we are for our building and planting and rejoycing in our youthful vanities and leave these serious things to melancholly Spirits Ah dear friends had not this truth need to be prest upon you your danger is great
would have if it be in truth let the other accomplishments be less or greater so the soul O thy self thy self give me Christ or else I dye What wilt thou give me if I go Christ less wilt thou give me a name riches a portion in this world a fellowship with thy people in the Ordinances yea grace it self if it may be given without Christ O none but him none but him Well thus now thy Lord works a poor soul to close with him so that choosing Christ for himself while we have him we are well enough If a man follow him for Loaves when they cease farewell Christ or for riches or prosperity when that ceaseth all is gon They will not go to prison with him they will not suffer with him no they never intended it but to have such a Christ as to be kept from those things Well this is not sincere nor upwright which is wrought in every heart whom the Lord doth thus espouse to himself which may serve for a word of tryal to us all I have onely a word to speak to the solemnity of the Marriage-Feast you see Marriages used to be made with feasting it being a time of rejoycing so Sampson he made a Feast seven days that was the manner it seemeth and so Laban saith to Jacob fulfil her week the solemnity of the Marriage And our Saviour himself was at a marriage-feast at the first miracle that he wrought And though this feast it seems was rather at the compleat marriage then the espousal yet this Feast is at his espousal and continueth until the consummation and yet a greater feast to be expected The Kingdom of Heaven saith our Saviour is like a King that made a Marriage-Feast for his son and bid the Guests Here he speaks I take it of the administrations of grace in the visible Church of Christ for one was there that had not a wedding-garment O Brethren A Feast of Fat things of Wines on the Lees well refined a Feast the Lord maketh saith the Prophet Their Feasts were rather in drinking then eating and therefore they had their name in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A drinking a Feast so Ahasuerus feast a drinking And so the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a drinking together so here brethen such dainties are provided as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can enter into the heart of man as a man that never tasted hony though he may hear speaking of it cannot conceive what it is Eat my friends and drink ye yea drink abundantly saith he in the song It is observed by some that Matthew calls it a dinner and Luke calls it a supper both indeed for we dine and sup with him and he with us in the Administrations of his grace and those sweet communions that we have with him while he sitteth with us at the Table as not long since you heard Yea we have continually brethren such as are believers indeed have continual meat at his Table as Mephibosheth at David his Table a dayly portion the things of the day in its day so we our daily refreshings from his presence so Jeconiah had his portioâ—n from the Kings Table dayly Some say the dinner is here but the supper in Heaven and this not comparable to that now we have flagons but there will be springs and Rivers or rather an Ocean of wine to all eternity here we drink and take in the comfort there the comfort takes in us we enter into the joy because it cannot enter into us O blessed is he that shall be brought brethren to the supper of the Lamb forever and forever Lastly The consummation of this marriage when the Bridegroom cometh to take his Bride to himself to take her now from among the pots wherein she hath lien to take her now nearer to himself to his bosom indeed now she hath had some smiles from him to keep the heart alive now and then a Kiss but then continual embraces Now and then he hath met with her here and there and then withdraw again but then we shall be alway in the glorious light of his countenance O Brethren If a smile from Jesus Christ will sweeten the bitterest cup of Affliction here below yea very gall and wormwood it will sweeten the mouth and fill us with comfort what will it be then when nothing but pouring out of love upon the soul to eternity and when there shall be no bitterness at all to abate it and no mixture no interruption no fear of losing that sweet and ravishing communion with him Oh heaven will be Heaven indeed But so much for the Doctrinal part Now for the Application First then I pray you let us be more serious in taking notice of the great transcendent love of Jesus Christ to such as we are that we should be made a spouse to him O brethren what condescention is this he being so high and we so low such poor abject creatures Alas conception fails us brethren comparison fails us for there is no proportion between an infinitely glorious God and vile dust and ashes Who regardeth a drop of a Bucket or thedust of the ballance they are poor contemptible things who desireth a poor worm or an Ant every one trampleth them underfoot and thinketh he doth them no wrong though he never gave them no being alas brethren we that are less then nothing in comparison of him that he should set his love upon us and become espoused to himself how shall we conceive of it much less speak of it You would think it much for one of you brethren one of us to have our hearts drawn out thus to a poor abject forlorn maid lying in the street that we must take her to a nearer relation to a bosom-communion and fellowship this were strange but for a â—rince to do so is yet more strange but all is nothing to this of the Lord Jesus to our souls It was Condescention for the Cedar to marry the Thistle as it was ambition for the Thistle to seek to the Cedar O such thoughts if they rise they are even stifled in the very birth A begger will not fall in love with a King she thinketh it is impossible to compass it there is no hope and therefore no desire and truly I think it is as rare for a King to fall in love with a begger he is so far above her and hath objects more suitable to himself to set his love upon so that it would be one of the wonders of the world if such a thing should be why brethren much more then this is acted dayly while the Lord Jesus the King of Kings the Lord of Lords maketh love to such poor worms as we are and yet it is not wondered at It is true we think our selves something and therefore we are the less taken with it Tell a Pharisee how great Condescention it is for the God of Heaven
Rejoyce in the Lord saith the Apostle and again I say rejoyce it is a duty of that moment he cannot leave it he goeth over and over with it do not think I am mistaken when I bid you rejoyce because happily your condition may be afflicted other ways again I say rejoyce I am still of the same mind The Lord Jesus rejoyceth over you as sad thoughts as you have concerning your selves he rejoyceth over you he is glad to communicate his love and shall not we rejoyce then in the receiving of it Can the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn while the bridegroom is with them saith our Saviour it is not sutable to their condition when he shall be taken away then they shall mourn I deny not Brethren but if the Lord do withdraw himself we should lament after him and seek him sorrowing as Mary the Mother of Jesus did and the more love we have received if we grieve him this will be the more grief of heart but if you that have his presence in a sweet manner and yet hang the head and droop as if our joyning to the Lord had been the undoing of our souls So pensively and sadly we many of us walk that indeed we are a shame and dishonour to the Lord Jesus If you should see a Virgin espoused to a man and should from that day forwad never hold up her head but walk heavily what would you think sure she apprehends she hath made an ill choice her expectations are frustrated therefore Brethren look to it that we rejoyce if the Children of the Bride-chamder cannot mourn but rejoyce to hear the voice of the Bridegroom much more then the Bride The Lords takes pleasure in the prosperity of thy soul and why shouldst not thou â—ake pleasure in the prosperity of thy own soul being made one with Jesus Christ 5. Look to it that you be faithful to the Lord Jesus as a Bride when once espoused if she turned aside to another it was death they were looked upon as in a marryed state and condition indeed the truth is when the Lord hath truly espoused his soul to himself he hath done it in faithfulness and maketh the soul faithful to him that in the great Article of the Covenant they never deal falsly with Jesus Christ that is to say they choose not another Saviour another Lord under whose dominion to put themselves constantly yet there may be sometimes to Jesus Christ even in his own people If that once it cometh to this that we imbrace sin and consent to it and take any delight in it this is to play the harlot with Jesus Christ O take heed of this brethren indeed the heart is all that he looks at how we stand affected to those evils which yet remain if Paul have a body of death yet he delights not in it but groans being burtheued this he accounts not unfaithfulness but when a mans heart beginneth to sit loose from the Lord Jesus to be almost indifferent he could sometimes in a fit of wretched carnality be content to have another Lord to rule over him to be free from Christ O! this the Lord looks at and he will search out this will move him to jealousie therefore take heed of this a woman may do as much service and seemingly as readily to her husband as before but yet her heart be gone and she could be contented to be loose this is heart-Adultery this the Lord Jesus in us brethren looks at as such if we serve him and do duties but in such a manner that we could even be contented to be at liberty it is not right take heed of provoking the Lord Jesus lest it prove in the end that he never knew us indeed Labour to be faithful then in this in the main Again In managing all he puts into our hands be faithful The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her It is the commendation of a woman of a thousand in the Proverbs she will be improving It may be you have not so much to turn as others have others have ten times more parts and opportunities to do good let them look to it they have ten times as much to answer for and must do ten times as much but thou mayst be as faithful in a little as they in a great deal One servant is a Steward in the family hath all under his hand and another he is a poor under-servant hath some mean service committed to him why now he may be as faithful in his place as the other in his Moses was faithful in all the house of God he had a great command Caleb might be as faithful for what was committed to him following God fully as the Text hath it say not then If I were a Magistrate a Minister a publike person had such opportunities to do good I might do much but I am an obscure person Well be thy condition what it will be thou mayst do good and be faithful in thy place according to what thou hast received thy lips may drop like a hony-comb and feed many and like choice silver and inrich many though thou be never so mean and so for the Family and up and down where ever thou comest look that thou be faithful to do all from Jesus Christ and to do all to him that thou rob him not of the glory of what he hath done for thee and by thee for then thou art not faithful 6. Another Exhortation shall be then to desire the coming of the Bridegroom the Spirit and the Bride say come the spirit in the bride breathing in her as it is in the Revelation they say come We looke upon the day of death as if it were the day of divorce from the Lord Jesus for the most part truly for them that are out of Christ it is no marvel if it be a King of terrors to them but to the Saints me thinketh who look for the appearing of the Lord Jesus to consummate the marriage between them it should not be so terrible as it seemeth to be to the most of us and to this end take ye here brethren at the marriage feast he turns our water into wine but in heaven our wine into spirits and setteth them a flaming our love flaming to all eternity 7. Exhortation which is to look to our Ornaments to get them ready why do we hang back but because we are not ready we have somewhat or another unready still our work is not done can a maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her attire yet my people have forgotten me As a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels so he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness Eleazer put jewels upon Rebecca before she came to Isaac and therefore the spouse is called Callah in the Original because of her perfect adorning therefore look to this brethren that you be adorned O every
time of great need of waking for the Saint is the hour of temptation when that cometh upon them If ever Soldiers had need to be awake it is when the enemy is upon them when they are besieged when they are ready to swallow them up What need had Sampson to have been awake when the Philistins were upon him and he had experience of it again and again and yet you see how securely he slept And so the Disciples it was the hour and power of darkness that now was come upon them and if ever they would be awake now was the time Our Saviour also warns them of their danger O watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation you never were in such danger as now you are beset with temptations will you be in danger of reproach for my names sake even by and by your enemies are evâ—n upon you already reâ—dy to apprehend me and yet notwithstanding all this danger they slept most securely surely no man will deny but the hour of temptation is one of the dreadfullest times to watch or be awake have we not found it by sad experience have we not had exercises of faith in such an hour for all the strength of our Patience and submission to his will exercise for all our love and all our graces and is not this a needful time then to have them ready at hand to us and if we had not how sadly should we have been foyled and God dishonoured yea hath it not been so with many of us in such an hour we have fallen been wounded wounded his Name and our own names and our own souls and all because we were asleep sure if any other this is a needful time and yet truly this is so ordinary that when doth an hour of temptation come upon the people of God that it findeth them waking standing with loins girt with strength ready to receive it we are usually most sleepy at such a time 5. After we have fallen by our former sleeping then there is great need of being awake for alas brethren the deceitfulness of sin is such that except it be presently repented of and confessed it hardens the heart and so long we continue in a grieving condition to the Lord Therefore there is need to be awake and yet usually after falling we are apt to sleep and how long we should sleep if we were left to this sleeping evil we know not Peter had his fall O what need had he quickly to have repented but poor soul he was asleep and therefore instead of repenting he acts the same sin over and over again and in a more fearful manner If he had been awake at first he had not committed that sin likely if he had been then awake he had not then repeated it but he goeth on being in a sleep Ah it was high time to awake him for who knoweth what he would have done if the Lord Jesus had not lookt upon him And so David O what need had he to have been awaked after his adultery that his hard heart might not have been more hardened and his soul exposed to more thrusts and wounds and Gods Name more dishonoured but alas he is fast asleep And so the case of Jonah he had avoided that sad distemper of madness and passion if he had been awake but it seemeth though he had been in the belly of hell he was not throughly awaked from his former sleep in his former rebellion and therefore he rebels yet more and more now I say after sin we are apt to be asleep when we had most need to be awake It is sad brethren to consider what a frame the hearts of Gods own people will be in sometimes and what guil there is as in David that they will not confess their sin when God hath discovered their folly in part but will cloak and shift and excuse and nestle themselves to sleep again when they are a little awaked O when had they more need to repent to rouse themselves for when are they more exposed to the rage of Satan and yet then they sleep 6. Another time when we had greatest need to be awake we are apt to sleep and that is when we should be a comfort and refreshing to others in their troubles and sorrows Surely our Saviour took his Disciples up into the garden that they might pray with him and for themselves and to have been with them praying would have been a little comfort to him therefore he came still after he had been strongly wrestling a while striving in prayer even to an agony to them he came as I may say to have refreshed himself as it was the Apostles joy and comfort to see his Children in the Gospel to walk stedfastly with God and keep the faith now we live if ye stand fast so it would have been a comfort to Christ at this time but alas all comfort forsakes him he cometh again and again and findeth them sleeping he sweat that bloody sweat and instead of wiping it away they laid more load upon him to increase it O miserable Companions in affliction were they miserable Comforters were they they were asleep Truly so it is with us brethren when we should comfort one another with the comforts we have had of God we have them to seek we have nothing to say Or when by our lively conversation and standing fast and being established â—n the present truth in these backsliding days to the comfort and joy of them that Christ hath set over us we are sleeping and our foot sliding into this and that false way and this is another great time of need But I hope enough hath been said many more particulars might be produced I doubt not to shew that it is a like in other cases of greatest need we are apt to fall asleep The Reasons are from the desperate deceitfulness of sin and our hearts and the cunning and malice of Satan to do us most hurt c. First Application Then sure there is no such thing as perfection in this life as some would have it if we be thus prone to sleep and when we had most need to be awake yea rather it argues great imperfection even in the best of the Saints that have a heart so untoward and apt to be in the worst frame when it should be in the best To be out of frame at any time to be sleeping at any time argues imperfection and weakness and weariness and therefore the Angels are called Watchers wherein they approach nearer to the glorious perfection of God who never slumbreth nor sleepeth but to be out of frame then when of all other times we had most need to be in â—rame sheweth we are far from perfection that Corruption is strong and cunning and the Devil without knoweth how to improve it to our great disadvantage either unbefitting us for doing good when opportunity is offered or for receiving Good when the
his blood our services healed as well as our souls before they be worth any thing therefore I say he himself freely prepareth the Lances to open the wounds convinceth the poor creature of his condition he himself takes the pains to open the vein to empty the creature of himself to cure him of that Plethory He it is tempereth the Physick is at the charge of it O the richest Cordials in the world tempered of his own blood and water by his own Spirit to support the poor creature when ready to faint he sitteth over his people even as a tender Father over a weak wounded childe and with what a heart you may imagine he provideth Messengers of his own to be with them to minister to them to watch over them and himself is alway at hand Ah dear Friends that ever the Lord Jesus should set so high esteem upon poor sinners when we were in such a loathsom condition as that he would dwell in flesh and take part of flesh and blood that so he might have somewhat to make a restorative of a healing medicine of that we might not perish one drop every drop of his most precious blood with respect to the value which the God-head put upon it is more then if a world of pearl could be decocted into a cordial and yet he spared it not that he should visit sinners with this salvation with his corrosives his cordials with his healing vertue and power and his heart so ready to put it forth from time to time this is unsearchable riches of grace to do all this freely Yea Eighthly and lastly it will appear in this that the Lord Jesus brings his heart full and his hands full of reward with him to a poor sinner so that he will be but healed you see foolish children when they have fallen and wounded themselves they must be hired to let the Father or the Chyrurgion heal it put a plaister upon it but cryeth out as undone had rather do any thing then be healed but alas who would do it to a stranger it may be thou seest a poor leprous creature lie languishing at thy gates and thou canst heal him but he is not willing either he is in love with his disease or distrusts your good will or faithfulness or something but he is not willing to be healed now where is there a heart so full of tenderness as to be willing to offer him a reward I will give thee thus much or thus much if thou wilt but let me heal thee for I pitty thy condition Brethren a King and his subjects fall out they rebel against the King in the war the subject is wounded even to the death except there be more then ordinary care taken of him now the King his heart relents he cometh to him in the prison and doth not upbraid him with his unkindness nor pride nor stubbornness but intreateth him he will give him leave to heal him that he will but suffer his wounds to be searched to be healed to be closed so that he may not perish he will pardon all that he hath done amiss begs of him to accept of him he will make him the second man in the Kingdom he shall be near to him if he will but suffer himself to be healed Is not this rich mercy indeed is there any such Paragon to be found Surely no but lo this is in Jesus Christ and more for he not only promiseth a reward upon our healing but maketh the poor creature willing also willing to part with his lusts and to speak the truth I take this to be the greatest part of our healing when a poor sinner that was in love with sin before loved his lusts as much as his life O his merry companions were as dear to him as his very eye or his right hand he could no more part with one then the other and so his gain of unrighteousness Now when the Lord by proposing of objects which have a great force but that is not all but by a sweet and yet powerful bowing of the heart maketh the poor creature willing to be healed so that now he cryeth out with Augustine How long Lord how long this man is in a great measure healed and this is the work and yet he rewardeth for this promiseth a Crown giveth grace and glory glory with himself fellowship with him to lye in his bosom to all eternity O here is unsearchable riches of grace Brethren I have only if so much brought you to the vein where these riches lie O that you would dig a little by serious contemplating upon it You will find more then I am able to speak Sixthly Another Use shall be this to warn us that we do not upon this score because that Jesus Christ will arise with healing under his wings upon poor sinners therefore to make bold with sin it is no great matter the healing vertue of Christ will be so much the more magnified O how desperate is this would you not think that man were out of his wits that upon presumption upon the skill and tenderness of the Physitian should without any care how or where wound himself and gash himself he hath a Physitian that will heal him you that dare be so bold to sin that grace may abound and make work for Jesus Christ know this this day you know not what the grace of Christ meaneth that make such a use of it how did this stir the Apostles spirit God forbid he doth as I may say recoil as a man startled at some horrid sight O the Lord forbid you should suck such poyson out of so sweet a flower This concerneth two sorts of persons First such as yet never knew what this healing vertue of Christ is only by the hearing of the ear they hear the Lord Jesus is able to heal the most desperate wounds and that he is willing and therefore they make bold to continue in sin they may go on to inflame the reckoning a little higher yet it is all one with Christ to pardon millions as mites to swallow up mountains as mole 〈…〉 it is true if thou respect his power but how dost thou know that he will do it for thee sinner or what hope hast thou or canst thou have while it is thus with thoe It s true if sinners do not sin away the day of grace he is willing but did ever Jesus Christ tell thee that thou shouldest be healed particularly though thou go on rebelling against him wound upon wound upon thy poor soul Surely no be not deceived sinners these are the insinuations of the wicked one this is such Gospel as the Devil preacheth when he preacheth Christ as an Angel of light but in the close you will find the Law instead of the Gospel such presumption and security usually endeth in dispair the time may come that you that make so little a matter of it may cry out and roar O your wounds you refused to be
not that sinners are blind-folded do you think they would be led by Satan into so many horrid things O if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory Father forgive them they know not what they do Alas the Panther hideth his head when he allureth the beasts the sweetness of his smell or beauty of his skin only the Drag is said to flie from him Isid li. 12. 2. See Mead upon Revel p. 2. p. 52. Alas they see not the head which is ready to affright them and devour them and not only is it the ground of this bondage but of all the rest how cometh it to pass that poor souls are plunged into such desperate gulfs of despairing and such breaking bondage in that kind but because they are held in ignorance they do not come to know the Father and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent he keepeth them in ignorance of the promises the sweet and precious promises of Jesus Christ O dear friends it is impossible were it not for our ignorance of that love of God in Jesus Christ and that riches exceeding riches of grace that is in him and his thoughts that are above our thoughts that there should be so many cloudings such fearful plunges as many poor souls are put unto yea many times even after they are once delivered from them why now I say when the Lord Jesus cometh ariseth upon a soul as the Sun of righteousness he dispels this ignorance discovers sin in its own colours and indeed worse it cannot be set forth in therefore the Apostle saith that sin might appear to be sin and then he opens the treasuries of the Promises of the Covenant of Grace to let a poor sinner see there is enough for him there though his sins be great yet mercy is transcendantly greater if he have mountains to be covered the Lord hath a sea to swallow them up if multitudes of sin there is multitude of mercies there is love which will cover a multitude and so by discovering himself thus and our selves to our selves he by degrees setteth the creature at Liberty from those fearfull apprehensions of God and from that delight in sin which formerly he had taken so that now no longer will he serve it But a little more plainly take a Scripture or two for it in that of Isaiah To proclaim liberty to the captives the opening of the prison to them that are bound the opening of the prison some read it so and so do our Translators though it is acknowledged by the learned among us that the latter is no where else used in this sense for the prison nor for the prey as some others use it and therefore some do take the word to be but one and render it omâ—imâ—do apertionem so that the doubling of the Letters here are Emphatical and by way of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though then Manaph here remaineth as a difficulty for words so doubled use not to be so joyned together so that some would have it here nothing else but a very large opening of their eyes and say that it is used most properly if not constantly of the opening of the eyes and surely this is the way of Gods delivering his Captives and agreeable to the text here the Sun arising in the morning opens the eyes setteth the senses at liberty from that prison of darkness they were in in the night and elsewhere it is manifest in that of Luke 4. 18. To preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blinde and again the Psalmist The Lord looseth the Prisoners he openeth the eyes of the blinde therefore Paul was sent to open the eyes of the blinde and turn them from the power of Satan to God and from darkness to light for we must know that this bondage is of the soul the faculties thereof and chiefly the will Now the Lord when he cometh to deliver us dealeth with us as with men and therefore first opens the eyes of the mind and draweth us with the cords of a man with arguments over-powring our reason and then with the cords of love sweetly thereby inclining our hearts and bowing our wills and then the poor creature comeeth forth out of this bondage before we see we are in prison or see the loathsomness of it the darkness of it we are in love with it and will not go forth But Secondly This darkness comprehendeth another and that is Error or rather this ariseth from the other and therefore we shall speak to it apart Ye err not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God he saith not ye err not knowing immediate Revelations but not knowing the Scripture for there the light is in the Lanthorn if we will behold it now this error of what kind it will be it is a snare of the Devil and therefore it is a bondage The Apostle there speaks of Heretical Doctrine held by such as do perversly oppose themselves against the Ministers of Jesus Christ who hold out the truth as it is in Jesus He sheweth how Timothy is to carry himself to them in meekness instructing them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth Repentance is a turning from sin to God and to the contrary Grace or Vertue and that is the acknowledgement of the truth therefore their sin was some corruption of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will out of the snare of the devil a sad snare it is if the devil can but get so far within a man as to dazle his eyes to blinde them he may lead them whither he will if he can but corrupt their judgement especially in fundamentals or practicals then they are his own they are fast enough he carryeth them captive takes them alive even at his pleasure Now our liberty from this part of bondage also is by the arising of the Sun of righteousness upon us the Spirit maketh us free as he is a spirit leading his people into the truth not only the notion but the practise of it also we have an anointing whereby we know all things saith the Apostle speaking of Antichrist it is needleâ—s for me to speak to you of him you have an anointing will teach you to avoid thâ—se his errors O happy is that soul that hath such a Guide such a Leader to lead him forth out of prison even as the Angel went before Peter else between sleep and wake hope and fear he might haply have mist his way So the Lord Jesus cometh and giveth his Spirit and bids the soul go forth alas whether should they go they know not the way as Thomas said why saith he â—ollow me I will lead you as he in his word hath therein revealed himself and maketh it out by his Spirit to his
their loins but not see them to keep up an esteem among them if they had made themselves too common haply and too cheap it might have weakened their authority So it is in this case sin and Satan will not be seen haply in the business they know if it should appear to a sinner he is in bondage to them it were a dangerous step to dethrone him and devest him of his commanding power over a poor sinner for who if he did see himself thralled to so base and bloody an enemy as Satan is would endure it long and therefore he keepeth them in darkness from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God therefore it is the first work of grace to open the eyes as in the case of Paul who art thou Lord he knew not nor did he know his persecution was a sin he was so far from it as that he thought verily he ought to do many things against that way And truly so it is with many a poor soul they think they are as far from bondage in sin as he that is furthest whereas they are altogether in bondage A man in errour if of a lesser or greater moment he is in the snare of the Devil and yet he thinks himself free specially before admonition else fundamentals are written so clearly that after the first and second admonition if administred with such clearness and tenderness as it ought Dear friends I doubt there are some of us that it never came into our hearts seriously to consider scarce to suspect that we were in bondage do not your hearts bear witness to this truth believe it such are in the greatest bondage of all others ordinarily I know it is true that even from the child-hood under gracious education which the Lord hath promised a blessing to as one of his Ordinances with it may be instilled so insensibly as that a man may scarse ever know how it came to pass but yet that he is free he may know as the blind man said but I speak of sinners that it is too apparent alas if they did or could but search and try and ponder their waies that they are in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity and yet think highly of themselves as Magus did that they are some body O this is a grievous deceit Thirdly There are some that because they part with some sin they think they are free it may be they were before drunkards or blasphemers now they are reformed and not guilty in this kind therefore they think they are free they have gone forth when alas they are held in the cords of another lust it may be run from one extreme to another reel from one pit to another and truly one chain upon the soul will hold it fast enough one foot in the snare holds it as well as if the whole body were restrained if Satan have but one cord about us he takes us alive at his pleasure Because that they pass one Gate in the Prison they think they are presently out no Brethren there are iron Gates and Bars yet to be opened there are more lusts yet to be shaked off before you can look upon your selves as free Sampson must have his Dalilah Herod his Herodias though he did many things Fourthly Some think they are free because it may be they forbear the outward acts of rebellion so be they can keep themselves unblamable and unreprovable of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they heed not what is within Brethren what is it the better to have the hand and the foot out of the snare and the heart be intangled a man may through fear slavish fear of God or else fear of men fear of shame or the like forbear to act and yet the heart love and like the sin well enough The Dog is not offended with his vomit though he bring it up he liketh it well enough it is only some pain at the stomack which he cannot brook So you may pluck away the iron from the Loadstone but it hath a lingering after it still and so Phaltiel when his Wife was taken from him he parted with her indeed because he durst not otherwise chuse for the dipleasure of the King would wax hot against him he might lose his liberty if not his life if he had refused but saith the Text He went mourning after her he did it with an unwilling heart So may a man part with sin the practice of it but yet his heart cleaveth to it still he may cast it away when the coal is fired but yet he could be content if the fire were out to put it into his bosom again Brethren Is it thus with us we dare not let down sin haply swallow it for fear it prove bitterin the belly but yet we will roul it under the tongue as a sweet morsel surely this is not to go forth to be set free from this bondage therefore do not mistake your selves it may be thou dost not gripe and oppress in bargain dealing hardly or over-reach but thy teeth water at it thou couldst digest it well enough thou durst thou dislikest it not because it is sin and displeasing to the Lord thou art not yet free Fifthly Some think they are free because loose Libertines promise them liberty when themselves are the servants of sin Truly Brethren if ever hell were broke loose now is the time the Devil never enjoyed more chain then now specially as an Angel of light it is come to that pass now adays that men think they are never free until they have broken the bands of Christ and cast away his cords from them until they have broken the yoke of Christ from off their necks sons of Belial that will not endure to he yoked though never so easie O these Ordinances and Duties and Services they are a bondage they are poor and beggerly rudiments to which they will not any more be in bondage they will not any more be Priest-rid den as they call it and as for Sabbaths and Prayers and Hearing and Reading and Meditating these are poor empty things and a burthen it is to bear them they are weary and snuff at it as in Malachy It is true they are empty to them that have not communion with Christ in them Else as David saith in the like case The soul may there be filled with marrow and fatness But now mind what saith the Apostle When themselves are the servants of sin I do observe it and it is worth the noting in the example of such as would not have their necks under the yoke of Christ his Ordinances but live above them have the yoke upon them usually they are persons under the command of their lusts and are these likely persons to teach men the way to liberty surely no. Sixthly Some think they are freed and delivered if they do but attain that knowledge which the Apostle speaks of in the
in the stalls do grow much more then if at random they run up and down none grow so much as they and therefore this is used to set forth the greatness of the growth Secondly in fatness and sweetness they grow very much a stalled-Oxe is fatted very fat which is much sweeter and better then another so they grow not only in quantity but quality as we shall see hereafter Thirdly the speediness of the growth haply is in this comparison they grow faster then other creatures of the like kind when they are put into the stall and therefore they are said to grow as the Lilly not only in beauty which was greater then Solomon himself in all his glory had but in speediness for they say this flower groweth much and discernably in one night and though it be true sudden growths are the more suspicious yet God can and sometimes doth work them even with truth as in the Miracle he quickly turned water into wine which he doth every year though in greater time by the operation of the Sun In a word then the Holy-Ghost useth this simile to them being rude and weak of understanding that they might the better understand it and have the greater assurance of it that it should be so therefore he propoundeth it so cross saith Calvin But this as well as the other we must look upon as a Concomitant yea an effect of the appearing of the Sun of righteousness to us his arising upon the soul that is the grand promise all things else are promised and given for him and with him to us and this among the rest the going forth out of the prison was one and this growing is another of the genuine and sweet effects of the rising of the Sun of righteousness upon them that fear him so that take it in this connexion and then the note is this That soul or people that are under the influences of Christ of the Sun of righteousness are in a growing condition they shall grow there is not a soul that hath union and fellowship with the Lord Jesus but he shall grow ye shall grow up as c. For the proof of the point we need not so mâ—ch there is a notable place there in the Psalmist they that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God the righteous shall flourish like a Palm-tree and grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Here you have growth promised and flourishing and to whom it is promised and whence it cometh and the comparisons whereby it is set forth in these two verses growth is promised they that are planted they shall grow and flourish a tree flourisheth not except it grow after it is planted when it is planted alas it is little and â—â—ender haply but a â—eed then it groweth up 2. The persons to whom promised they are such as are planted in the house of the Lord that is to say the Temple which was a Type of Christ and the Church of Christ so that they must be in him as afterward we shall speak they shall flourish in the Courts of Gods house by Communion with him in his Ordinances 3. The comparison as a Palm-tree which the Naturalists say though cut down to the ground yet springs up again groweth up again If a tree be out down is there any hope it should grow up again in that of Job Yet this tree will grow again if the Church to take it oâ—f the whole body for so we may as well as of single persons if they be cut down to the very ground so wasted as that there is scarce any visible as in Eliah's daies he thought he was alone the Church then seemed to be all withered or grown over with nettles and brambles to have no plants of righteousness in it but yet then it shall grow again and when persecution rageth and cuts it down to the very ground yet he maketh it grow again or of particular persons though they be brought to such exigencies sometimes as to say their hope is perished from the Lord and their faith seemeth to be extinguisht with the violence of temptation yet they shall grow again and increase But the Palm-tree it groweth upward against the weight that oppresseth it it will not be kept down but groweth through all persecution affliction yea sins and falls as afterward we shall have occasion to mention a little more fully And like Cedars grow tall and strong and abide as the Cedar is not subject to rottenness nor decy with age But for further proof take that in the Psalmist who passing through the valley of Bacah make it a well c. they go from strength to strength from army to army or from strength to strength passing through a solitary valley abounding with Mulberry-trees which they say grow in dry and barren places and so there is much difficulty in the passage for drought and other necessities yet they dig up fountains they make it a Well a Cistern they search the Scriptures fetch up somewhat of consolation from thence and notwithstanding all the difficulties yet they go from strength to strength walk towards Sion all this was typical And so the Apostle whom beholding as in a glass we are changed into his image from glory to glory every degree of grace hath its glory but we are changed from glory to glory from a spark into a coal from a coal glowing to a flame What else is the meaning of those Parables of the Mustard-seed it is the least of seeds or less then others then many others the Cypressfeed is so small as can scarce be discerned and yet a great tree groweth of it but this is small and yet a great tree ariseth from it Tremel writes strange things of the Musâ—ard-feed-tree in those Countries this it is true is meant of the Kingdom of God without us the administration of the Kingdom the Word of God how it grows but that is not all the Kingdom of God within us within the Saints where it cometh with power doth also spread it self more and more as Leven also hid in the midst of the meal by degrees spreadeth it self further and further So then you see the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is so that persons under the influence of Christ the Sun of righteousness that have communion and fellowship with him they grow in grace And so the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day or as the morning light as some read it that you know groweth from one degree to another until the perâ—ect day The next thing will be then to open the nature of this Spiritual growth that we may understand what we speak of and then we shall a little further confirm it and apply it And the opening of it I shall deliver in several propositions as distinctly as I can for the right understanding of
Christ when we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit for a man to pretend to have no condemnation upon him and yet walk after the flesh loosly and vainly wickedly and yet never doubt nor question his condition I say that man is in a desperate security a lethargy it is very great odds but he perisheth in it the Apostle saith such shall die and they say they shall live but they will one day know whether Gods Word or theirs shall stand Well then this much furthers their comfort and this is one of the Lords great designs for our good that we should walk comfortably and therefore he brings oâ— that his work that spark in a great deal of green wood that smothers and smokes and puts out our eyes almost with weeping at it he bloweth it up by his Spirit more and more and bringeth judgement to victory victory over our corruptions through the strength of the Spirit and so victory over our doubtings fears and discomforts O what riches of grace is here but thus much for the Arguments of the point For the Application then First this will speak the sad condition of two sorts of persons and those are First Such as make a profession of Jesus Christ and yet grow not are at a stand we do innovere but not promovere like a horse in a mill go round and are at night where they were in the morning they go round in a formal compass of duty but alas grow not by it at all look upon many professors and consider what they have been and shall you not find they had as much life seven years ago as they have now they are grown in faith nothing their faith is still as a grain of Mustard-seed if they have any at all indeed as they may its true and yet not grow for a time the Apostle speaks of silly women that are alway learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth and there are silly men among us that are alway learning and yet are not come to the knowledge of the truth Some indeed I pitty much there is a natural defect in their understandings by mediation whereof all this growth is perfected and it is so great in some that they will hardly ever be able to apprehend much of the wisdom of God in a mysterie it is well if they understand the main thing without which there is no life but these are not the persons I speak of but such among us have wit and parts enough can understand and manage and improve any thing else they take in hand and yet in the matters of their souls they take up their rest like tyred Jades that will go no further the Apostle reproveth the Hebrews for it sharply that when for the time they might have been teachers of others yet we had need to be taught our selves the first principles of the Doctrine of Christianity truly Brethren me thinks you that have long known Jesus Christ and have gray hairs upon your heads and are found in the way of righteousness when you see young striplings out-grow you and apprehend much of the mysteries of Christ which you do not this should be a shame to you it is a strange sottishness and security that seizeth upon men in respect of their souls they would think shame that a young man of little or no experience should know them to manage their trade better then themselves that are of so long standing and experience but here they are content to be out-stript and content themselves with any thing that your grace should be so small as I may say in the seed still so small as a seed and scarce discernable to this day O what a sad thing is this now your salvation is nearer then when you believed and you are as far from being meet for it as when you believed O how unfit are we for death though we have one foot in the grave already some of us and we do not heed this Surely if this be a truth that those who are planted in Christ do grow and thou canst not find thou growest what canst thou conclude but one of these two things First that either thou hast all this while deceived thy self and thought thou hadst the root of the matter within thee and hadst it not for if thou hadst thou wouldst have grown The Kingdom of God will not be alway as a grain of Mustard-seed and that which is in thee haply appears to be no more and is not this a sad condition Brethren is it not high time for you to look about you when you are grown to such years and never have been planted into Jesus Christ never made one with him to this day I say a man that findeth he groweth not at all he is where he was so many years ago hath cause to fear this and me thinks this should startle us a company of lazie professors that never matter whether they improve or no. Or else secondly which is bad enough that thou hast some sad disease upon thee that hinders thy growth surely somewhat is the matter Brethren it is not right with you if you have a child stand at a stay for two or three-years while it should grow you see it is a living child but it groweth not O surely it hath some disease or another some obstructions hindering the course between the head and heart and the members and you fear such a child will not live O that you would but apply this to your souls sure you have some desperate disease upon you some obstruction or another it may be the world is gotten between you and the root and the head which is Christ and so the communication is hindred you grow not up into him draw nothing nearer to him at all doth it never enter into your hearts to consider this Brethren are you not afraid of perishing in such a condition I am sure your condition is sad that a growing sensible Christian would not be in your case for a world and are you not sensible of it it is so much the worse O how will you answer it Brethren considering how much influence you have had from on high the Ordinances the fat things of his house in abundance the sincere milk of the word you have had in this place for a long time more then most places have had it and yet your souls have prospered no more under it you have had five Talents and yet it may be many that have had but two but one have out-stript some of you where you have had five Sermons five opportunities of grace many a poor soul would have been glad of one and yet such it may be stronger in faith more in humility more spiritual minded then we are can you answer this at the great day But thus much for this first Secondly It sheweth us the sad condition of such as instead of growing in grace alas they grow worse and
thee yet wave all come clearly off it and alone cast thy self upon the waters commit thy self to the deep where no bottom is to be felt this is growing in the root indeed Thirdly In humility this is another which indeed doth follow upon the other and must needs do so for nothing emptyeth more then faith nothing layeth the soul lower and indeed this is the prospering grace of the soul that soul that is lifted up as the Prophet saith is not right within him Learn of me saith our Saviour for I am meek and lowly O when the soul is thus low then it is hungry and thirsty and poor in Spirit and then it sucks from the Lord Jesus then a taste of his love is sweet to the soul then the Spirit being ready to yield to God in every thing to do all his will God is ready to yield to the soul in every thing that he requireth agreeable to his will how do we grow in humility Brethren examine this it is the first and second and third and every step of Jacobs Ladder dost thou find that whereas thou wast wont to over-look and undervalue in comparison of thy self now rather thou thinkest in good earnest that every one fearing God is better then thy self because of the vileness of thine own heart thou seest before thou couldst not bear a reproof but if thou didst not turn and all to rent him that reproved thee though with never so much mildness yet thou wouldst snarl and quarrel and be ready to cast as much as that came to into his own teeth that reproved thee now if thou be reproved thou hast nothing to say but fearest thy heart it may be too true of thee now it is welcome thou lovest them that reprove thee so much the more Brethren it may be heretofore you would be apt to complain of your selves and of your own vileness and make sad mone and yet if another speak but an ill word of you yea if they speak no more of you then you deserve you could not bear it now if they speak ill of you art thou ready to lay thy hand upon thy mouth sure the Lord hath bid them speak evil and there is cause enough for it and they cannot say worse of me then I am O here is a growth in humility before thou wert ready to envy every one that had more gifts or more grace more of the hearts of Gods people then thy self now thou art ready to say with Moses enviest thou for my sake thou canst sweetly submit to his disposal of thee the least thou hast is more then thou deservest O this is that which obtains much of the Lord when thy heart is in such a frame it is fit to receive so Jacob he was less then the least of his mercies it was an argument wherewith he pleaded with the Lord thou art content to be any thing though in never so mean a degree of service to him so be he will be but thy Father and own thee if thou mayst not be with him in the transfiguration upon the mount if thou mayst be but a Disciple if thou mayst not get within the cloud with Moses nor be a Benjamin yet if thou mayst be a Son and a Subject though no Favourite this is that thou art contented with O here is a growth Brethren search and try are we come to this pitch or how far are we gone herein is it better with us then it hath been in this respect But then secondly we must try whether we grow upward yea or no as well as downward and this I shall consider according to the chief faculties of the soul the mind and the will and speak somewhat to each of them And first for the mind the understanding 1. Do you find Brethren that you grow and increase in the knowledge of his will that the darkness that is upon your hearts naturally doth vanish by any degrees do you find the vail doth wear thinner that was upon your hearts that you begin to behold the Lord Jesus with a more open face then before time was when you were babes in understanding are you new men and women or are you past the state of babes Alas I doubt if the treasuries of our hearts were laid open we should find them very empty of this heavenly knowledge how few can bring out of their treasuries both new and old This will appear in these two things specially First if you be apt to be tossed up and down with every wind of Doctrine and are not-stablished in the present truth but your minds are floating and hovering and ready to settle upon any thing that is presented to you though contrary to what you have received it is a sign that you are but children in understanding how easie is it to deceive children to put upon them Counters instead of Gold to make them part with the one for the other and how easie is it to lead captive silly-women as the Apostle calls them that are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth a weak eye that cannot discern between things that differ hath not his senses exercised to discern it is very easie to put one thing upon them for another truly Brethren these times have the name for times of great light and greater knowledge then there was before and I do believe that knowledge shall encrease by going too and fro but yet for all that mens eyes are very weak they cannot discern between light and darkness but put darkness for light for what is the ground of all errour is it not the ignorance of the Scripture and the power of God and was there ever any times more fruitful in errour then these are Alas Brethren what strangers are many of us to the very principles of Religion if examined in them that pretend to such high discoveries and revelations of Christ in our times such have need of milk and not of strong meat the wisdom of God in a mysterie is a riddle to them the Apostle spake it to them that were perfect that is to say grown men and women in opposition to babes Well then look to it if you find your selves easie to be shaken to turn with every wind of Doctrine like a weather-cock it argues you are but children but babes you may perswade a child to any thing to be of twenty minds in an hour because alas he hath no sound well-grounded knowledge of any thing you may perswade him to part with his meat his drink for a toy or by some pretended loathsomness in it that is not and so it is with poor weak ignorant souls how do we see many cheated out of Ordinances out of duties out of close walkings with God as things of no moment by the cunning craftiness of them who lie in wait to deceive It is a sad thing to see persons that should be of greater knowledge then
ordinary that in things so much controverted as they are now a daies can in a few daies time be so tost with a wind of Doctrine as to take up a strange a contrary practise this easiness to forgo our principles argues we are childish and weak Secondly Are we grown in understanding you will find it by this thou wilt not be so ready so easie to take offence as heretofore thou hast been alas before men are acquainted with the waies of God at all you see they are offended at every thing they see the Jews were offended with the meanness of Jesus Christ his descent that he was the Carpenters Son he was not like to be the Messias alas it was the weakness of their understanding they did not consider those Scriptures where it is said there should be no beauty in him that we should desire him and that he should come meek and lowly riding upon an Ass and so they were offended at his Doctrine when he told them they must eat his flesh and drink his blood they could not conceive of it and many of his Disciples went backward and walked with him no more And so sinners O they stumble at every thing in the people of God when they consider them and pry into them and find they miss it and fall in their duties they are prejudiced strongly against the waies of God upon this score alas it is ignorance they know not that they have a corrupt principle within whereby they are laid open to sin when lust and temptation meeteth except the Lord do wonderfully keep them they expect they should be as the Angels in heaven altogether spotless and pure even while they are upon the earth and therefore they are offended And so a weak child of God that is newly come on to grace alas every little thing in the way they stumble at for this offending is nothing else but stumbling upon a thing so as to hurt themselves by it either by being drawn to sin thereby being encouraged to sin thereby or else by being grieved at it without cause you know a child cannot get over that which a man maketh nothing of but he stumbleth and falleth so the Apostle where he discusseth of the use of indifferent things saith he All men have not this knowledge that an Idol is nothing and therefore if some weak ones see a Brother that is strong eat of that which was offered to an Idol which he knoweth to be lawful for him to do he is offended at it this argues weakness now have we found it so that we have been apt to take offence at any thing at every thing in others almost and now we can bear it argues we see more clearly the grounds of such actions but thus much for this Secondly Another part of this growth upward I place in the will which is indeed the main the commanding faculty of the soul and indeed wherein the main of faith doth lie and of other graces as of tender-heartedness and the like dost thou find then that heretofore thy will was more unsettled and wavering being as I may say halting between two thou wast not able to come up so fully to such a resolution for God and for Christ as to trample all under-foot for them thou wouldst have them but either hadst some reservation in such a case thou wouldst be saved now thy resolution breaks through all whatsoever this is growth indeed A man of a weak resolution for Christ alas if a temptation come to deny him the allurements of the world he forsakes him with Demas and imbraceth the present world or the frowns of the world he draweth baâ—k to perdition or else is foiled with Peter or at least much abated in his zeal groweth to a more indifferency of Spirit would joyn Christ and Moses together with the temporizing Jews to keep themselves from being persecuted and as Peter himself afterward alas his resolution was not yet so strong as afterward for fear of the Jews he did forbear to walk with the Gentiles as before he had done and so was an offence to them Ah dear friends it may be some of us can tell the time when for fear of men we have sadly miscarried is it better with us now have we now more courage have we for fear of shame come to Christ with Nicodemus by night and now are we not ashamed of Christ nor of his Gospel As the Apostle he was not ashamed of it though it were persecuted and though his meanness of speech were despised his preaching in a suitable manner to the subject which is a great part of a Preachers duty he was not ashamed Well then now consider doth the Lord give thee such boldness such courage such resolution of heart as to hold fast the Word of his patience the suffering-suffering-truth it may be we may be tryed in this point if we be not grown we shall miscarry as heretofore we have done Alas Brethren a little touch with a finger a little blast will blow a c 〈…〉 d over and over but if we be grown we shall find greater resolutions against sin to avoid the occasions of it do you find Brethren O the yielding frame of your hearts to sin to weakness every day it is weaker then heretofore and done away that now you can peremptorily deny a lust deny a temptation O you may not do this and sin against God! then we are grown in the will indeed and the more strong we grow in these resolutions the more we grow in this respect but if we cannot cease to sin Brethren we are where we were it may be we may be sometimes affected a little with our sins upon a flash or pang but have no power nor strength to resist our wills our wills are as weak as water to any thing that is good and against sin we grow not Brethren Again as thus downward and upward so see how we grow in fruitfulness we have spoken at large to that subject that we must bring forth fruits or else we cannot escape the Axe now I speak of the measure of the growth therein a young tree of the first year cannot be expected to bear so much as when better grown no more a young Christian here I would only mind you of two things First that we bring forth more fruit that is that we do more for God then we have done and for his people and for our own souls it may be thou hast heretofore but now and then prayed to God dost thou now do it more often it may be three times a day with Daniel and David It may be heretofore thou gavest but little to the relief of the poor Saints and others in distress dost thou now give more and more proportionable to thy estate as the Lord hath blessed thee for that is the proportion which the Apostle maketh and so where heretofore thou didst speak but now and then a savory word now
dost thou grow in that is thy communication much more seasoned and savoury is it all savoury tending to minister grace to the hearers heretofore thou hadst it may be scarce a thought of God in a day now he is the object of the workings of thy soul the thoughts of him are pleasant to thee this is an high condition it argues thou hast grown thou art in a growing condtition but this is not all Brethren Secondly Is that more fruit you bring forth better then it was before is it more mellow then formerly or if thou bring forth no more in number is it more in weight for God takes not our services by number but by weight and it is a sottishness of the poor blind Papists to think that God is pleased with their much speaking with pattering over so many Avy Maries and Pater Nosters or principles of the Doctrine of Christ I wish our practises be not too like theirs It may be heretofore thou couldest not enlarge thy self in prayer and now thou canst and thou thinkest thou art much grown it may be in bulk but not in goodness are thy prayers now more the breathings of the Spirit of Christ within thee and less of thine own Spirit O how much strange fire mingled with our sacrifices and strange incense strange zeal even our own passions instead of a zeal for God! Now Brethren is our zeal and fire more pure coming down from heaven even from the Spirit of Jesus Christ warming our hearts Look to this do we find that we grow more spiritual in duties in prayer do we act our faith more strongly wrestle with God in spirit more then in words children are apt to be taken with bables and pictures and flowers in the corn and we wâ—th sweet and quaint expressions but now have we learned to worship him more in spirit and in truth to know that the great work of our duties lie in the frame of our hearts toward God in prayer in preaching in hearing of the Word It is childishness Brethren for one never to be well or to place so much in it to be alway upon the lap and dandled do we find that now we would rather be made serviceable to him and do it with more pure hearts more pure ends not for our selves but for his glory we ask not gifts parts grace to spend it upon our lusts as heretofore not â—or our own peace that we might take our ends but that we might be fitter instruments in his hands for his glory not for our own praise and honour among men O look to this I tell you there is nothing sticks closer to us then this now doth this sowrness crabbidness of our fruits wear away by degrees is it better with us in these respects then before this is a sign of growth indeed I will add but one more and that shall be this Dost thou â—ind that thou growest by the opposition thou meetest with in the work of grace either from without or from within or any way whatsoever First I say from opposition without grace will grow and gather strength and this either from men or from the Lood from men when they oppose the way of God wherein we walk we must look to it that we grow so much the stronger for that is the nature of grace Brethren as when Paul preached the faith which once he had destroyed and the people were amazed saith the Text and they spake of him as a changling is not this he that wasted them that called upon his name in Jerusalem but Saul waxed so much the stronger and confounded the Jews that dwelled at Damaseus proving that this was the Christ As the fire they say is hotter by antiperistasis in coldest weather the Palm-trees they grow like as you heard in the proof that raiseth it self up under a weight of opposition Well look to this Brethren I do not mean an Ish 〈…〉 elitish spirit that is against every one and every mans hand against it and that a man should out of a cross crooked disposition do any thing or vex and gall persons that oppose them but grace will then be stirred up as the fire by the wind that bloweth it this way and that way it is in vain to blow it out to offer it for it increaseth the flame there is no resisting that Spirit whereby the Saints a 〈…〉 ted look to it is it thus with us or do we find that opposition from men doth cool us discourage us dishearten us so that we dare not own the Lord Jesus and his truth and way Truly it is to be feared it is not right with us Secondly From the Lord there is some opposition sometimes he wrestleth with us Jacobs wrestling with God implyeth some opposition of God as I may say he wrestled with him let me go saith he this stirreth him up so much the more earnestly to lay hold upon him when the Lord would take his leave of him and you see the poor man in the Gospel when he was rebuked for crying after Jesus Christ he cryed so much the more earnestly and so our Saviour when he was in that great agony or striving under the displeasure of his Father saith the Text he prayed so much the more earnestly So the Lord doth sometimes hang back or hide his face that he might draw out more and more his peoples hearts toward him as a Fisher draweth away his bait to make the fish follow it the more eagerly Well consider this now do we thus grow even by opposition if the Lord say to us we are dogs not fit for childrens bread can we conclude the worst against our selves and yet gather upon him for the crums at the least But then there is opposition from our selves from within and that is from the rebelling of our lusts they rise and swell and many times over-bear us we are foiled do we grow by this this may seem somewhat strange that the acting of sin should tend to the encreasing of grace for that we must know that it is not proper for every act of sin properly doth strengthen the habits of sin and the stronger sin is in the soul the weaker grace is like to be as the more the water cools the less heat there is remaining in it but it is by accident as water cast upon a coal-fire at present it seemeth to put it out but afterward it burns so much the hotter and fiercer So grace takes occasion hereby to stir up it self so much the more to set it self so much the more in opposition to it it maketh a child of God so much the more humble so much the more watchful and full of prayer if it be right with them and neither sin nor Satan gets by this at all So if Peter be tost in that sieve of vanity that temptation and fall O how it humbles him and how afterward it fetcheth him off his own bottom how valiant he
forth to convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement And so saith the Apostle James he hath begotten us again of his own will by his word of truth and therefore by this means grace is kept alive by our keeping this knowledge and increased by the increasing of this knowledge Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth saith our Saviour concerning his Disciples ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free he speaks here of a further progress for they were his Disciples already only he promiseth them further freedom and liberty from sin and this through the knowledge of the truth how do men that are not right escape the pollutions of the world but through the knowledge of the truth as it is in that place the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and how come they to wallow in their vomit again to return to wallow in the mire but by imprisoning and smothering the truth the principles they have received put out the light and then they may do what they please the truth is Brethren all grace is conveyed through the understanding of men and women because the Lord works upon us as reasonable creatures and therefore proposeth things to the understanding that it may Judge of them assent to the truth of them and judge the goodness of them and then propound them to the will to receive them to close with them they that know thy name will trust in thee the great reason wherefore poor sinners are strangers from the life of God is because of their ignorance as the Apostle saith therefore the heathen call not upon God because they know him not and therefore so many of us call not upon him as we ought because we know him not either we neglect it or else do it in a slight slubbering manne 〈…〉 t is because we know not God what a God he is searching the hearts great and glorious and jealous what is the reason that poor creatures trust not more perfectly to the grace that is revealed but because the eyes of their understandings are no more opened to behold the unsearchable riches of the grace which is in Jesus Christ which is able to swallow up all their mountainous sins wash out their spots though never so deep pay their debts though never so deeply charged if poor sinners did but know this they would trust more perfectly what is the reason we are so familiar with sin and make no more of it it is because we know little or nothing of it in comparison Ah poor creatures those that crucified Christ knew not what they did else they would not have done it and poor sinners now that stand it out in this their day and slight the offers of grace alas you know not what you do else you would not do it therefore if you would grow in any grace all graces in faith in love in any thing else you must labour to grow in knowledge O Brethren if we had but a clear understanding of the dimensions of the love of God the freeness and fulness of it that he should set his love upon such vile filthy polluted wretches such as had no comliness but loathsomness upon us and to bring us so near to himself to be one with him to be one Spirit and live and reign for ever with him as Children as a Spouse if the soul did but know this O how would it love 〈◊〉 Lord Jesus again would men be proud if they knew this as they ought to know it O no therefore look that you grow in this there were never more wayes and means to come to the knowledge of Christ and him crâ—cified then now if we be not wanting to our selves shamefully we cannot conclude ignorance of these things this is the way to grow A man of understanding increaseth knowledge learn of any body Secondly Labour to grow in faith the Disciples were sensible of this defect therefore they prayed that he would increase their faith Faith hath a wonderful influence upon the soul in respect of all the Graces of the Spirit Be it unto thee even as thou wilt Mat. 15. 28. saâ—â—h our Saviour to the Woman of Canaan if we were but strong in Faith if women would have their Wils this is the way and if men would have their Wils this is the way to labour to be strong in Faith Faith is that whereby the union and communion with Christ is maintained it is that whereby the soul cleaveth to him and therefore according to the strength or weakness of that Will the growth in other respects be also a strong Faith draweth strongly from him all the nourishment is from him and the supplâ—es of the Spirit whereby it is digested is from him Now a strong Faith draweth these from the Lord Jesus more abundantly to the soul then a weak Faith this is that whereby we suck the milk out of the breasts of consolation the Promises we feed upon Christ Eat his flesh which is meat indeed and drink his blood which is drink indeed no nourishment like to it we do by Faith partake of the fatness of the Olive and therefore accordingly grow in other Graces One saith of it that it is Faith that virtually is all Graces because Faith fetcheth in the supplies of Christ to enable to all whatsoever therefore it is that we are patient in tribulation because we believe and impatiency it proceedeth from the want of Faith he that believeth maketh not haste hence it is that we turn aside from following the Lord that there is so much unevenness in our walking we cannot walk uprightly with God because of the weakness of Faith if a man did believe God to be al-sufficient to have all fulness of good in him and a full defence from evil to be a Son and a shield would men for a little credit a little honour to avoid a little trouble in the flesh turn aside from followin 〈…〉 he Lord surely they would not How often doth our Saviour rebuke his Disciples for the littleness of their Faith they had Faith but it was very little How long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you saith he in one place where they could not cast out the Devil And will not God take care of you much more then of Sparrows O ye of little Faith had they so much of his presence with them teaching them and yet were but of little faith Our Saviour was displeased with it he knew they could never do much to honour him while their Faith was weak as now in the Gospel and more difficult cases as Num. 11. c. But may he not much rather take us up for this the Spirit was not poured out as now he is and we have more then the bodily presence even the Spirit of Christ and great encouragement to beg that Spirit whereby we should exceedingly
necessity and distress O be ye merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful take him for oâ—â— pattern and there will be continual room for growth and increase So the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians that as they abounded in other graces so they would labour to abound in this also Ah where are bowels Brethren towards one anothers souls with what tenderness did the Apostle stand over the souls of those poor people warning them day and night with tears And our Saviour over Jerusalem now I tell you again weeping saith the Apostle O that God would give such a heart to us and such a heart to his people indeed there is little tenderness and bowels one towards another little pittying one another while under temptation we can rather raise our hearts one against another stomack one another entertain prejudice one against another upon this account but a spirit of meekness and love and tenderness in restoring setting one another in joint if we be faln is not found among us or very little O labour to grow here and then to abound in works of mercy to give and give much liberally and do it with a tender heart an upright heart out of obedience to God not for ostentation But fifthly Labour to grow in softness of heart to see the stone wasting day by day I do not mean by softness of heart only an aptness to melt into tears for many an one may have a soft heart that cannot weep at all though most dispositions are apt to it and where it is it is a sweet expression of the heart towards Christ often-times though I must tell you there may be much of this and yet much hardness of heart many tears shed and it may be upon the consideration of sin and yet the heart hard to this day the softness of the heart Brethren lies most what in the plyableness and yielding of the spirit to God when we are ready to do all the will of God as David I have found David my servant one that will do all my will that is ready to say speak Lord for thy servant heareth Lord what wouldst thou have me to do Now alas there is many a wretched heart that it may be under a passion weeping at the apprehension of sin and yet go away and return to it again and again the heart is not plyable but stubborn wherein did lie the hardness of Pharaohs heart it lay in this that he would not harken to the Lord nor let Israel go though he had had so many judgements and so many deliverances yet all would not soften his heart no the iron sinews in his stiff neck they remained such still though sometimes he seemed to relent yet alas no sooner the hand was off but the heart was more hard then before he strouted it out and would not yield to let Israel go So when the Lord heapeth mercy upon mercy to melt out the sâ—one in the heart to make it like wax to the fire to the mould to be put into a fashion and it may be sometimes it draweth a few tears from the eyes but the heart is never the more plyable to God And so he cometh with rod upon rod blow after blow and yet doth it gently and all to foften and make the poor creature more plyable to him it affecteth a little sometimes but is not the heart as stubborn as unteachable as far from yielding to God in all things as before O this is the softness as a piece of joyners work it is all glued together one part to another Now then it is dissolved and broken when the glue the soder is melted and one piece falls from another so it is here our hearts and their sinful objects are glued together by carnal affections now then the heart is said to be broken to a softness when these affections are dissolved when our hearts and our objects of sin fall asunder each from the other labour to grow herein Brethren Sixthly To be more spiritual in holy duties more inward in our Communion with God you have heard this spoken to in the tryall O labour then to grow in spiritualness in prayer to pray with more faith with more fervency with more purity of heart not to ask any thing to spend it upon our lusts In meditation to keep closer to it without distraction and so to read to hear to do all these duties in a better manner but enough of this already Seventhly In your holy walking with God and with your selves as the Apostle saith we be seech you Brethren by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how ye ought to walk and please God so you abound more and more when a man walks with God alvvay setteth the Lord as before his face as the Psalmist speaks then he vvill be able to vvalk pleasingly to him vvhen by faith he seeth him that is invisible that is to say God to be present vvith him and knovveth him to ponder his vvaies O hovv eareful shall vve be then of our thoughts as vvell as of our vvords and actions and this vve do by faith believing his presence vvith us and his all-seeing eye to be upon us still upon our hearts and all their vvorkings according to the prevailing of these persvvasions and the constancy of them upon our spirits vvill our vvaies be ordered such a man vvill not dare to harbour vain thoughts in his heart though they vvill rudely rush in as a ruffian may rudely offer violence to a chast Matron she vvill not endure it so it is here O no I dare not as Joseph you see and then vvalking vvith our selves by more and more restection upon our selves upon our actions our waies the very truth is the want of this is the great cause we grow so little or if we do that we can take so little comfort in it herein lies the excellency and glory of a man above a beast that he can recoyl upon his own actions therefore labour to improve this O be more in it reproving your selves when you find you have done amiss whip those vain thoughts which pass through your souls and give them their Pass exhort your selves stir up your selves comfort and chear your selves in your God which you cannot do except you be much in this part of an holy walking even reflecting upon your selves and your own state Eighthly and lastly that I shall speak to shall be this To labour to grow more and more in that assurance of your relative grace your adoption the growth and other grace its true is a great help unto it but labour to improve it to that end how chearfully might many a poor soul walk if they did but know the things which are freely given them of God O beg the Spirit to be a witnessing a sealing-spirit to you more and more And do the same diligence saith the Apostle to the full assurance of hope unto the end we do content
lower thoughts of thy self to see the necessity of an high-Priest the more feelingly this humbleth this emptyeth of self more and is not this a growth in grace Yea and no small improvement But thirdly If thou be put to wait for an answer know it is the excellency of faith to wait upon him to hold out as the woman of Canaan And Jacob wrestled all night with God So Daniel his answer cometh not as soon as he began to pray but he must wait a while he must go through with his duty and afterwards the answer cometh if the Lord give thee a heart to wait upon him to hang upon him not to give him over Brethren you are growing and you are not aware of it it is no easie matter to wait upon God Alas a poor sinner in a mood sometimes and in a flash under a stirring Sermon O he will go and pray and if an answer come not presently there is an end it dyeth but a child of God he waiteth upon God he will have no nay if he will not answer at one time he will to it again and again as Paul sought God thrice for the removing the Thorn before he had an answer And so Elias seven times his servant was sent and brought an answer of nothing appearing and at last but a little cloud and his prayer was fervent too as appears by the story Fourthly You must grow upon God knock harder if he come not at the first cry louder cry out so much the more importunity will overcome him at the last yea if by the delay of an answer as thou thinkest thou be kept praying and more and more fervently there is nothing Brethren wherein we more grow then in prayer it self where the Lord exerciseth us with such occasions as put us on to stir up all our strength to wrestle with him Well the Lord perswade our hearts to a diligence in this duty for we are as averse from it as from any O how our hearts do hang back and if the Lord perswade us not and by the invincible bonds of the Spirit bind us close to it we shall see by woful experience how quickly our slippery hearts will either shift themselves out of it or else into a formality in the service Fifthly Observe your answers also take heed of being alway complaining as if we had received nothing or were nothing grown whereby God loseth the glory of what he hath done for us already this is not the way to procure more this is the way indeed to grieve Gods Spirit which is the Spirit of prayer and then if he be grieved we shall find a woful declining in prayer and then our growth will go on but very slowly I beseech you pardon me for standing so much upon this point to press it upon you I know many of you cannot but see the necessity of it and truly observe it since these times of outward prosperity of the people of God mind it in your own cases lookers on may easily observe it and since our hands have been so full of the world if there be not a declining and indeed I think If I am mistaken I should be glad to be mistaken that this is the main thing wherein we are hurt we are so upon hurries and so thronged our hearts and heads and hands so full of the world that we cannot have those times and seasons to work our hearts up in this duty it is sad when our hearts have most need of pains-taking with them as in such cases they have that we should find least time to do it in What can become of this think you Fourthly Another help to this growth in grace will be this Conscientiously and diligently to use the Ordinances all of them as well as that of prayer I speak to that particular because it is of so general concernment running along with all the rest for sanctification of them to us You heard before that knowledge is the great means whereby our grace doth grow it is conveyed through the understanding the consent of the will to close with Christ it is greater or lesser according to the apprehensions which the mind hath of Christ of his goodness his loveliness the necessity of him c. therefore grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and whom beholding as in a glass we are changed into his image this glass what is it but the Ordinances of God O how fat do men grow that fare deliciously every day is there not great difference between feeding upon husks when the kernel is gone and feeding upon the finest of the wheat how quickly will the weakest man grow strong feeding upon the one and the strongest weak when he feedeth upon the other Alas when it came to that the Prodigal was almost beaten off his leggs Why the Ordinances of God they are a feast a feast of fat things marrow and wines upon the less well-refined in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make to all people a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well-refined What are these but the Ordinances of God these are the green pastures and still waters with these he promiseth to satiate the soul of the Priest with fatness and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness saith the Lord And my soul shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house there it is and in the 63. Psalm the Psalmist longs after the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances in his Sanctuary O saith he my soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness What can be said more Brethren Is not this the way to grow fat to increase and did not God give therefore Pastors and Teachers to dispence the Ordinances for the edifying of the body in that place to the Ephesians Well but all this will not do except we make use of these Ordinances mind you they are the fat things of the house of God we must have them in the stall in the coop in the fold in the house of God that is to say the Church of God if we would flourish indeed as the Psalmist speaks they that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God and therefore the Spouse in the Canticles was so earnest Shew me where thou feedest thy flocks where thou makest them rest at noon Alas many poor Believers may be to seek where the Lord Jesus feedeth his flocks specially in these daies wherein there are so many pretences to the way of Christianity which is but one but at least me thinks this will follow from those Scriptures that the house of the Lord the Courts of his house is the Church of God therefore we should inquire where the flocks are fed that we may walk with them and among them it is the way where the Lord Jesus is found
when we are sinking and drowning we will not so much as put out the hand to lay hold upon a twig upon something held out to us is not this unreasonable and unnatural it raceth out the principle of self-preservation that is in every man by nature so that I will be bold to say the greatest reason in the world improved to keep off a poor soul from Jesus Christ is unreasonable it is the depravation of our carnal reason had it not been unreasonable if Hagar having a fountain opened her before her eyes and she languishing for thirst and must perish without it and yet would sit still is not this unreasonable Again If we look upon the Lord Jesus who seeks to us beseecheth us to accept of him of mercy of pardon in his blood the Creator cometh down to the creature poor worms who have our being by his Word and might be dissolved with his Word and yet we stand it out and will not accept of him who would bestow himself and his infinite all-sufficiency upon us and we will not is not this unreasonable that a Prince should seek to a worthless rebel to be reconciled and he will not hear of it If he had any need of us and upon that account would have poor sinners to come to him to make a supply of his wants it were something but all the want the indigency is on our part and therefore unbelief is the more unreasonable thing O how might we here break out and say hear ye heavens and give ear O earth for the Lord Jesus the Lord of both heir of all things the offended Majesty seeks to poor rebelling worms to be reconciled but they will not hear of it they come not in they close not with him Secondly As the unreasonableness of the thing so also we may take notice of the injuriousness of this sin of unbelief I would a little insist upon this sin the more because that though I find many a poor heart seemeth to be weary of sin and afraid of sinning against God in other kinds yet seeth not in the mean time how exceedingly he sins against him by his unbelief not closing with Christ and coming to him therefore see in the second place the injuriousness of this sin of unbelief how injurious it is to Jesus Christ Brethren for if the truth were known what is the reason wherefore we need so much ado why we come not in to him We either think he cannot save us our sins are so great O saith one there was never such a wretch as I though he have accepted of great sinners such as Paul and Manasses and Magdalen yet there was never such a wretch as I O surely my wounds are such there is no healing for them What is this but to make Jesus Christ weak and a Physitian of no value Is there any sin higher then the imbrewing their hands in the blood of Jesus Christ himself and suppose thou be such an one and this is that thou cryest out of thou hast come so often to the Lords Supper with a common heart which is to be guilty of his blood accessary to his death and cannot his blood cleanse even from the guilt of them that shed it were not many of the Jews sensible os this how dishonourable is this to Jesus Christ when we will be measuring of him by our selves we are apt to think of pardon and mercy as far as a mans a creatures bowels and thoughts will reach mind there is an end not minding that he is God as well as man this is an high wrong unto our Saviour O he will not saith the poor soul if he can yet he will not sure receive such an one as I O I am so laden and so loathsom a wretch what should he do with such an one as I What is it possible thou shouldest remember how many promises how many invitations how many expostulations he hath made what intreaties to poor creatures to be reconciled to him and yet call in question his willingness why what do you make of Jesus Christ O how doth unbelief in effect dethrone Jesus Christ disgracing the Throne of his Glory robbeth him of his mercy of his power his love his bowels of that which he most glorieth in and is not this injurious then to thy dear Saviour Would not you think it a wrong to you from one of your children that had offended you as highly as you can imagine suppose he had sought your life as Absolom did Davids and now the Father seeks thou suest to thy son O how many promises thou heapest up one upon another backest them with oaths wooest him intreatest him to be reconciled to accept of a pardon No he believeth you not notwithstanding all you can do or say that you are real in the thing is not this injurious doth he not wrong exceedingly in this as well as in the former and is not this the very case Thirdly See how much unkindness there is in this sin of unbelief as it is directly against the love the bowels of Jesus Christ which sound toward poor creatures in the Gospel in every intreaty to be reconciled to him Brethren what could the Lord Jesus do more for us then he did was not his life dear to him even to the death sor poor sinners that there might be a pardon for us and do we thus requite him even to slight it never to mind it or if we do sometimes a little yet to stand out and not to close with him What unkindness was it in the Jews it is so recorded of them he came to his own and his own received him not that is to say his own flesh and blood and so he is ours as well as others but he came of them according to the flesh in a nearer manner and sent to them in the first place they received him not But to come to Us poor Gentiles out-casts that were strangers afar off with a desire to make us near in his blood near to his Father and to himself is this love nothing to be thus slighted for how few among us do believe in the Lord Jesus notwithstanding all this nothing breaks the heart of a creature more then unkindness and surely Brethren me thinks the thoughts of this if our hearts were not stony should be a breaking of our hearts that we have hitherto so many of us dealt so unkindly with Christ as we have done But fourthly see the dangerousness of this sin of unbelief that we may be set a trembling by reason of this sin as well as any other and be weary of this as well as any other 1. Other sins have but their own particular guilt each of them particularly binding over a poor soul to wrath and entayling the curse of the Law upon a poor sinner so every sin doth every oath every lie every unclean thought wanton look adultery fornication of the body the heart or eye but unbelief