hastening to the coming of the day of God c. as it is in 2 Pet. 3.11 12. And again in the 14th verse of the same Chapter Wherefore beloved seeing ye look for such things be diligent that ye be found of him in peace without spot and blameless Thirdly It is not for you to know but it is for you to pray not to know when it will be but to pray that it may be and to desire that it may be as soon as may be The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that 's a-thirst say come c. Rev. 22.17 As the Spouse in Cant. 8.14 Make haste my Beloved and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices We should all long for that blessed and glorious time wherein God will put an an end to these days of sin and misery accomplish the number of his Elect and appear in his Glory Fourthly and lastly It is not for you to know the times and seasons which God hath put in his own power but it is for you to know the times and seasons which God hath put in yours not to know the times and seasons which are future but to know the times and seasons which are past and present and to make the best use and improvement of them that possibly you can This is to be done by you The times and seasons of affliction and correction to be troubled for them and the times and seasons of mercy and deliverance to be thankful for them And generally to be reform'd and to be made so much the better for both We should know the times and seasons of our own conversion and salvation especially and that as being such as do so neerly and closely concern us as indeed this does As for the other times and seasons formerly mentioned what is likely to fall out in the world in such and such years or what will be the certain moment of the end and period of the world we may be very well ignorant of them without either danger or disgrace we may be ignorant of them both with safety and likewise with credit and not suffer in either But we cannot be so as to those times which we now last of all spoke of The time of our own visitation and the time of our own reformation and the time of our own conversion and amendment and turning to God We cannot be ignorant of this but we shall undergo a great deal of shame and incur a great deal of loss and damage by the bargain Therefore let us by all means be perswaded to attend hereunto to know what God would have us know and to be ignorant there where God desires and intends we should be ignorant as he does in things of more special reservation And so I have done with the whole Text before us It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which c. SERMON XXVI 1 Cor. 1.21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe The usual practise of God and that which he much delights in for the Dispensations of Providence in the World not only to do great matters for the Nature of the things themselves which he does but to do them also by strange kind of ways for the means by which he does them and to do them upon strange occasions for the manner in which he does them to bring good out of evil and one contrary out of another that himself may have the greater honour and glory in so doing But we may observe it in nothing more than in those businesses which concern his Church and the Transactions of the work of Salvation Here his ways are indeed in the Deep and his paths in the great Waters and his footsteps are not known as the Psalmint sometimes expresses it upon another occasion Psal 77.18 Here his judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out as the Apostle also speaks of the Conversion of the Gentiles Rom. 11.33 And this is that in particular which we may here Observe and take notice of in this present Scripture Where the Apostle shewing Gods course and method for the saving of the World declares unto us how he does it in a way opposite to humane Wisdom and the apprehensions of flesh and blood even by the Preaching and Publishing of the Gospel and the making known of Christ crucified which in the Eyes of the great ones of the World is for the most part accounted so mean and contemptible a Business After that c. IN this one and twentieth Verse before us we have two General Parts especially considerable of us First The Worlds misimprovement and neglect of the Opportunities of knowledg which sometimes were afforded unto them Secondly The supply of this neglect by a new kind of Dispensation to them The former we have in these words the world by wisdom knew not God The latter we have in these After that c. It pleased God by the foolishness c. We begin first of all with the former viz. The worlds neglect and misimprovement in these words where first wee 'l explain the words and then wee 'l proceed to the point which is especially observable of us from them for the meaning of the words there are three or four terms which are here to be laid open by us wee 'l take them in this particular order First The wisdom of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what 's the meaning of this The wisdom of God is variously taken in Scripture First It 's taken for an essential Attribute of God Namely such a property in him as whereby he doth distinctly and perfectly know himself and of and by himself all other things whatsoever which either are or were or shall be or can be Of this we find mention in Scripture oftentimes and in sundry places as Job 12.13 With him is wisdom and strength c. And Pro. 8.14 Counsel is mine and sound wisdom I have understanding and I have strength Rom. 16.27 To God only wise c. But this is not that wisdom which is meant here in this place Secondly The wisdom of God is sometimes taken for Christ himself who is the wisdom of the Father thus here in this very present Text v. 24. of this Chapter Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God But this is not that which is to be understood neither here in this Verse as being put in opposition to it Thirdly The wisdom of God is taken for that wisdom which is in Vs participative and by derivation from God Thus the wisdom of Solomon is called the wisdom of God 1 Kings 3.28 The wisdom of God was in him it is said there as concerning his giving of Judgment All the wisdom and sagacity and discretion which is in Magistrates and Judges and Governours of the
while they live here in the World Especially in his Patience towards them and Long-suffering and Forbearance of them in that he does not presently take advantage against them but heaps many comforts upon them thereby to lead them and draw them to Himself but they commonly make but an ill use and Improvement of it by being from hence so much the more harden'd and confirm'd in Sin they despise that Goodness which they should Imbrace and the Author of it as so much the greater Aggravation of Wickedness and Sinfulness in them The Mercies which God bestows upon the Publique and so upon themselves in commonwith others and the mercies which God bestows upon them in private for their own particulars each of these are misimprov'd by them as it is said concerning the Israelites Jeshuron waxed fat and kicked and when God fed them with Quayles and Manna gave them drink and water out of the Rock delivered them out of the hands of their Enemies by a strong hand and a stretched out arm yet they forgot the works of the Lord and all the wonders that he had wrought for them which he took as a contemning of himself Thus Esay 5.12 The Harp and Viol the Tabret and the Pipe and the Wine are in their Feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord nor the Opperation of his hands Whether in Judgments or if we will also in Mercy the great things which his hands have wrought for them And so Psal 28.5 There is the like expression Because they regarded not the works of the Lord nor the Opperation of their hands he shall destroy them and not build them up Again as in the Providences of Mercy so likewise in the Providences of Judgment wicked men they contemn God here also in that while his hand is lifted up they will not see neither any thing better'd or reformed by it as it is said of them in Esay 9.13 This People turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts And the Prophet Jeremiah to the like purpose Jer. 5.3 Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have not received Correction they have made their faces harder then a Rock they have refused to return When people shall come to this pass as to be inncorrigible under Gods Afflicting hand and Chastising of them it is a Contemning of him in a way of his Judgments which is the case of many Persons When Gods Judgments are either threatned but not Executed or Executed but with some Intermission or Mitigation of them this makes some kind of Natures to slight him and despise him in them Thus we know it was with Pharoah He that first asked who is the Lord when he sent a Messuage to him to let go his People and so contemn'd him as concerning his Commands when afterwards he was followed with Gods plagues and had any respite of them he still persisted and contemn'd him in his Judgments And that is the Second Explication of this Observation The Third and last is in his Servants and those which belong unto him We know how in the affairs of the world Contempt it does oftentimes proceed and Express it self in this not onely as to mens person but as to their Relations Thus are Parents contemned in their Children Masters in their Servants Princes in their Ambassadors and the like And thus is God also contemned in those that have Relations to him He that despiseth the poor says Solomon he reproaches his maker Those that contemn the poor members of Christ they contemn Christ himself and so he will account them to have done at the last day when he shall come to Judgment as much as they have done it to any of his little ones he will reckon it as done unto himself as he there professes in Matth. 25.45 Men may think when they slight and wrong and oppress any of the poor members of Christ that this Injury and contempt reaches no further then a Company of poor and Helpless men Oh but there is somewhat more in it if it be duly considered it reaches even God Himself who is despised in their Despisings and accordingly will take it to Himself at another day As in all their Afflictions he is Afflicted and Sympathised with them in their Sufferings so in all their Contemnings he is Contemned and Sympathised with them in their Despisings Those that Despise the members of Christ they Despise Christ Himself And so as for the Members of Christ so likewise for the Ministers of Christ which is another consideration of his servants It holds here also when these come to us in the Name of Christ and by authority from him and we shall contemn them in the discharge of their office it reaches to Christ He that despises you sayes he despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10.16 And 1 Thes 4.8 He therefore that despiseth not man but God who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit What are we sayes Moses to the Isaelites that ye murmur against us your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord Exod. 16.8 And again the Lord to Samuel when they rejected him for ruling over them They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that is not onely thee but me and me in thee 1 Sam. 8.7 Thus we see in all these particulars and according to these various explications how wicked men do contemn God as a thing which is manifest by experience In his Ordinances in his Providences and in his Servants Now it would he further inquired whence this does proceed in them Because it seems some what strange that indeed it should be so what may we then conceive to be the Ground or occasion of it Surely there is a twofold Ground which may be assign'd of it as is usually observable in other Contumelies in the world The one as proceeding from Pride and the other from Ignorance These two taken together are the grounds and occasions of this contempt First It proceeds from Pride This hath a common and usual influence upon Contempt Those that do too much pride and over-value themselves they are apt to contemn others and sometimes better then themselves and so it is here The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts in the fourth verse of this Psalm Through the pride of his countenance that is indeed through the pride of his heart which doth usually express and manifest it self in the Countenance This is that which makes him not to seek after God but to neglect him because he thinks with himself that he can do well enough without him Self-sufficiency it disposes men to pride and so consequently to contemptuousness Those that apprehend themselves independent are scornfull and whiles they think they can subsist of themselves they subject to despise others yea sometimes even God himself
a satisfaction to Gods servants that their afflictions are not meerly casual and contingent and accidental but disposed to them by the hand of God And so now I have done with the first General part of the Text which is Gods Judgements in the Preparation or Disposition of them In the hand of the Lord there is a Cup and the wine is red It is full of mixture The second is the Execution And he poured out of the same This is still added for further terror and amazement for hitherto all had been well and there was not so much matter in it to affright A Cup of red wine and full of mixture and in the hand of God there 's no great hurt in that It may be in his Hand and no body the worse for it if it be no more at least as careless and Atheistical persons are apt to apprehend it Yea but now when this Cup is poured forth this makes it a little more awfull which we are therefore here to take notice of Here 's Judgment not onely in the Preparation or Threatnings of it but as well as in the Practise and Execution that we may be the more affected with it We may from hence observe thus much That God will not be alwayes in the forewarnings of Judgement He will be at last in the Dispensations of it He will not be alwayes tempering it he will be at last pouring out of it This is that which is here intimated to us out of these words where for the better opening and illustrating of it unto us there are three particulars which are here considerable of us as to this carriage and dispensation of God in regard of his Judgements First The Time of its Secondly The Measure of it And Thirdly The Subjects or the Persons upon whom it lights The Time of it That 's exprest in the present The Measure of it that 's in abundance He poures it forth The Subjects of it or the Persons whom it lights on there are not exprest but left indefinite to signifie the impartiallity of Gods Judgements First For the Time of it It is the Present exprest by that He does it now Though in the Hebrew it seems as well as to be the future or if we will also the time past in regard of the conjunction of it Va-jagger Effluere fecit Indeed we may take it Indefinitely as referring to all times whatsoever and that upon a twofold ground especially First In regard of the occasion He is alwayes provoked unto it And Secondly in regard of the Disposition and Inclination which is in Himself He is alwayes ready to do it if he be greatly and very much provoked First In regard of the Occasion God my be said alwayes to be pouring forth of his Judgements because he is alwayes provoked to doe so He has continual sollicitations of him to be executing his Punishments God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day Psal 7.11 There 's no day which goes over mens heads but they do more or less provoke God to pour forth out of this Cup of red wine what is here mentioned in the text and that is full of mixture which may serve as one ground and reason for this indefiniteness of expression Secondly It is said he pours forth at all times in regard of his own disposition and readiness hereunto he is fitted and prepared to do so And this is added that so we may be in a daily and constant Exprobation and looking for it As that which we know not when it will be we should think it may be now at the present before another time Answerable is the expression in the text so layd as if it were instant and now at hand He has done it and he does it and he will do it still for time to come without any restraint It is an unlimited expression But though it be unlimited in the Text yet there is a limiting and determinating of it and there are some times more especially above others wherein it is actually made good and accomplisht that God does indeed pour forth out of this Cup of wrath and indignation and proceedeth to the execution of his Judgements upon the Inhabitants of the earth He poureth forth of the same unto them If it be askt when that time is I Answ when sin is come to some maturity and ripeness when there 's an height and extremity in sinning then does God pour forth His Judgement upon the committers of it The Lord is full of patience and long-suffering and bears much with the sons of men for a long while together but when his patience and long-suffering is once abused he then comes on to punishment and execution And this I say it is when sin is come to its ripeness and maturity and is at its full growth There are three aggravations of sin which do put God upon the execution of Judgement and this pouring forth of wrath The First is Boldness and Insolency in sinning when men come to be past shame Sin it is a little modest at first and does not venture to such high exorbitancies as afterwards it does proceed unto Those which have long given themselves to it they come in time to be hardned by it and from thence not to be ashamed of it such as these the Prophet Jeremy speaks of Jer. 8.12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination Nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush therefore shall they fall among them that fall in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down saith the Lord. Yea there are others which are so far from being ashamed that they even boast and brag of their evil doings They glory in their shame as the Apostle speaks they are of a brazen and impudent and whorish forhead as the Scripture sometimes expresses it here t is time now for God to execute his Judgments The Second is Generality in Sinning when it comes to taint and overspread an whole Nation the more common that Sin is the more provoking where there are but two or three guilty of it though God approves it not nor allows it not in them yet he is perswaded sometimes to hold his hand but when it is General then he cannot forbear or hold any longer As it was once with the old World when all Flesh had corrupted it self then came the deluge of waters And in Sodom when there were not Ten Righteous in it it was then destroyed with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven There are some which make this a plea for their wicked and sinful Courses that herein they do no more then others nay therefore is the danger the greater and they are a great deal so much the neater to Destruction Thirdly Security and Presumption that 's another hastener of Judgment and the Executions of it When men sin and flatter themselves in it as thinking all shall be well with them notwithstanding this provokes God to convince
and favour towards them and comfortable presence with them then they have done in their saddest Conditions and when it has been worst with them in regard of the World then has he most tender'd and regarded them and come into them And Supt with them and they with him as we meet with that Expression there in that place in Rev. 3.20 And that 's the Third Explication the Loving-kindness of God is most Excellent in regard of its Efficacy Fourthly It is Excellent also for its Freeness and Impartiality It s Loving-kindness originated in Himself and not in any merit or desert of the Persons whom it is fastened upon men in the placing of their Affections they have somewhat for the most part in the object which is attractive and persuasive hereunto but in God it is not so Those whom he loves he loves freely out of his own propensity and gracious Inclination independently upon the persons themselves and what an excellent thing is this And then which is Pertinent hereunto his Impartiality also in this Business that he is no respecter of Persons as the Scripture proclames it of him Gods favour is not carried towards any for any worldly Eminencies in them Either of Birth or Estate or Pars or any such Induements from whence he does respect one man above another or disrespect those which are difficient in either of these particulars as it is commonly amongst men No but those which have true Grace in their Hearts and hath his Image instampt upon them they are acceptable and well-pleasing to Hin in the meanest Condition that may be which makes his favour to be so much the more Excellent Lastly to add no more at this time it is Excellent also for its Continuance and Duration It s such as cast's and abides There 's a Constancy and Perpetuity in it whom he loves he loves to the End The favour of men it is oftentimes very uncertain according to the Subject of it which is mutable and exposed to Change but the favour of God is otherwise It is such as does not cease to those which are once partakers of it as we have still signified to us in Scripture Thus we find it said expresly of Solomon Psal 89.33 If his Children forsake my Law I will Visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquities with stripes Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail God may sometimes correct his Children but he does not in the mean time forsake them He may hide his face from them but he does not remit of his favour towards them he may withdraw his Countenance but he will not take away his loving-kindness this is still one and the same Therefore his Loving-kindness is called Everlasting Loving-kindness Esay 54.8 With Everlasting-kindness will I gather thee And it is set forth by such like sutable Expressions from the waters of Noah Thus we see in all these particulars how excellent the Loving-kindness of God is said to be Now the Improvement of all this to our selves may be to this purpose First We see from hence what great cause we have to pursue it and to seek after it Seeing it is every way so Excellent it is not then good for us to want it or to be destitute of it we see how ambitious many are sometimes of the favour of Men Especially which are great in the World and how much they will adventure for it and what a shame is it then for them to neglect the favour of God which has so much Eminency and Transcendency in it This was that which our Saviour laid sometimes to the charge of the Jewes That they Received Honour one of another and sought not the Honour that cometh from God onely John 5.44 And again John 12.43 That they loved the Praise of Men more then the Praise of God This is that which too many still do to this present day which is very unsutable and Disconsonant to the present Truth which we have now in hand If Gods Loving-kindness be so excellent why then certainly it is worth the regarding and looking after we should give no rest to our Eyes nor sleep to our Eye-lids till we have in some manner assured and made this Condition good to our selves that it is so with us for our particulars as to be Subjects hereof And further Secondly Let us take heed of forfeiting it or doing any thing which may hazard it to us let us take heed of doing any thing whereby we may incur Gods displeasure or provoke him if not to take away his favour absolutely in it self yet any expression or sense of it in our selves By how much more excellent it is in its own Nature by so much more chary and tender should we be of it to take heed of the doing of such things as may any way rob or deprive us of it But by all means keep up in our selves a perfect feeling and apprehension of it This we should do Especially upon a two-fold Consideration First In order to Comfort And Secondly In order to Duty That we may be more chearful and also more Servicable in our present Pilgrimage First In order to comfort to make us more cheerful there 's nothing more becomes Christians then a chearfullness and pleasantness of conversation as much as may be for their own greater contentment and the honour also of Religion it self Now this can be no further expected from them then as they walk in the light of Gods Countenance and the expression of this excellent loving-kindness the want of this puts men into darkness and sadness and blackness of spirit it self and fills them with horror and confusion Secondly This is also further requisite in order to Duty to make us so much the more serviceable The Apprehension of Gods favour and loving-kindness is a great quickning to us in His work to make us to undertake it and to dispatch it with the more alacrity and intention of mind then otherwise we should when a servant is perswaded of his Masters favour it does much hearten him and incourage him in his work The Joy of the Lord is here our Strength which puts nimbleness and activity into us in all our performances Now If we would further know how this might be done by us how we might keep and preserve our selves still in such a Condition I answer by walking warily and fruitfully in our whole course that 's the best and readiest way hereunto warily in regard of Miscarriages take heed of doing any thing amiss and Fruitfully in regard of Performances Take heed of omitting any thing which should be done these two are especially necessary for the keeping up of Gods favour towards us in the Vigor of it First I say we must walk warily in regard of Miscarriages we must be suspicious and Jealous over our selves that God himself may not be jealous towards us they that make no bones of any Sin or the tendencies
arising from it to them much more then is it so to true Christians in the exercise of the Graces of the Spirit These must have needs a great deal of comfort and so indeed they have which makes their lives full of sweetness in the midst of many outward crosses and difficulties which they here meet withal To instance in some few particulars for the clearing of the Point unto you In Faith The Exercise of that Grace what a great deal of sweetness is there in this whereby a Christian has somewhat to stay and support and hold up himself in the greatest discouragements When all the world is disquieted and knows not which way to turn it self then does a Believer quiet himself in God and his interest in Him He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord like a man who is on the top of a Rock that the waves are not able to reach him even so is it with a Christian who is led to the Rock that is higher then himself In the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him Psal 32.6 Yea though he be in the midst of the waters yet he makes a shift to hold up his head As we see it was with David himself in that great affliction at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 He comforted himself in the Lord. He had experience of this himself and accordingly he commends it to others to delight in that Psal 17.4 And so the Prophet Isaiah shews us a view of comfort from hence in the saddest conditions Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God This for the exercise of Faith And so again for the Exercise of Patience which is a principal sprig of faith How much sweetness is there also in this An impatient Person is a burden to himself and the more he struggles with any evil the more he intangles himself with it and findes a greater bitterness in it whereas by a quiet submission to it and patience under the hand of God it becomes so much themore easier Levius sit patientia quicquid corrigere est nefas And so for meekness and love and peace how much sweetness in that A quarrelsom person is a burden as it were to himself he has no quietness in his own breast but is like the raging Sea which casts up mire and dirt but where there 's Love and Unity and Agreement there 's a sweet calmness and tranquillity of mind So for Repentance and Godly sorrow there is a joy which is mingled with it and which flowes from it The more we mourn for sin the more true comfort in our own heart The jolliness of sinners it has sometimes a bitterness with it but the quiet of penitent persons is not without some mixture of a great deal of comfort attending upon it Last of all To add no more in this kind The practise of Mortification in the subduing and restraining of lusts it has a great deal of delightfulness in it also The Delight of sin is nothing to the delight of holy restraint when a man has grappled with any strong Temptation resisted any violent lust denyed himself in a sinful allurement what a contentment does from hence now come in and flow into the heart which another is unsensible off This is the misery of any sin yielded to or any temptation closed withal that besides the guilt which it brings upon the conscience it leaves an unfavoriness upon the spirit it does not onely smart but foul which is very displeasing but now on the otherside the resistance of it is not onely peaceable but pleasant It is a great comfort to him that does it And that 's the second Explication There 's a sweetness in the exercise of Grace in all the several kinds of it Thirdly There 's a great pleasingness likewise in all the Duties and Exercises of Religion whatsoever they be As for instance First in Prayer and a daily and continued ejaculation and communion with God in this performance What a great deal of Solace does a gracious heart find to it self here when upon all occasions it can unbosom it self to God and draw near to him for any thing which it wants and stands in needs of lay open all its complaints and express its desires and send up all its groans It is impossible to express the contentment which the soul findes in such a performance The crying Abba Father and the sweet returns of Gods Spirit upon the heart back again how do they ravish it and lift it up to heaven We know what is recorded of Hannah 1 Sam. 1.18 That when she had prayed she was no more sad but was satisfied and well-contented with her condition David had great peace and comfort in this performance when nothing else could quiet him besides And so Job My friends sayes he spake freely against me but my soul powred forth complaints unto God Prayer is a very comfortable Duty not onely in regard of the effects and consequents and benefits which come by it but also from the very thing it self Not onely in that it is a means to obtain great things from him but likewise that it is a work wherein we injoy communion with him wherein there 's intercourse betwixt God and us As it is betwixt friend and friend the very discourse which they have one with another is pleasing and delightful though the things which they discourse about may be but ordinary affairs Even so betwixt a Christian and God Though the things which sometimes he asks at Gods hands be but common matters as pertaining to the things of this life yet the fellowship and holy Society which the heart hath with God in the Duty is reward enough to him that is exercised and imployed in it Prayer it is a kind of Ascension of the mind to God as it uses commonly to be describ'd and in that regard very delightfull That 's the first Duty the Duty of Prayer Secondly The Reading of the Scriptures There 's a great deal of sweetness likewise in that David speaking of the word of God sayes 't is to him as his appointed food that he rejoyces in it more then in great Riches That Gods Testimonies are his delight and his Counfellors and that the word of God is sweeter to him then the honey or the honey-comb and such like expressions as these We shall read in the Chronicles of the Martyrs what contentment some of them took in Pauls Epistles and if they could get but a leaf or two of the Bible they made account of it as a very great Treasure The sweetness of Prayer is that therein we speak to God and the sweetness of Reading is that therein we have God speaking to us and revealing his mind unto us we have here a satisfaction of us in a double
advantage of them so that where they will be troubled they shall be And where he at any time discerns any proneness or inclination in them to it he is ready as much as may be to promote it and set it on further that they may be troubled more He loves to fish in troubled waters and to add sorrow to sorrow for the greater perplexity of Gods People Hence he raises a great many fears and jealousies and suspitions in them whereby the more to afflict them Thirdly From the weakness of Grace Therefore it is that Gods Children are apt and subject now and then to be inordinately troubled in themselves because Grace is but weak in them We see how it is in the Body that those who are but of weak constitutions as Children and such as they a little matter troubles them and proves offensive unto them And so it is likewise in the Soul and Spirit and inward man Where Christians are but weak they will be disquieted and easily upon every turn put out of frame Thus it was now at this present with the Disciples of Christ They were as yet but weak Christians in regard whereof he tells them elsewhere that he forbore to speak of some things unto them This is the case also with many others They are but Children and Babes in Christ and therefore apt to be troubled Nay even those who have Grace in the greatest measure if we take it comparatively yet their Grace is but weak and slender in them here in this life as a ground of this perplexity in them Their Faith and their Love and their Heavenly-mindedness and their Zeal and their Patience all in a manner but weak and therefore are their Hearts full of fears and perplexities and disquietings in themselves as a consequent of it The use which we are to make of it is accordingly to take notice of it both in our selves and others that so we may be both humbled for it and prepared against it For it is that which the best that are they are prone to if they do not the better look to themselves It is that which we have dayly and continual experience of every moment How soon we are dejected and cast down and out of heart in our selves upon any occasion such a tenderness and moleities and softness and delicateness there is upon us as that the least thing that is it troubles us and fils us with disquietness And that 's the first thing here observable from these words viz. A Christians Disposition He is apt and subject to be troubled as appears from this Caution or Prohibition of Christ to his Disciples The Second is his Duty and that is not to be troubled or afraid Christians they should by all means shun and take heed of this trouble in themselves Let not your Heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Not troubled for the evil which is present and already upon you not afraid for the evil which is expected or looked for for time to come Here 's a Caveat both against Grief and against Fear Each of which are such Passions as in the miscarriage and exorbitancy of them have much evil and sinfulness in them We 'l joyn them both together in the handling of them as coming both to one and the same effect Where that we may rightly understand the Point we may not conceive as if our Saviour did here plead for a Stoical apathy or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a senselessness and stupidity of Disposition from whence men are altogether mindless and regardless of the condition in which they are This is so far from the mind of Christ as that he does rather exceedingly abhor it and abominate it in those it is in We see how even He himself sometimes was troubled as he consesses and acknowledges it of Himself And he did so far forth express his participation of our Humane Nature in Him Therefore it is not Trouble simply which he here prohibits but the inordinacy of it which therefore we should avoid For the better opening and prosecuting of this Point which we have now before us there are two things which we shall do with Gods assistance First shew how far we may or ought to be troubled Secondly shew how far we may not or ought not to be troubled for there is somewhat considerable as to both First then how far we may and ought There are two things which are the proper objects of Trouble which it is exercised and conversant about Sin and Misery And accordingly it is not unlawful but very requisite and warrantable for a Christian in a due manner and measure to be troubled for either of these as he hath occasion for it First A Christian may be very well troubled in point of sin yea and ought so to be That which troubles all the World as to the ground and matter of trouble as sins does it ought not to be slighted by a Christian but he is much to be affected with it Whether in himself or in other men as he does discern and observe it to be in them For himself first That which He is guilty of for his own particular it ought to go very near unto him It is that which the Servants of God in Scripture have been very much troubled for when they have considered it and reflected upon it as we may see in divers instances and examples David Psal 38.3 4 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin for mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Peter Math. 27.75 When he had deny'd his Master and remembred the words of Jesus unto him He went out and wept bitterly Paul Rom. 7.24 Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Thus have the Servants of God been much troubled when they have thought of their sin First As a dishonour in reference to God and a grief unto him whose Glory is or should be very dear unto them Through breaking of the Law thou dishonourest God Rom. 2.23 And by this deed thou hast made the Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme 2 Sam. 12.14 This it should go very near to a Christian Heart If I be a father where is mine honour Can we call our selves the Children of God and have no sense of the honour of God surely this is very unsuitable No it becomes us to be much troubled for sin so far forth as it is a dishonour to God as his Name is occasionally reproach'd and blasphemed by it And then not only as a dishonour to him but likewise as a grieving of him for so it is Isa 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his holy spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed c. Eph. 4.30 Shall sin grieve God and shall it not grieve us
to travel with them again Alas what a pitiful thing is it to be the means of bringing those into the world which shall be enemies to Christ and to suffer the pains of travel that others may suffer the pains of hell This Parents cannot otherwise prevent than by prayers and good example and education and this they should do and say in the words of the Apostle here in my Text with which I will conclude My little children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you SERMON XL. Gal. 5.16 This I say then Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh There 's nothing which is more ominous or pernicious to the Church of Christ than the divisions and contentions of those which are the members of it one with another being such as do threaten the ruâ—n and consumption and destruction of the whole and there 's nothing which does more lay the way and give ground and occasion hereunto than a diversity and contrariety of Doctrine and opinion in matters of Faith This is that which the Apostle Paul does in a more especial manner take notice of in the course of this present Chapter more particularly in the Church of Galatia to which he here writes who were now at this time more especially apostatized or declined in a very great measure from their former profession and were over-grown with very strange errors which did breed strange affections amongst them Now the Apostle here does three things in reference to this present evil First He shews the nature of it Secondly He shews the danger of it Thirdly He prescribes the remedy He shews the nature of it in the 13th verse that it is namely a carnal humour and such as proceeded from the unregenerate and unsanctified pant in them therefore he bids them not to use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh He shews the danger of it in the 15th verse that it is namely a mortal disease and such as carries no other than death and desolation in the bosom of it But if ye bite and evour one another take heed ye be not consumed one of another He prescribes the remedy in this particular verse which we have now in hand the 16th verse of this Chapter whereby because that contraries are best cured by contraries he does therefore endeavour to remove carnal distempers by the provoking of spiritual performances This then I say walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh IN these present words before us we have two General Parts especially observable of us First A Preface or Introduction Secondly The Doctrine or Matter which is delivered thereupon The Preface that we have in those words This I say then The Doctrine or Matter delivered in these Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh We will a little invert the order and begin first of all with the particular Doctrine or Matter it self which we have laid down in the latter part of the verse Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill c. And here again there are two Branches more which offer themselves to us First A Precept or positive Injunction Walk in the spirit Secondly A Promise or according as some read the words a Prohibition And ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh We begin in order with the first viz. the Precept Walk in the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein there are two terms to be explain'd and stood upon by us First The spirit to consider what is meant by that And secondly Walking in the spirit what is the sensen and meaning of that and what we are taught and instructed from it For the first By the spirit we are here in one word to understand the spirit of God the Holy spirit And that either first of all in his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us or else secondly in his motions and suggestions as objected and propounded to us either of these do imply the spirit First In his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us Walk in the spirit i.e. walk after a spiritual manner And this again is done two manner of ways First When we are frequent and conversant in spiritual duties when we are much in the Exercises of Religion which are the currents and conveyances of the Spirit then we may be said in one sense to walk in the spirit which is here required of us Those which profess themselves Christians they must be much in the Duties of Christianity as Praying Reading Hearing Communion of Saints c. These are such things as they must apply themselves to with a great deal of diligence and endeavour It is true there are other things also to be done in reference to humane life and conversation here in the world as the works of our ordinary callings and imployments which belong unto us these they are not to be neglected but we must be also mindful of other and apply our selves to the performance of them even the exercises of Piety and Religion And that especially upon this consideration as being such actions wherein we have special communion with the Spirit of God and wherein he takes occasion to communicate himself unto us These they are the pleasant walks of the Spirit as I may so call them the green pastures in which he makes us to lye down and the still waters besides which he leads us for the restoring of our souls as the Prophet David there expresses it in Psal 23.23 The Galleries wherein Christ is held Cant. 7.5 and a great deal of good to be gotten by them Those which talk of the Spirit and in the mean time cry down the Word whether in the reading or preaching of it which vilifie Ordinances and Religious duties and such performances as these are they speak those things which are inconsistent and which will never hold together For these they are Pabulum animae they are the food and nourishment of the soul which it lives upon and the sweet and happy channels wherein the Spirit of God does glid into us Secondly When we are daily and continually in a spiritual frame and temper of heart This in another sense is to walk in the spirit and seems also to be laid upon us in this present Expression in the Text. We may not judg of our walking in the spirit always or only by the matter and substance of the actions themselves wherein we are imployed but rather according to our carriage and behaviour in them A man may walk in the flesh even then when he is religiously exercised as for the nature of the performance it self And again A man may walk in the spirit even then when he is about business but of common and ordinary consideration The want of right distinguishing here hath been that which hath given occasion to such mistakes especially amongst the Papists and those of that way for
most eager and longing and earnest to be partakers of it And he does not the former for the most part without the latter He does not supply their wants but so as withal he satisfies their desires and relieves the sense of want in God So the Scripture still sets it Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden c. says Christ Mat. 11.28 He fills the hungry c. Now this it may be resolved into two things further by way of Explication First Into a sense of our own misery and wretched condition which we are in by nature And secondly Into an apprehension of the necessity which we have of Christ and consequently a desire after him These two Dispositions of Soul do express to us this spiritual thirst which is here laid before us First A sense of misery thirst it has painfulness in it and grief attendant upon it and so it is with all those who are athirst spiritually they are afflicted with the present state and condition in which they are and mourn under it thus it has been with all those who have been converted and brought home to Christ they have first seen themselves undone without him and have bewailed themselves in their present circumstances Paul and the Jailor and St. Peters Auditors they have been all thus far athirst as their natural estate and condition hath been grievous and irksome unto them and they have complain'd of the wretchedness of it as they still have done and so it is with all others whom Christ does here invite to himself that they would come unto him they have a sense of their misery Secondly An apprehension of the Excellency which is in Christ and a desire after him this is also in this thirst it is in the spiritual thirst as it is also in the natural In natural thirst as there 's the tediousness of drought so there is likewise the longing for water for the quenching and abating of it and so it is here in this spiritual there 's a groaning under the burden of sin and there 's a panting after the Grace of Christ and such as have both of these properties and qualifications in them they are more especially here called upon by him to come unto him Let him that is athirst come And there 's a twofold account which may be given hereof unto us The one is as it is that which is the greatest favour to them and the other is as it is that which is the greatest honour to him First For Christ to invite especially the thirsty it is the greatest favour to the persons themselves which are invited by him as those who do from hence receive the greatest benefit from him where there 's the greatest want and sense of it there 's the greatest courtesie in supplying it And so it is here The whole needs not the Physician but the sick And the full stomach it loaths the honey-comb it self And those that are at the well-head they despise the waters which are brought home but to the hungry and thirsty soul such supplies are exceeding sweet Those that are scorched with the fiery beams of the wrath of God against sin and have the flames as it were of hell in their consciences for these to have the water of life as it follows afterwards offered unto them it must needs be a great mercy indeed and so it will be apprehended by all those that shall attend unto it And God delights still so to order his favours as may be with the greatest advantage to those persons upon whom he confers them And this I say in this business it is the greatest mercy to them Secondly It is the greatest honour to himself he gains the greater glory and renown by it and receives the greater thanks and acknowledgment for it We know how it was with Paul a man that thirsted after the Grace of Christ how he blesses and praises Christ for it O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of dath I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord c. Rom. 7.24 25. namely for his delivering of me out of this condition And 1 Tim. 1.12 c. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me c. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious c. And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant c. Now as God delights so to order his favours as may be most for our content and encouragement so he desires likewise so to order them as may be most for his own honour and glory Therefore let us call our selves to an account in this particular and see how it is with us whether or no we have this spiritual thirst in us which is here commended unto us as being that alone which does dispose us and fit us for coming to Christ so as to be accepted of him There 's a great deal of excellency in such a temper as this is to be taken notice of by us First It is a very good argument of Grace already in some manner begun and wrought in us As we use to observe it in corporals where the Patient grows thirsty it is a sign that the Physick hath wrought kindly and that the body is now perfectly purged Even so is it here in Spirituals when a Christian thirsts after Christ it is a sign that those afflictions and troubles of spirit which God has been pleased to exercise him withal as spiritual Physick they have had an effectual operation upon him and have purged corruptions out of him The earnest desire of more Grace is a sign of Grace already obtained and it is a very good advantage to have such a comfortable evidence in our selves That 's one consideration Secondly It makes us capable so much the rather of receiving more this is the proper notion of the Text Let him that is athirst come as who shall be sure not to be sent away dry God will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground Isa 44.3 Such souls as these they do so much the more easily draw and suck in the Grace of God into them and God himself as I said does delight the rather to bestow it upon them Thirdly It makes Grace it self so much the sweeter and better rellishing in the enjoyment as want provokes appetite so appetite increases delight those things which are most remote are most desired and those things which are most desired are most comfortably enjoyed and so it is amongst the rest with Grace an the appurtenances of it Thus how much the more we desire it so much the more we rellish it The consideration of these things should put us so much the rather upon endeavour after this which we now speak of we should not content our selves with an indifferency of spirit in this particular as many do who have now and then some faint kind of wishes and imperfect inclinations towards Grace but no serious and hearty desires
or longings after it such as these they do shew themselves to be very far from spiritual thirst which is here offered unto us Thirst it is a desire with some earnestness and vehemency and unsatiableness which is in it as David Oh that one would give me of the water of Bethlehem to drink when he longed for it And Sampson though otherwise a strong man he was ready to die and perish for thirst even so is there likewise the same proportionable impetuousness in Grace as that nothing will satisfie it but a greater measure and degree of it self and of Christ himself who is the giver of it As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God Psal 42.1 2. And so Psal 63.1 My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is Where thirsting is explain'd by longing as pertinent to it And so I have done also with the second General part of the Text which is the Invitation of access or seasonable Application in these words And let him that is athirst come The third and last is the Intimation of acceptance or grateful entertainment in those And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Wherein again we have three Branches more First The benefit mentioned and that is the water of life Secondly The persons to whom this benefit is offered and that is whosoever will Thirdly The offer it self let him take of it freely For the first The benefit here mentioned it is the water of life whereby we are in a word to understand the Grace of Christ according to the full latitude and extent of it whether the Grace of Justification in the pardon and forgiveness of sin or the Grace of Sanctification in the purging and washing away of sin or the Grace of Assurance in the comfort and peace of conscience either of these are implied in this expression which we have here before us and indeed all together This water of life it is the Grace of Christ with all the appurtenances that belong unto it and means that make way for it and effects which are consequent of it It is Grace and Glory both Grace as it tends to Glory and Glory as it follows upon Grace The gift of God is eternal life both in the end and in the means and this is the water of life which is here offered and propounded unto us for our receiving of it Thus it is if we take it generally and at large But if we take it more particularly and as limited and restrained so the Scripture it self is herein its own best interpreter as we have it plainly declared unto us in Joh. 7.38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water This says St. John he spake of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified So then according to this reckoning the water of life should be nothing else but the Spirit of God in the Gifts and Graces of it which indeed not excluding the other is that which is here chiefly and principally to be understood by us That reconciliation which is purchased by Christ but received and applied by Faith which is a fruit and work of the Spirit and Holy Ghost in us as all other Graces are besides and so fitly and properly exprest by living water There are two words in this Metaphor to be observed and taken notice of by us the Principal and the Accessary the Principal that is water the accessary that is the water of life and the Grace of Christ it holds its resemblance and correspondency to both First It has a resemblance to water and accordingly is compared hereunto both in this Text and other places of Scripture in regard of that Analogy and proportion which it bears thereunto in sundry particulars Look what water is as to the necessities and supplies of our humane and natural life the same is the Grace of Christ as to our Divine and Spiritual We may take it in these following instances as a taste of the rest First For purifying and cleansing Water it is eminent for that and so is the Grace of Christ for the taking away of the several spots and defilements and pollutions of sin Thus Eph. 5.25 26. it is said of Christ that he gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word So Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water The Grace of Christ is a spiritual Bath wherein the whole man of a Christian both outward and inward is purified and cleansed Secondly For cooling and refrigeration and quenching of thirst it is compared to water for that likewise This Grace of Christ as abating the heat of lust and allaying the terrors of conscience and extinguishing of the fiery darts of the devil as the Apostle calls them Thirdly For increase and fructification Water it makes plants to grow and flourish and sprout up and so does the Grace of God such persons as are endued with it They shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth their roots as Lebanon their branches shall spread and their beauty shall be as the Olive-tree and their smell as Lebanon as it s in Hos 14.5 Fourthly and lastly Grace is compared to water in its manner of operation as namely that it so runs as that it is always joyn'd unto its Principle Sic fluit ut semper sit conjunct a suo principio It is an Observation upon it out of Austin and so Grace in a Christian it so flows as that it always knits and conjoyns him to Christ Of his fulness we all receive and grace for grace as the Evangelist has it John 1.16 And then the ascent of it is answerable to the descent of it even so is it likewise with Grace which as it first of all comes from God so it carries us up again to him That 's the first part of this resemblance as Grace is compared to water for the Principal The second is as it is compared to the water of life for the accessary and the advancement of it Thus it is frequently call'd in Scripture living water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This it is by way of Eminency as that which does tend to life in the scope and drift of it as also does end in life as the effect and that which follows upon it Indeed every thing which belongs to salvation it is usually in Scripture exprest and fet forth by life The word of life and the bread of life and the crown of life c. And so here now the
alledged Isa 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come unto the waters well and what then come buy and eat There must be buying and eating join'd to community So Cant. 5.1 Eat O Friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved c. So again in Isa 12.3 With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation To come to the Wells of Salvation and not to draw water out of them there where we do come it is in so doing to mock God and also our selves and a very unworthy carriage in us Thirdly Here 's the bounty of the Giver which is also in this expression Let him take as it is a word of latitude and comprehension This taking it does take in with it all things which are pertinent hereunto even tasting and drinking and carrying home and bearing away with him let him take it and make as much as he can of it It is not only let him take of it but let him take it all and never spare let him take it and enjoy it and possess it and appropriate it as his own Here 's all the heartening and encouragement that may be of such persons as are willing to come to Christ But here now it may be seasonably demanded what this taking indeed is and what is meant and intended by it now this is nothing else but that which in other places is call'd believing He that believes on me says Christ out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water Joh. 7.38 To believe in Christ is to take him and that Salvation which is tender'd in him and all the benefits and comforts that come by him As many as received him to them he gave power or priviledg to be the sons of God even to them that believed on his name 1 Joh. 1.12 When we are perswaded that Christ is both able and willing to save us in our understandings and are likewise our selves content to submit to his terms an conditions of saving of us as to our wills then are we said indeed to believe in him and consequently to take and receive him And that 's the first thing here considerable to wit the word of conveyance let him take The second is the word of qualification freely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This exclusive of any worth or dignity or desert in our selves as may provoke God to give it unto us which in another place is said to be without money and without price Eternal life it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a free gift as the word properly signifies Rom. 6.23 And accordingly we are to look upon it and to apply our selves to the obtaining of it This must needs be so upon a twofold Consideration the one is Gods royalty and the other is our insufficiency he scorns to demand any thing for it and we are unable to give it and so it must needs be fre upon either respect First Gods royalty and munificence he is the God of Grace and so he gives freely Princes they do not use to sell their favours but to bestow them and so does God he gives to all men freely and upbraideth them not and nothing more free than Grace nay it cannot be properly Grace unless it be free Gratia non est gratia nisi sit omni modo grauita as St. Bernard hath well exprest it And St. Paul to the like effect To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of Grace but of debt Rom. 4.4 And Rom. 11.6 If by grace then no more of work otherwise grace is no more grace c. Grace and work they do herein oppose and contradict one another The merit of works is opposite to the freeness of Grace which God delights to manifest in this business Secondly There 's our insufficiency we are unable of our selves to do any thing which might deserve or be any thing meritorious of this water of life if God himself should upon these terms offer it or tender it unto us There 's nothing which can come from us as proportionable to so great a reward as that is And therefore it must needs be given us freely upon that consideration likewise This for the right understanding and apprehending of this Point now before us is not so to be taken as exclusive of all endeavour on our part and use of means for that is still required here of us This freely is not a freedom from condition but a freedom from merit If I promise to give a man an hundred pound if he will come and fetch it I promise to give it him freely though I promise to give it him conditionally because it is upon such a condition as does imply no interest at all to be paid for it or any thing done in love of it And so it is here betwixt God and us in this tender of salvation it is required that we should come unto him that we may take the water of life and yet we are said to take the water of life freely because this water of life is given us not for our coming meritoriously but upon our coming conditionally the argument that moves God to give it us is his free Grace but the condition which he requires of us in order to the receiving of it is that we should come unto him for it The proper improvement and application of this Doctrine to our selves is the scope an drift of it self and that is from hence to perswade all such persons as are in their natural condition and sensible of that miserable estate in which they are to come in and to accept of that reconciliation which is wrought by Christ and that salvation which in his name is tender'd unto them Let him that 's athirst now come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely here 's a Proclamation of general pardon to all those that are willing to imbrace it and make advantage and benefit of it And therefore let none be so wilful or desperate as to deprive themselves of that mercy which is in it Here are three words of very great Emphasis which are all join'd together so much the more to inforee the Incitation Whosoever and that Wills and Freely He that finds in him the second has no cause to call in question either the first or the third If he be willing to take this water of life he may have it whosoever he be and cost him nothing So that here now there are two great blocks and impediments taken out of the way which many are ready to object against themselves as excluding them from mercy the one is the meanness of their condition and the other is the sinfulness First There are some who are ready to object the meanness that they are so and so in regard of the world of a lower and inferiour rank in this particular either for Country or Estate or Parts or such things as these they are apt now and then to think that the Priviledges of Grace do not reach such persons as
when our selves are concerned in it this makes us to prick up our ears and to give attention to it now this is also in the Gospel it is our own interest it is that which we men are concerned in more than any other the Angels have share in it but by reflection we men in a more direct and immediate manner and we Gentiles also amongst the rest we ought to give the more heed to it for that also that it is not such a business as is limited and confined to one sort of people the people of the Jews but extended to all kind of Nations and people whatsoever which may have comfort and benefit by it Then again yet further possibly the sweetness of the observation of it there 's a great encouragement in that likewise there 's many things which are matters of profit and which a man also has good interest in them and title to them yea but they are hard to come by it is not so easie a matter to reach them and compass them and attain unto them yea but now this is here considerable in the Gospel that it carries a great deal of easiness and facility with it especially having the strength of the Spirit going along with it which does impart and communicate ability for the performance of those things which it commands and requires of us Therefore it is said 1 Joh. 5.3 His commandments are not grievous And again Mat. 11.30 My yoke is easie and my burden is light Whereas speaking of the Law he says It was such a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear and so was a discouragement to those upon whom it was imposed And that 's the third Argument included in this Connexion therefore and so much for the first branch of the Inforcement The second is from the danger of the contrary Lest at any time we should let them slip or fail that is either lose the things or lose our selves for the words may very well carry either sense and exposition in them according to the Original Text in which they run thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne quando praeter fluamus It seems to contain a double Metaphor in it First From a leaking vessel which has some hole or other made in it from whence it is uncapable of holding that liquor which is put into it so shall we be as to the points of the Gospel if we do not give better heed unto them we shall no sooner hear them than we shall let them slip from us like vessels that run A careless and negligent hearer he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a breaking and running vessel he is a bag with holes in it which lets out as fast as it receives This is that which we are to take care of that it be not so with us and so according to this sense these words Lest we should let them slip may not be so much a Motive or Argument as rather indeed a part of the Admonition and Instruction it self which he tenders unto us and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 letting slip is opposed to giving heed we ought not to do this but that to give heed to those things which we have heard and not to let them slip Where again we have two rhings considerable First The supposed danger Secondly The care which is to be used for the avoiding of it The danger supposed that 's this that we are apt and ready to do so without better heed we are ready to let these things slip the care which is to be used for the avoiding of it that is by taking good heed we are to take heed lest we let them slip First I say here 's the supposed danger we are apt to do so to let them slip when we have heard any such points as these are to let them go from us otherwise the Apostle would not have laid such a strict charge and caution upon us as considering the danger and accordingly sets and applies himself what he can to the prevention of it in us Now the danger lies in these respects First In regard of the state and condition of our own minds themselves which are for the most part but very slight and superficial retainers we have but weak and slippery memories and we have but easie and shallow understandings and we have but hollow and empty hearts for the most part in us and these do very quickly let slip Those which have no Grace at all in them they are hallow quite thorow a bottle with the stopple out of it a tub full of holes indeed those which have Grace and are born again and have oyl in their vessels these vessels of theirs are very chary and tender and weak and impersect in them insomuch as they are ever and anon ready to run out if there be not the greater care and circumspection had about them and looking unto them So then that 's one account of this danger to wit from the state and condition of our own minds themselves The second is from the cares and pleasures and profits and businesses of the world mingling themselves with us These are another occasion of this breaking or over-flowing As a vessel when it has Wine in it if ye put too much water into it it will make it run over or if ye pierce it then it will run out This is the notion and condition of these worldly matters they are great piercers which make holes in the heart and let out that precious liquor which is put into them as it is said expresly in 1 Tim. 6.10 The love of money is the root of all evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves thorow with many sorrows The love of money and of the world it is a piercer and such as will have sorrow attend it in those persons which give themselves to it When men shall come to such performances as these are which we are now about and then presently when they come home to their houses fall to their thoughts and discourses of their gain and profit and commoditie and such things as these are how can they chuse but make holes in their hearts and let slip such kind of Doctrines and Truths as are Preached unto them Thirdly Satan he stands at our elbows and gives us a jog that 's another cause of this danger whereof we now speak though a cup or vessel be sound and whole no piercing at all of it yet if it be shaken it may chance to overflow to spill and let out that which is in it and so is it here as we have it in the parable of the sower Mat. 13.19 the place before alledged speaking of a mindless hearer Then cometh the wicked one and catcheth the word out of his heart Thus much for the danger supposed we are apt and ready to let slip those things which we have heard That 's
All things disparaged in comparison of the one thing necessary 51 58 59 To chuse the one thing necessary an argument of four things 55 Natural ability See free-will and free-grace What it may what it cannot do 155 Pelaginas confuted 166 Natural condition A miserable condition 159 160 O Ordinances Touching those who are without Gospel-ordinances 9 Whence their efficacy arises 31 P Pharisee What their righteousness was 1 Touching Pharisaical righteousness See Rightousness Prodigies and signs 266 Punishments Degrees of punishments 4 Peace What peace Christs death obtains 275 What it implies 406 Patience Of God 29 Why God bears long Ibid Pride How it discovers it self 39 430 Proveing How taken 385 Prayer Satan sometimes prays 65 Comfort when we cannot pray See Comfort VVhy Christ prayed although he could do all things without it 72 Incouragement to it 446 Papist And Jew wherein a like 266 Transubstantiation 267 269 Against their Tradition 339 Perseverance True Christians shall persevere 76 87 369 See Grace Persevere in two things 103 Helps to it Ibid VVhence the opinion of falling away arises 369 Motives to it 408 Providence Our ignorance touching Providence twofold 111 The intricacies of Providence and the reason thereof 112 Not for us to foretell its future events 113 VVhat in Providence God will at last make manifest 114 The properties of Gods Providence Ibid. VVhen God will vindicate his Providence 115 Prophesie See Enthusiasts Not for its to foretell future events of Providence 174 213 Imagainary Revelations censured 337 Opposers of Christs prophetical office 436 Perswading How taken 305 Preaching How men come to count it foolishness 261 VVhat it is 261 337 VVhence its efficacy arises 261 VVhy it profits not without faith 263 Directions touching it 270 271 298 350 274 278 437 382 301 VVhat it is to preach Christ crucified 276 VVhence it becomes unprofitable 263 279 280 Parents Duty to their Children 266 R Pighteousness OF Scribeds and Pharisees what 12 Defectiveness of the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees 3 10 The Principles of Pharisaical righteousness 3 VVhy Pharisaical righteousness cannot bring to Heaven Ibid. Pharisaical righteousness in a sense worse than notorious sins 4 Civil righteousness commended 5 The righteousness exceeding that of Scribes and Pharisees Ibid. Moral righteousness not meritorious of saving-grave 11 Reproof How to be administred 41 46 The best of Christians ought to be reproved 41 Cautions to be observed in reproving a good man 42 Riches Their vanity 25 Resurrection VVhy Christ is so called 144 Religion The one thing necessary 47 Motives to diligence in it See Diligence VVhat required unto being acceptably religous 56 VVhence staggering in it arises Ibid. Religion justified 59 47 91 VVhat in it chiefly to be minded 296 Relations VVhence discord between nearest relations especially arises 53 Comfort under the loss of them 132 450 Reason The impotency of humane reason 90 91 112 173 254 255 259 269 How it discovers God 133 A check to the Contemners of it 269 Rehearsed In Scripture of the same words what it implies 341 Repentance How the goodness of God leads unto it how not 353 Reward Touching it 423 S Scribes Their office 1 Stumling-block 281 Satan Why he most tempts the godly and those especially most godly 62 Why most of all be iempts Ministers 64 His winnowings what 67 Sincerity A double effect of it 101 Sinner In what respects a fool 19 His danger and misery in this life 24 426 His ignorance 90 Incouragement ot prosligate sinners to repent 108 His impotency 163 Different sinners have their different corruptions whence it is 265 Why God bestows many good things on them and bears long with them 347 How without God in the world 426 Spirit Of God why compared to wind 85 How to get its supplies 168 What it is to walk in it See Walk How it witnesseth the Truth of Scripture 435 Scepticism The danger of it 266 Scandal VVhat it is implied 281 Lords-Supper What eating and drinking damnation signifies 282 Sin An umprofitable thing in what respects 356 Whence men come to be ashamed of it 359 Its aggravations 422 Its heinous nature discovered 442 How men sin against the blood of Christ 443 Speaking A threefold speaking 411 Security The danger of it 416 417 Salvation A Christians certainty of it 433 In what sense it 's said a Child of God cannot sin 325 T Thoughts Vanity of them 18 The evil of distraction in them 45 50 Causes of distraction in them 45 52 Remedies against their distraction 45 52 Taking freely what it imports 458 Temptations Why Satan must tempts the godly and those especially most godly 62 Why he most of all tempts Ministers 64 Support under Temptation 65 72 75 79 87 Walk against them 66 74 Why God suffers his to fall into them 73 How faith helps under them 75 Whence Christians come to recover out of them 78 The evil that comes by them 80 The good that comes by them 62 Time What knowledg of the times concerns us what not 113 130 171 What times it 's not fur us to know 169 Terrors Of the Lord what 303 Thirst spiritual what it implies 455 The excellency of spiritual thirst 456 Teason Gun-powder Treason 317 Truth How taken in Scripture 328 Toleration Against universal toleration 337 Tradition When equalized with Scripture condenned 339 V Vanity OF Thoughts See Thoughts Unity Among Christians 408 409 Bounded 409 Unbelief The hainousness of it 436 Voice of Christ in the Ministry the voice of the spirit in the conscience and the voice of the spirit in the Spouse to be heard 453 454 W Way Incourage any coming on in the Ways of God why 14 Word Ingemindation of words its end 41 60 World Take heed of worldly-mindedness See Mind Why continued 106 How taken in Scripture 152 Watch. Against temptation why 66 67 Motives to it 418 Work How Christ helps to the performance of a good work 164 Good works in what respects disparaged 156 Wisdom Humance in what respects disparaged 156 Walk To walk in the spirit what 372 373 What it implies 374 400 How walking in it secures against sin 380 Touching a Christians rule to walk by 403 404 Water of life what understood by it 456 What understood by Whosoever will let him take of the water of life Y Youth Motives to early Godliness 52 Good education a great blessing 266 Z Zeal How Christians come to decay in it 421 FINIS
lie within the compass and reach of every particular person amongst us Every Christian may thus far be a Statesman and it becomes him so to be and every private Person may in this sense much dispose of the Kingdom as to that peace which we are to procure to the Kingdom in General which as I Conceive may be brought about in a likely way by these means and ways viz. First By every ones Lamenting and Bewailing of his own private Sins and the abominations of the Land wherein he lives every Sin unrepented off is a quarrel which God has against the Kingdom and for which he threatens the Destruction of it And therefore the way to reconcilement is Mourning and Humiliation for it this is the counsell which the Lord gives by his Prophet in Zeph. 2.1.2 c. Gather your selves together yea gather your selves together O Nation not desired and before the decree bring forth before the day pass at the Chaff before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you c. This gathering of our selves here together is not so much a gathering of our Persons as it is indeed a gathering of our thoughts and recollecting of matters with our selves to consider how things are with us neither does it imply this onely but also doing it with some Affection so as to be grieved and afflicted in our selves where we are conscious that we have done any thing amiss this is one way and means to procure Atonement and Reconciliation betwixt God and the Kingdom wherein we are Secondly This is not all but further there is required Amendment and Reformation for time to come Humiliation without Reformation is of no Efficacy or avayl at all as being indeed but false and Counterfeit and such as consequently is unaccepted of God The Prophet Esay has given us an item to this purpose in Esay 32.17.81 The work of Righteousness shall be peace and the Effect of Righteousness Quietness and assurance for ever And my People shall dwell in a peaceable Habitation and in sure Dwellings and in quiet resting Places See here the work of Righteousness is peace So 2 Chro. 7.14 If my People shall humble themselves and Pray c. And turn from their Evil ways then will I be Merciful to their Iniquities and heal their Land Mark turn from their Evil ways Thirdly Intercession and Supplication and Prayer we should all here improve that interest which we have in God to this purpose That he would be pleased not onely to be reconciled to our own Persons in particular but also to the whole Land in General whereunto we belong Pray for the peace of Jerusalem as the Prophet David calls upon us to do and for the peace of it in the first place with Heaven that the Lord himself may have no Controversie against it ye which are the Lords Remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest till he has broken down the Partition-wall and reconciled himself to us Certainly this is such a Business as may well deserve our greatest Importunity and wrastling with God that may be And that 's the Second use of this point seeing when he gives Quietness c. Therefore to teach us all to be diligent in the use of all those means whereby God may be reconciled with the Land and kingdom wherein we live Thirdly This gives us an account of the present Evils and troubles which are amongst us from whence they proceed namely from hence that God himself is angry with us and hath hidden his face from us we are subject to fasten our Eyes onely upon Second and External Causes to say t is this thing and t is that thing and to think of any thing rather then of that which we should be most sensible off but this is the true ground and reason of all because the Lord himself is at variance and at difference with us as 't is exprest concerning Israel in Deut. 32.30 How should one chase a Thousand and two put ten Thousand to flight except their Rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up And so Esay 42.24.25 Who gave Jacob for a spoyl and Israel to the Robbers Did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned for they would not walk in his ways neither were they obedient unto his Law Therefore he hath powred upon them the fury of his anger and the strength of Battel and it hath set him on fire round about c. Let us therefore here be advised of the true cause of so many troubles amongst us A Disease when it is found out in the cause of it it is half cured And so here this is the way to make us look after God and to put in practise that former Duty which I urged of seeking peace with him when we shall consider that all the Evil which is upon us it does arise from his difference with us as indeed it does It 's true he makes use of Instruments but these Instruments they are carryed on by his Providence and he has the ordering and regulating of them It is because God is angry with us that he suffers so many Divisions amongst us and that he permits us to sheath our Swords in the Bowels one of another as we do now in this Land and Kingdom And therefore let us still carry it as high as this and take notice of the true ground and Original of all Fourthly It carryes a word of Comfort in respect of our present Condition and the Calamities which are now upon us as it signifies thus much unto us that they are disposed off by an higher hand then the hand of our Enemies and so consequently that it is not in their Power to continue them to us There are no doubt dayly Plots and Conspiracies by those which are ill-wishers to Sion for the Continuing and advancing those Broyles and Differences which are amongst us and for the hindering of all means which may tend to peace and accommodation of things to us but here 's now the Comfort of all that these things are not in their Power but are over-ruled by God himself When he gives Quietness who then can make Trouble If the Lord notwithstanding all this will but speak a word of Peace to his People all Counsel and desirs to the contrary shall be sure to come to nought you know how it was with our Saviour sayling in the Ship with his Disciples when there was a great Tempest arose in the Sea insomuch that the Ship which they were in was almost ready to be sunk and cast away As soon as ever he once arose and rebuked the Winds and the Sea it is said there was a great Calm Matth. 8.26 Mark there was not onely a stilling of the Tempest that the Winds and Sea and Waves were not so Violent and Boisterous as they were before but on the otherside there was a great Calm a quite opposit and contrary Condition Thus did Christ in those Tempests of Water and how
easily can he also do so likewise in these Tempests of Blood He that commanded peace in that Sea how easily can he do also in this And he who stilled those Waves how easily can he also do these and that in the greatest unlikelyhood and improbability for it This is a very comfortable consideration to be thought on and meditated by us in these our Distractions that the making or breaking of our peace and that treaty which is now on foot it is not at the will and pleasure of those which labour our Ruin but in the hands of God himself if he will have it to thrive it shall prosper and if he will not there is somewhat more in it then we are presently capable off though it should come to nothing as a Treaty yet it will come to somewhat as a Providence that we may be sure of and rest upon and that which shall make most for his Glory and his Churches good Therefore this may serve further to Confound all the Enemies of the Church in their attempts and indeavours against it they do but befool themselves and labour in Vain while they think and study to hinder God's people of that Peace and quietness which he has prepared and appointed for them We may see this for instance in the Example of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in their attempts against the Children of Israel whereunto some Interpreters have been of opinion that the words of this very Text in hand did more particularly allude I say we may see it in them how the Lord by his Sovereign sentence free'd them out of Slavery and Oppression and Bondage which they were then inthralled in notwithstanding all the Plots and indeavours of their Enemies to the Contrary And so he will also doe for others of his People upon the like occasions he will create Peace for them c. Lastly It shews us the Vanity of all Peace-makers without God if the Lord do not help thee whence should I help thee c. There is one thing more which we may here observe which I think fitting to take notice off in this order before I proceed to the second Reference and that 's this The joyning of these two together whether against a Nation or against a man onely from whence we may learn thus much That it is all one to God to punish an whole Nation as it is to punish a particular Person he can as easily do one as the other When he hides his face who can behold him It may be said of Either of them and experience shews it to be thus we see how easily God punish't an whole World when they were wicked and sinned against him he brought a deluge of waters upon them wherewith he destroyed them And so afterwards Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities thereabouts he overthrew them by Fire as he did the other before by Water And so the Cananites and Perrezites and Jubesites and those Nations which were Enemies to Israel we read how the Lord hid his face from them that is how he conquered and subdued them and made an end and Desolation of them in Nahum 1.12 Though they be Quiet and likewise many yet thus shall they be Cut down when he shall pass through And in Chap. 3. vers 8. c. Speaking to Nineveh which was a great City Art thou better then Populous No that was situate amongst the Rivers that had the Waters round about it whose Rampart was the Sea and her wall was from the Sea Aethiopia and Egypt were her strength and it was infinite Put and Lubin were thy helpers yet was she carryed away she went into Captivity c. And thus it shall also be with thee we see that multitude and populousness and number cannot exempt from the judgements of God look as paucity and fewness and smalness does not disparage in regard of deliverance where God hath at any time a minde to save He can save by few as well as by many if he please so plurality and greatness and combination does not priviledge in regard of punishment where God hath a mind to destroy Though hand joyn in hand the wicked shall not go unpunish'd He can subdue a whole Kingdom as well as a private person and a Nation as well as a man onely He makes no difference either of one or the other The Ground of this is taken First From Gods Omnipotency and the Infiniteness of his Almighty Power which has all the men and People of the World in his own hands and can do with them whatsoever he pleaseth as we have it set forth unto us excellently in Esay 40.15 Behold the Nations are as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small dust of the Ballance behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing Alas What is all the strength and Power and Multitude in the World to the power of an Omnipotent God The drop of a Bucket it is a small and poor matter and the dust of the Ballance the least breath that is Scatters and disperses it And thus now are all Nations and Kingdomes in the hands of the Lord. Secondly As God hath infiniteness of power consider'd simply in himself so he hath also variety of instruments consider'd in those which attend him and wait upon him We see how in the Camp of Sennacherib there were an hundred fourscore and five thousand which were destroyed in one night and how by the ministry of an Angel One Angel can quickly destroy thousands of men And what shall we say then when all the Angels and Creatures in the world stand ready arm'd at Gods command for the execution of his will and pleasure upon ungodly men Surely here whatever a Nation or a man onely it 's all one unto him Forasmuch as what he does not by one means he is able to do by another The use of this Point to our selves may be drawn out in a double improvement First in a way of terror and astonishment to wicked men even there where they are arm'd and kept in with never so much multitude and power yet the hand of God can reach them and pay them home Psal 33 16. There 's no king saved by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by his much strength That is he is not thus delivered out of the hand of God Amongst men it is many times otherwise The multitude of the delinquents is sometimes an hindrance and impediment to the proceeding and execution of Justice And that as we shall ordinarily observe upon these two grounds First From a wearisomness and tediousness which is in him who is to inflict punishment upon them Where there are many offenders a man is loth to stand about it to punish them and so by this means they all scape now and then in regard of their multitude or at least the whole number and generality of them may not suffer But with God it is not thus there 's is no tyring