14. Lords face and turn from their wicked ways When they hear the words of the Lords threatnings they will rend their clothes 2 Chr. 34. 27. and weep before the Lord They that are humble they will accept of the punishment of their iniquity they will kiss Lev. 26. 41. the Rod of their correction glorifie his Justice and implore his Mercy The proud man thinks his little much the humble man thinks his much is too little The proud man thinks he hath grace enough the humble man thinks he can never have enough The proud man hath high conceits of himself the humble man hath high conceits of God The proud man seeks himself the humble man seeks Gods Glory and therefore his desires of grace are infinite because no measures are sufficient to serve Gods Glory The proud man reflects upon what he is the humble man reflects upon what he was that he was unprofitable he did serve sin a long time too long Many years were spent before he was called and all that while God lost by him and therefore now he must Row hard and ply his Oars with quickest diligence he did God much wrong and therefore now he must work and labour hard for him As Paul did I am the least of the Apostles that am not meet to 1 Cor. 15. 9 10. be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God I laboured more abundantly than they all The proud man reflects upon his attainments and what he hath done the humble man forgets those things which are behind Phil. 3. 13. Ad humilitatem pertinet ut Homo defectus proprios considerans seipsum non extollat Aquin. 22ae q. 35. ad 3. and reacheth forth unto those things which are before Is it possible that grace should not thrive here Oh! now it goes on amain The proud man casts his eye upon his Beauties the humble man turns his eye upon his Deformities the proud man looks upon his graces the humble man looks upon his sins and then crys out Oh! how much dirt and dross have I yet within me that must be purged out My sins out-weigh my graces so much levity of heart in me yet to be mortified so much self will to be expunged and self ends to be dethroned and carnal wisdom to be dismounted so much want of love to God and his Saints which must be heightned so much slavish fear in me which must be turned into filial fear so much studying mine own preservation more than the Honour and Interest of the Lord studying my safety more than my duty asking how I may be saved oftner than how I may serve God how little I rejoyce at the prosperity of the Gospel if my self be in adversity and how little I grieve in the adversity of the Church if I my self be in prosperity Thus the humble Saint by considering his imperfections advanceth on to perfection by advising with his own wants is still drawing more water out of Christs fulness 10thly God increaseth his Saints graces by making themselves to improve and increase them God increaseth their stock by their own good husbandry When the noble man in the Parable called his Servants Luk. 19. 12. and gave a stock of money among them to traffick with in his absence he charged them to improve it to his best advantage and one of them said Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds and another came and said Lord thy pound hath gained five pounds So when the Lord Christ gives a stock of grace and sets up a soul he looks that your own care should come in and that by your own good husbandry you should add to it You suppose the work of increasing grace lyeth in Christ alone This is and is not true 1. It is true in this sense that the increase flows only from Christ the increase is his blessing As Paul said in another case Paul planteth and Apollo watereth but God giveth the increase 'T is he alone that adds to the first stock wherewith he set you up None can create grace in the soul but Jesus Christ Every addition is a new creation When David after his great fall prayed for increase of grace He saith Create in me a clean heart O God When Paul stirreth them Psal 51. 10. Eph. 4. 23 24. up to be renewed in the spirit of their mind he adds which is created As the first platform of the new man is created so is every degree of it This is the difference between the growth of nature and of grace In natural growth there ariseth out of nature a new addition but in the growth of grace there is a new creation Thus far that all your increase of grace lyeth in Christ alone is true 2. But in another sense it is not true that is without the endeavour For you must act that Christ may give the increase You must work out your salvation with fear and trembling though God must work in you both to will and to do And therefore 't is said to you Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledg and to knowledg temperance The Disciples came to Christ and said Lord increase our faith And Paul prays for the Thessalonians The Lord make you to increase and yet he saith to them We beseech YOV brethren that ye increase more and more 11thly God increaseth grace in his Saints by keeping them awake The sluggard and the sleeper goeth behind-hand it is impossible he should thrive or keep cart on wheels And therefore God to increase their graces keeps his Saints awake Sleep is Ligatio sensuum the binding of the senses and therefore to be awake is when the senses are free and at their liberty 1. Sleep shuts up the eye the man that sleeps seeth no more than the man that 's blind And therefore God keeps his Saints eyes open to see Temptations and spiritual dangers to see the snares that are laid for them at their feet to see things invisible to see Judgment at hand to see the Tribunal set and the Books opened and the Judg sitting with innumerable Angels round about him and now repentance thrives and self-examination is at work and making your calling and election sure goeth on and spinning of fine linnen and washing of our robes white in the blood of the lamb and preparation for the nuptials with the Bridegroom While the eye of Hope is 1 Joh. 3. 3. kept open the man purifieth himself as Christ is pure 2. Sleep locks up the ear As long as a man is drown'd in a dead and deep sleep he hears no noise about him and therefore the Lord to increase his Saints graces keeps their ear open they hear the word of the Lord they hear and believe they believe and tremble they tremble and obey they obey and set upon action they read they run they pray they consult with the Saints they enquire how did the Lord work upon you What signs and evidences of grace
of natural things leaves thee but a natural man a well-polished Phil. 3. 8 9. natural man but the Knowledg of Christ makes thee a Saint the Knowledg of Jesus saves thee from thy sins the most exquisite Knowledg of all natural things leaves thee in thy sins but the Knowledg of Jesus Christ saves thee from thy sins And therefore saith Paul I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Because Paul knew that no Knowledg would save himself and no Knowledg 1 Cor. 2. 2. he made others know would save them but the Knowledg of Jesus Christ and him crucified If all the men in the World were wounded and lay at the point of Death and there were but one herb in all the World that would heal them How would they all send abroad to know that one Herb and to know the virtue of it and how to use it and apply it How happy would they count themselves in the Knowledg of it My Beloved All the Men and Women in the World are wounded they are wounded to death and lye gasping for life and there is but one Herb in all the World that can heal and save them and that is Jesus Christ whose Divine nature did grow out of the bosom of God the Father from all Eternity and whose humane Nature did grow out of the sanctified Womb of the Virgin Oh! how precious should be the Knowledg of Jesus Christ then unto you Surely it is the greatest priviledg to know him 3. Grace begins in Knowledg in the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven as the stream begins in the spring for Knowledg is the spring of Grace the Knowledg of God is the spring of our Love to God the Knowledg of the Power and Truth of God is the spring of our Trust in God They that know thy name will trust in thee Psal 9. 10. Knowledg that saves us is not a bare notion of God it knows his power and therefore fears him knows his justice and therefore serves him knows his mercy and therefore trusts him knows his goodness and therefore loves him Reas 4. Because it is a Knowledg above the reach of Nature to know the Mysteries of Heaven is beyond the sphear of Nature and Reason They are foolishness to the natural man 1 Cor. 2. 14. neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Natural men cannot know supernatural Mysteries Carnal reason cannot apprehend spiritual Objects Surely they are some rare and stately things that stand thus aloft above the reach of Reason For mans Reason is an Eagle and flieth high and therefore these Mysteries of Heaven must needs be some high and glorious things which mans reason soaring upon its loftiest wings cannot attain unto Reas 5. Because few do know them we count that a great Priviledg which is committed but to a few and that 's the signification of the word Privilegium Reas 6. Because they are Mysteries i. e. hidden and secret things Now to know not plain and common things but to know Mysteries we count it a great Priviledg How did the Philosophers study to know the Mysteries and secrets of Nature and in what Honour were they had because they knew them What a priviledg is it then to know the Mysteries of Heaven And because they are such deep and rare Mysteries the Angels themselves desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to peep into them Reas 7. Because they are Mysteries of God and is it not a 1 Pet. 1. 1◠superlative priviledg to know the Mystiries of God A man counts it an high priviledg to be of a Kings Privy-Council and to know his Royal secrets What a point of Honour is it then to know the Mind and Mysteries of the great God and have his Divine secrets communicated to them God can do no more unless he should make us God They that know the Kings secrets are next unto the King himself So doth God make them that know his secrets next unto himself First God makes all his secrets immediately known to Christ and Christ is next to God and Christ made known his secrets to the Apostles and they are next to Christ Reas 8. Because the Mysteries of Heaven are lovely things to see to they are bright beauties and exquisite rarities to look upon God is a lovely and beauteous thing therefore saith David Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord. His beauty is such that if we could but see some little of it it would enamour and ravish our hearts 't would wrap us into such an Extasie and Admiration of him that all other even the most excellent things would appear to be but base to him For First God is the only satisfactory Object of mans Knowledg The Knowledg of all other things could you behold them all with one intuitive Act is but an hungry beggarly Knowledg a sick Knowledg till thou know him The soul of Man her Appetite is never filled nor satisfied till she know God When I read some Authors and view their Ignorance of God I cannot but sit down and say Oh! what a Priviledg is it to know God! I will give you an Instance Pliny A man of vast parts who writes the History of Nature Lib. 2. Cap. 7. Quisquis est Deus si modo est Alius c. Irridendum verò agere curam rerum humanarum illud quiequid est summum Ibidem Annè tam tristi atque multiplici Ministerio non pollui credamus Dubitemusvè Ibidem Verùm in his Deos agere curam rerum humanarum credi ex usu vitae est Ibidem Verùm in his Deos agere curam rerum humanarum credi ex usu vitae est Paenasquè Maleficiis aliquandò seras occupato Deo in tanta mole nunquam autem irritas esse Ibid. and you would think he had fathom'd the very bottom of Nature yet when he comes to speak of God saith he God whosoever he be if haply there be any other but the World Again saith he That the chiefest Power whatsoever it is meaning God hath care of mankind or of mens affairs is a thing to be derided or scorn'd at What dreadful darkness is this How uncomfortable to us that we have no God to mind our Conditions or manage our Events And his Reason is this as poor as his Assertion Can we believe that he should not be polluted with so sordid or base and so trouble some a service As if the Sun cannot shine upon a dunghil but it must be defiled And yet afterwards he saith Howbeit to believe that the Gods have care of mens Estates is useful and expedient for this life Whether he speaks this being forced by Conviction or out of Pollicy to keep men within Bounds rather than of Faith
in God because he keeps promise with me he makes me know goodness and mercy in God because he bears with my slothfulness and sins Ninthly This leads me to another much like it true Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is experimental A man never stands firm and solid and constant in the Faith till he hath in himself some experience of that which he knows and believes And 't is certain That he holds so much firmness as he holds of experience in himself and no more It befalls us in believing and knowing the Gospel as it doth in knowing at first some wise and godly Man As long as we know the Wisdom and Godliness of such a man only by the relation of other men we are so disposed that other men coming and making a contrary relation we change our opinion we had of him at least doubt of it till at last having strict familiarity with him our selves we know by experience that the relation of him is true which was made to us and then no man is able to perswade us to the contrary So long as we believe the Gospel and the Mysteries of Heaven only by the relation of Preachers we believe it till other Preachers come and tell us the contrary and then we believe the other way or at least doubt of the Truth we had from the first Preacher till by having experience of that which is preached in the Gospel we stand firm and constant in that which we know and believe and then all the men in the World are unable to unsettle or change our Faith and Knowledg after 't is confirmed by our own experience As for example here 's a Gospel-Mystery That God hath punished all our sins upon Christ and redeemed us from wrath if we believe in him Now thy great work and design should be to get the experience of this Mystery in thee that God hath punished thy sins in Christ and redeemed thee from wrath Quest You will say how is the experience of Faith gotten Answ Then a man hath experience of that which he believes when he hath peace in his Conscience when he hath the fruit of that which he believes in himself being assured in himself that he can appear in the Judgment of God with that self-same security wherewith he would have appeared if he had lived with that innocency wherewith Christ lived and had by Gods will fuffered that which Christ suffered Vse 5. If it be such a transcendent priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Oh then act your souls with disires and endeavours after the Knowledg of these Divine things For 1. Our souls are made for these things What are our souls made for but for excellent things And what is excellent but the Mysteries of Heaven Is the soul made to lay her mouth to the breasts of the World and suck in wealth and riches which she must spit out again I tell you these are but dunghils to a soul 2. They put Glory upon the soul They are glorious and make us glorious The Knowledg of God in Christ is a glorious Knowledg and the Gospel is called a glorious Gospel these things put a Glory upon our souls VVhat a glorious thing is it when by the Mysteries of Heaven a weak man shall have power againsta a strong Devil VVhen a poor Creature flesh and blood shall by some virtue distil'd through the Mysteries of Heaven into him have such a strong Faith in the promise of forgiveness of sins and such a mighty Faith in the promise that all shall turn to his good that all the gates of hell shall not prevail over that weak soul VVwhat a glorious thing is this And what a glorious thing is it when an impotent and unable soul shall by an Ordinance of God have strength over those corruptions and sins which others are slaves to That mean men of low and cheap education and parts should not be taken with those things that others are besotted with that are of more excellent natural parts than they VVhat a glory of grace is this 3. Did ye know the Mysteries of the heavenly Kingdom ye would wonder at nothing in the world besides VVhat is the reason that silly men are taken up with admiration of small and poor things here below but because their thoughts are not employed nor raised up to these high and great Excellencies The Poet saith Nil admirari prope res est una numici Hor. Epist 1. Epistol 6. Solaque quae possit facere servare beatum To wonder at nothing is the only thing to make us happy VVhilst men stand wondring at the glory and foolish lustre of the VVorld Oh! this honour and that greatness is a goodly thing they are undone they are taken with it and so undone This makes those whose names are not written in the book Revel 17. 8. of life to wonder at the beast as it is in the Text saying Oh! what a godly order have they among them one under another And this makes them worship him as it is in another Text All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him Revel 13. 8. whose names are not written in the book of life As the Philosophers speaking of the Knowledg of Causes say That the Knowledg of the cause takes away admiration O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that wonders seems to be ignorant Arist 1. Metaph cap. 2. As Countrey-men that wonder at the Eclipse of the Sun or at a Blazing-star or at an Earth-quake it is from their Ignorance of the Causes a Philosopher wonders not at these things And therefore Pythagoras said That the end of Philosophy is that we should wonder at nothing So They that wonder at the Glory of the World and of earthly Dignities Oh! It is a fine thing to be rich and to shine in greatness it springs from their Ignorance It is the nature of shallow men to wonder at the things of this World A wise man wonders at nothing because he knows greater things he hath seen greater matters than those the world can shew Do you think a wise Christian will stand wondring at great and rich men at great places and honours and such things Alas He hath had greater matters in the eye of his soul and what can be great in this world to him to whom the World it self is not great What is great in this world to him that hath seen Christ and conversed with God Oh! come then and know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven These will so dazle your eyes with their glory that you shall wonder at nothing in the world besides To dwell in the favour of men and to rise up into high places and have the world smile upon you are these the things ye wonder at Truly Sirs If we would wonder let us come to Religion there we have him whose name is Wonderful that is Jesus Isa 6. Christ There we have his Laws and Testimonies