both kinds of works shall be recompensed respectively with blessedness and with torments proportionably to the measure and degree wherein the one have been good and the other have been evil This appears from several places of Scripture as likewise from the reason it self Sect. 13 2 Cor. 9.6 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly but be that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully To restrain this to a reaping i. e. to what a man is like to receive or shall receive in this present World is contrary to several other Scriptures If saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.19 in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Therefore when the Holy Ghost promiseth that they who sow bountifully shall reap bountifully it evidently follows that this must be expounded of what they shall receive from God in the World which is to come And so in Rev. 14.13 where it is said of those that die in the Lord Blessed are the dead c. their works follow them Which shews that their works do not only stand by them or abide with them here while they are in this life but that when they shall go out of this World then blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them out of this World into that which is to come The Apostle gives this by way of Motive to press to good works that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord namely in proportion let a man do but little and he shall receive but little but let him rise as high as he will and be as fruitful as fruitfulness it self can render him he shall receive all and every particular Work and every particular Service in proportion of reward Know my Brethren there is not any of this precious Seed of glory and future blessedness lost there is not one corne or grain of this that shall rot under the clods The Heavens are the fruitfullest soil that can be sown in The Seed that you sow is the precious Seed of Righteousness and true Holiness and you cannot sow too thick of this seed For the Heavens are other manner of Fields than the Fields of this World They may indeed be sowed too thick with seed of another nature which may hinder the fructification thereof but you cannot sow the Fields of Heaven so thick but that your harvest will be answerable Mat. 25.34 c. our Saviour declares how and after what manner he will entreat those that have or shall have ministred unto him in his members Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World For I was an hungry and ye gave me meat c. Our Saviour makes this the very reason and account which he gives unto the World why the Saints were admitted into that Kingdom which was prepared for them i. e. for men and women who did act in the World after such a manner because they had done these things namely fed the hungry and cloathed c. By the way to give a little light unto that question Sect. 14 Whether Faith alone justifies or how and in what sense men are justified by works viz. by the Works of the Law Whensoever the Apostle is disputing with the Jews he treats with them according to their own sense which was that they did expect to be justified by the Works of the Law upon a riged account of their own Righteousness and that upon the merit of what they did and that it would be unrighteousness in God not to justifie them upon such terms Now the Apostle argues that by the Works of the Law in this sense no man can be justified Justification is taken two waies in Scripture either for the putting of men into a state of grace and favour with God or else it may be taken for that final judgement or award which God will pronounce unto men in the great Day Now if we speak of the former this no waies depends upon the Works of the Law nor upon any Works whatsoever for then the bare or meer performance of such Works would justifie men Now the Justification which Paul had chiefly to do with the Jews about was the first of these justifications which stands in the remission of sins which he describes in Rom. 4.7 8. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man c. This doth not depend upon the Works of the Law for without shedding of bloud there is no remission of sins Heb. 9.22 therefore Justification in this sense doth wholly depend upon the bloud of Jesus Christ and is procured by it and derived unto the Creature which doth believe and accept of him for a Saviour But if you take Justification in the second sense either for Gods approbation of men or for his final award that he shall give unto men this Justification doth depend wholly upon the matter upon mens Works and upon their righteousness For the Sentence of that justification at that day shall be awarded unto men not according as they have believed but according to the righteousness which they have wrought and so Works are necessary when it is said He that condemneth the Righteous and justifieth the Wicked that both are an abomination unto the Lord Prov. 17.15 Now to justifie here and in many other places signifies to approve or discharge from punishment so that for men to approve of the wicked in their evil waies and to discharge them from such punishment which ought to be inflicted on them is an abomination to the Lord. Thus then we see that what the Scriptures speak concerning God's rewarding mens good works it is not to be restrained to any thing they receive from him in this life yea if what God in the Scripture promiseth unto worthy and well-doing or unto men righteous and holy were confined to what they are like to receive from him in this World all the service that any mans righteousness or fruitfulness in well doing would do him would not amount to an exempting of him from being of all men the most miserable according to that passage of the Apostle lately mentioned 1 Cor. 15. If in this life only we have hope in Christ c. But this only by the way Sect. 15 That which we have in hand is this viz. That the good things which men and women do in respect of the reward of them are not limited unto this present life Besides the Scripture already mentioned there are very many others which speak directly as to this viz. that there shall be different degrees of rewards Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shin as â—h brightness of the firmament and they that turn many unto righteousnâ—sâ— as the Stars for ever and ever And so Mat. 10 41. He that receivâ—th a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward which clearly
when he saith he that soweth plentifully shall reap plentifully it must needs be understood comparatively in respect of him that soweth sparingly So then evident it is such a procedure of God with men as the Objection supposeth obscureth the name and glory of God in the eyes of the World Only there is one thing which we ought to be somewhat tender of Sect. 18 namely how to understand all the Promises and Declarations which God hath made in this case of what he intends and purposeth to do with men whether to understand them as engagements absolutely and universally upon him to the observation of which he is alwaies engaged or rather whether they be only to be understood and taken as a course which he intends to follow ordinarily and for the most part and in standing cases and that he doth rather declare what he would have men expect what is fit and meet for them to look for at his hand in reference to their Services than what he would absolutely and universally bind himself to do For doubâ—less as it is in humane Laws and so in Promises â—hat are of the greatest moment and consequence for the benefit and good of the State and Common-wealth unto which they relate such cases may fall out wherein the Letter of the Law is better to be waved and declined than râ—gedly to be observed and insisted upon and yet this is no prejudice to the goodness of the Law that it will not serve the tâ—rn in all cases because it is a Rule amongst Politicians and Wise men that Laws are not made for all cases whatsoever that may occur but only for ordinary and standing cases and such which most frequently fall out amongst men So this possibly may be no disparagement at all to God nor no ground of causing any disrepute upon him or dishonour that he doth sometimes step aside from some of his Promises and Declarations which he hath made in this kind if the Circumstances under which he doth it will bear it and do in an equitable and rationable way require it at his hand There is a time saith Solomon Eccl. 2.5 to gather stones and a time to cust them abroad now it may be there may be ten times the proportion of the time to gather stones of what there may be of that time which is seasonable for the throwing them abroad yet it doth not follow but that it may be as fit that stones be thrown away as gathered together So there may be such cases I suppose it will be hard to determine the contrary but that there may be such cases wherein God may refuse to go by his own Declarations and Expressions in this kind and that without being liable to any change or blot or blemish as if that God should suffer his truth to fail or that he should go contrary to his Word It is true when the Apostle saith of him he is a God that cannot lie it doth not therefore follow that he doth alwaies literally perform what he saith because that is not his meaning alwaies so to do we are not so to take his Promise nor is it so to be understood but only of ordinary cases and where there is not some special inducement one or other of greater consequence to cause him to leave it and to walk on the other hand of it Now by all that we have argued upon this Point we may see clearly that as far as we can estimate in like cases God will reward equally those that shall be equal in their service and unequally those who shall be unequal in that sense and that he hath in readiness Crowns of glory of different weight and brightness according as he seeth and beholdeth that men and women do either fall or continue low in their Service or else as they grow and proceed and rise God I say hath Crowns of glory to fit and to answer according to the Rules of his own proportion and equity Rules of his own drawing up and making he hath rewards commensurable to every mans case and to every mans faithfulness and zeal in his Service Concerning that Parable Sect. 19 Mat. 20. a passage of Scripture which seems to cross and thwart this Opinion of variety of Rewards in Heaven They that are contrary minded to us in the Point in hand understand that by the Penny here which is said to be given to the Labourâ—â— respectively is meant Eternal Life and Salvation Others upon a better ground are of a contrary Judgment and do not suppose it necessary that we should so understand it And there are some that are divided in their judgments about it who yet agree in this that Eternal Life and Salvation is not signified by it Touching the Parable I clearly find from the words of Christ which went before in Mat. 19. the last words But many that were last shall be first that the intent of it was only to make good or to declare in an Instance or Type the truth of what the Lord Christ had said that the first should be last And indeed it is the general Scope of the Parable that is to be minded and all particular clauses and carriages in it are not to be applied unto any special thing As it is with many of your Maps there are the Places and the Cities and Distances of them these are only the Scope of the Maps but there are many things by way of Ornament besides to make them pleasant to the eyes So I conceive our Saviour doth frame most of his Parables only with one edge as it were to fit and sute the business which he aims at and which he seeks to convey and stick in the minds and consciences of the Hearers But there are many Passages and Sayings in several Parables which have no special and particular relation unto the main end but only to set off the Parable and to make that as it were more fit for the understanding and pleasant to the apprehension and more convenient to be carried away by the memories of men And so we may conceive that the main scope of the Parable is only this to shew that men who stand upon their terms with a mistaken conceit of themselves and of their Services as the Jews did are out of the way And this our Saviour would teach them by the Parable when he saith they that were hired in the morning early contracted with the Housholder for so much for their days work which is said to be a Peny But for the rest who were called to the work afterward we do not find any Contract or mention made of what the Housholder should give them or what they should demand for what they do but only he tells them in the general what was meet for them should be given them he bids them go and labour and do their work faithfully and that then they should receive accordingly Now when he comes to account with these workmen he begins with those that were
changed from glory to glory and be made as like unto him in felicity as far as their nature will bear in order to the rendring them capable of enriching the World with the saving knowledge of the truth where ever they shall become this being one property of felicity and true greatness and nobleness of Spirit where ever it is to dilate and utter it self for the real good benefit and comfort of all that are round about it and within its reach Of these things thou hast a large account in the ensuing Treatise both as to the provision that is made by God in the Gospel for his Saints and those that serve him as likewise the nature of him that is the chief Agent the Holy Ghost to manage and to be their Assistant in all their spiritual Works and Services which by virtue of the abundant grace of God in the Gospel they are called unto and might be partakers of he being none other than him that hath all Power in his hand both in Heaven and in Earth Not a Creature lest any man should despair of ever being strengthened with might in the inner man or should fear of ever being able to arrive unto that blessedness which is prepared for those that love God and wait for the appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But this Holy Spirit which thou art advised to be filled withall is no less no other than the increated Spirit God blessed for ever Which in case thou hast but such a sense of thy Salvation as to be found working of it out with fear and trembling thou mayest assure thy self that it is none other than God himself who is both able and willing yea is already at work within thee and will enable thee not only to will but also to do and that according to his good pleasure whose will and good pleasure concerning the manner of his coworking in men is largely opened in this Discourse And likewise his Godhead argued and with clearness proved both by Scriptures and sound Reason As also those Grounds and Arguments that are commonly brought to prove him to be of a created and finite extraction punctually sedately and faithfully answered and the Scriptures that are brought to serve in that Warfare are dismissed and discharged from that Service And we look upon this part of the Discourse as so much the more seasonable and we hope a good hand of Divine Providence in bringing of it forth at this time inasmuch as that Spirit of Error is now stirring more effectually than of latter times to the endangering of the Everlasting Welfare of the precious Souls of Men rendering the Gospel and the Grace of God which hath appeared to all Men by Jesus Christ and that unspeakable Gift of the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God which is to remain with the Saints until his coming again as very inconsiderable Thereby making the neglect of this Grace of God and his good Spirit a thousand times more tolerable than indeed it is or is like to be unto those who shall be found to neglect so great a salvation that is brought so near unto them and that by God himself with the gracious offer of himself and his own help and assistance herein Thou hast likewise an account given thee by what means it is that the Spirit of God himself if thou shalt submit unto his most gracious Counsels herein will advance his Presence in thee whereby thou mayest have as much of his assistance as thy heart can desire Together with some Rules laid down whereby to judge whether a mans self or others be filled with the Spirit or with some other Spirit which only pretends to be the Spirit of God but is not but a Spirit of Error and Delusion very useful at all times but more especially now when Sathan that lying Spirit is playing his Last Game upon the World his time being very short he is put upon it more than ever to mingle his spiritual wickednesses with heavenly things which are his most dangerous Weapons and thereby doth greater execution than Men generally are aware of There are many Wiles and subtil Devices by which Men are taken off from attending upon the Ministry of the Gospel which is called the Ministry of the Spirit which are very mischievous and destructive it is to be feared to many and endangering more that are here detected and their nakedness laid open As also the great business of the Saints Communion with God both as to the freeness and fulness or largeness thereof discussed together with the great advantage of a large interest in God by Prayer discovered In all which there are many Scriptures clearly opened We question not but that persons who have the use and exercise of their Spiritual Senses and are to any considerable degree able to discern things that differ will find their precious time well spent in the reading hereof and will find the discourse pleasant to their Spiritual Palate and receive nourishment thereby in their inner man Good Reader We have only two Requests to make unto thee before we leave thee First â—hat if there be not in all and every passage of this Work the same height of Stile and Elegancy of Expression as is in other his Writings thou wilt excuse the Author inasmuch as it seemed good to Divine Providence to finish the daies of his mortal Pilgrimage and to gather him unto his Fathers before this Work could be made fit for Publick View And we nothing doubt but that thy Christian Candor and Ingenuity will take this for a sufficient excuse on the behalf of those things for which we Apologize Our Second Request is if thou expect to receive good by this Discourse That if at any time thou hast been prejudiced against the Author thou wilt lay all things of that nature aside as thou lovest thine own Peace and Eternal Welfare and engage with an honest heart and sincere mind in the reading hereof For although possibly there may have been some difference between him and thee and some others in some Doctrinal Points yet this being mainly Practical he and all other good men more generally agree in matters of this nature Nâ—w that the God of all Grace may fill thee with a rich Presence of his Spirit that so thou mayest be rendered most acceptable to him in all thy waies and be put into the best capacity to serve thy Generation and in the end be made partaker of the highest Glory with the Saints in light is the Desire and shall be the Prayer of The Publishers To all that desire to be filled WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT THere is a great Ambition in the Sons of Men after Fulness and so there is in the Sons of God also but the Fulness which the Sons of the latter and better Denomination do most mind and covet is of another nature and kind than that which the Sons of the other and lower Denomination are ambitious of There is an Earthly
themselves For when because of any weakness or infirmities which men are subject unto or because of any discourteous behaviour in word or deed used towards us we shall be at any greater distance from them or shall be less kind or serviceable unto them than otherwise we would be in case no such weakness were found upon them or no such unkindness had been done unto us this is the casting of mens burthens upon their own necks and to reject the Commandment of Christ by which we our selves stand charged to bear them The Apostle in this injunction of hearing one another burthens seems to suppose that even in men of the best temper and most Consciencious and Circumspect in their lives and waies there is somewhat more or less that is burthensome that is distasteful unpleasing and in some degree offensive unto others This notwithstanding if men would but fulfil the Law of Christ and cut Tallies one with another every man gratifying other with bearing his burthens the great Common-wealth of Mankind would be prosperous and happy and little or no damage or inconvenience accrue unto it by the weaknesses or want of wisdom in the respective members of it There would be the same as full as quick an entercourse and commerce of love and of the services thereof as there would or could be in case they were all perfect and as so many Angels of God Yea my Brethren this bearing the burthens of one another did we freely submit unto it and practice it would turn to a very happy account ot us in another day For God will not give greater rewards for any kind of works or service than for bearing the burthens of men especially the burthens of the Saints and most of all for the bearing the burthens of Christ viz. persecution for righteousness and a good conscience sake We shall hardly find any of the Commands of God or of jesus Christ but the keeping of them would turn to the peace and comfort of men These are they that in the very nature of them all are apt to create peace and prosperity in the World and the want of a diligent and faithful performance of them is that that doth occasion trouble between man and man and maketh breaches upon their mutual Comforts You can hardly break any of the Commands of Jesus Christ but you will make a breach upon the peace of the World you will fall foul one of another But so long as you keep on in the waies of Christ's Commands you comply and comport with the peace and comfort of the World round about you Secondly Sect. 5 The very Example of a through Conformity and subjection to the Law of God must needs be of a very choice and high accommodation to the World besides the nature and tendency of the actions themselves The very Example though but of one single person his Conformity to the Laws of God may be of singular concernment to the World Your Zeal saith the Apostle to the Corinthians hath provoked many 2 Cor. 9.2 And as the Scripture demandeth a little fire how great a matter or how great a wood for so it is in the original how great a wood or forest of wood doth it kindle or set on fire So one person one man or woman that doth clearly and in the face of the World walk in a through Conformity to the Law of Christ that is tender and circumspect and taketh all his Commands in their respective seasons along with him in his course may propagate a great Generation of Conformists in the same kind For who knoweth how many trees of the Forest of this World may be set on fire by this Example Men and Women more generally seem to look upon the Laws of Jesus Christ as if they were given to men only to hear and speak of or at most to live by in another World and so the neglect or breach of them toucheth few mens Consciences makes no breach upon their peace Whereas if these Laws were but translated into practice by flesh and bloud by men and women subject to like passions and infirmities with themselves this would beget other manner of thoughts in the hearts and consciences of the World generally concerning them Did men but seriously consider it with themselves that if flesh and bloud men of the same nature liable to the same tentations with themselves by the same means and assistance both inward and outward which are afforded unto them can keep the Commandments of Jesus Christ and walk holily they could not lightly but be convinced that certainly the God of Heaven will look for it at their hands that they go and do likewise Again secondly Sect. 6 He that shall diligently and faithfully keep the Commandments of Jesus in the view and sight of the World must needs be a signal Benefactor unto it in the things of their Eternal peace which are of a thousand times greater consequence than all the concernments of this life Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works c. Mat. 5.16 Our Saviour in this passage clearly implies that there is a proper tendency in mens good works to prevail with others to glorifie their Father which is in Heaven viz. by repenting and believing in him and living unto him and this is a most blessed accommodation unto the World The Apostle speaketh concerning the faithful behaviour of Servants towards their Masters Tit. 2.9 10. telling them that by such a carriage and behaviour they shall adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things Now Brethren What is the reason that the hearts of men are not drawn out more freely to the Doctrine of God and Christ Why do mens hearts stand off and make no more treasure of it than they do Doubtless one main reason hereof is it wants adorning and beautifying it is not set forth before their eyes with that advantage to take the hearts of men wherewith it might and ought to be But who are they that do adorn this Doctrine and consequently that commend it in the sight of men and make it a beautiful lovely and desirable object unto them They that deal by their Great Lord and Master Jesus Christ as the Apostle would have other Servants to deal by theirs viz. by being obedient unto them and pleasing them well in all things Tit. 2.9 They that shall diligently and faithfully observe and keep the Commands of Jesus Christ they will adorn it they will commend it with authority and power to the souls and consciences of men Such men when they shall but utter and assert the plain words of the Gospel when they shall say unto any man or unto any numbers of men that certainly Jesus Christ is He He is the Saviour of the World and whosoever cometh unto him shall be saved by him or the like such persons I say as these we speak of by such plain and known words as these are like to pierce and wound
in Mat. 20.16 Instances hereof might be given For Thirdly This very saying The first shall be last and the last first may be understood either in a more general and comprehensive sense as comprehending all kinds or any kind of priority together with the persons possest of or enjoying any priority in one kind or other and so lastness or worstness in estate or condition as well in one kind as another together with the persons reduced to any such condition or else in a more particular and restrained sense viz. importing only a firstness or precedency before others in matters of Religion and things appertaining unto God together with the persons invested at present with the priviledge of such a precedency and so a lastness opposite to such a priority or precedency together with the persons either prevented with or reduced to this lastness or poorness of condition Again admitting this restrained sense yet the meaning of the Saying may be either that the first in this sense shall or will prove so secure negligent and unworthy in their way that they will be cast behind those that sometimes were far behind them in their spiritual estate yet not so as wholly to Apostatize or make shipwrack of Faith or not to be saved in the end and so that they that were sometimes nothing or worse than nothing in things relating unto God shall before they die quit themselves at such a worthy rate of wisdom zeal and diligence in approving themselves unto God that they shall obtain a greater interest in his favour and love than those that had been highly interessed in these long before they began to look after them or else the meaning may be that those that were at first and for a time zealously forward in good waies will afterwards suffer themselves to be so enticed away from them by the World and by the Flesh as to make shipwrack of all and of Salvation it self at the last Whereas many who for a long time walked in the paths of Death and savoured not in the least the things of God shall at last lay hold as it were with both their hands on eternal life Besides the Proverbial Saying we speak of may be understood of Nations or greater Communities of People in their succeeding Ages and Generations as well as of particular or individual persons so as to import that such Nations Cities or Countries who embraced the true Worship and Service of God before others or with greater zeal and vigour of Profession many times after a while fall from their first love and suffer others other Cities or Countries even those who had been a long time without God in the World to take away their Crown And in this sense we find it used by our Saviour Luke 13.30 and applied to the National Apostacy and rejection of the Jews who alone for many Ages past of all the Nations on the earth had a zeal for the true God and professed his true Worship and to the gracious entertainment of the Gentiles by God for his people upon their free and cordial entertainment of the Gospel But Fourthly and lastly in which of the senses mentioned the Parable of the Penny which our engagement is to reconcile with the Point in hand the different advancement of the Saints in glory by God may be conceived to be the confirmation or illustration of it as by the consent of almost all Expositors it is and by the express tenour of the Context must needs be as hath already been proved and how it may be interpreted so as not to favour that equality of the Saints in glory which some maintain hath yet some difficulty in it Yea those Expositors who unanimously conclude that it holds no intelligence or correspondency with that opinion are yet much divided in their judgments about the carriage of it and the sense of several passages in it I shall not trouble you with the variety of their notions in this kind but briefly acquaint you with mine own and with what I judge most agreeable unto the truth First Sect. 5 I suppose the Parable in hand to be an Explication or proof of the Saying Many that are first shall be last c. taken in the more restrained sense of the two mentioned and that the tendency of it is to declare and shew that many who in matters of Religion and in priviledges depending hereon were in one sense or other viz. either in reality and truth or in their own opinion before others would yet be found at last far inferiour in both unto those in respect of whom they had formerly a signal preheminency in both and that these in the issue would have the Crown of their preheminence or precedency awarded and given unto them This I presume the express tenour of the Parable maketh manifest Secondly It is not to be questioned but that our Saviour in this Parable did overture and insinuate at least the rejection of the Jews plainly enough characterized by those that were first called into the Vineyard who only are said to have been hired by express Compact for a Penny a day and to have murmured against him that hired them for not valuing their work above theirs who were called into work after them and laboured not so long as they both symptomes of a Jewish temper together with the receiving of the Gentiles into grace and favour with God signified by those that were called into the Vineyard after the others though not all at the same time but some after others as we know the Gentiles in their respective Countries and Cities were called as likewise by their greater ingenuity and more Evangelical temper than were found in the other in that they did not indent with the Housholder God for any certain wages or hire but were content to refer themselves for their work and labour unto his good will and pleasure It was the manner of Christ rather to insinuate somewhat darkly and covertly unto the Jews their approaching rejection together with the calling of the Gentiles than to declare it openly or in plainness of words In the following Chapter Mat. 21.45 Luke 20.19 It is said that when the chief Priests and Pharisees had heard his Parables they perceived that he spake of them meaning of them and their Nation They perceived that is as we use to say they smelt fire they had a strong jealousie and somewhat more that the persons or people against whom his Parables were bent were they and their Nation Therefore Thirdly Whereas it is said that the first hired likewise received every man a penny viz. as the others had done it is not to be supposed that those signified by them received the same recompense of reward from God especially if by the Penny they received we understand the Kingdom of Heaven which the other Labourers had received For there is no murmuring against God nor envying of their Fellows amongst the Saints in their Heavenly Kingdom a Consideration strongly insisted
the respective Labourers at what time soever called are said to have received for their labour respectively should be meant the Kingdom of Heaven or the great reward of Salvation yet neither will it follow from hence that therefore they were equally rewarded or that they had equal shares in this Kingdom All the twelve Tribes were safely brought into the Land of Canaan the well-known Type of Heaven and were planted and dwelt in it yet had they not all equal proportions of the Land assigned unto them for their respective Possessions or Inheritances Yea it is scarce questionable but that every one of their several allotments differed more or less in compass or extent of Territory from all the rest There is nothing more usual in the new Testament than to promise the recompense of reward unto all that shall persevere in Faith and Love unto the end under the same terms or expressions as sometimes of life sometimes of everlasting life sometimes of a Kingdom of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken besides many the like yet by other places some of which we shall consider ere long it plainly appeareth that there shall be some greater and some lesser in these heavenly enjoyments Every Labourer may receive his Penny and yet the Penny received by one may have more Silver in it and be more weighty upon the Ballance than that received by another although it is to be presumed that the lightest of all is full weight not only or not so much according to the standard of equity but of the greatest and most magnificent bounty According to the rule or standard of which bounty notwithstanding the great God judgeth it but equal and meet for him to reward the services done unto him by his Saints And that by the Penny which he as Lord of the Vineyard in the Parable caused to be given to the Labourers called in at several times of the day unto his work for their labour is not meant a Penny or reward simply of the same value or worth is evident from his expressions to those hired at the third hour and to those hired at the eleventh hour compared together To the former he said Go ye also into the Vineyard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and whatsoever is right or just meet or equal I will give you Upon the same terms and with the same words he hired those also that were called at the eleventh hour Go ye also c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ver. 4.7 By these expressions it is manifest that though in his expostulation with those that murmured he saith Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own c. Ver. 15. Yet he did proceed by a rule of righteousness or equity in rewarding all those that wrought in his Vineyard And proceeding by this rule in rewarding he did with his own what he willed or pleased to do for his Will was to do that which is right meet or equitable in rewarding the labours of his Servants But now it is not equitable right or meet that he that laboureth more with equal and especially with greater faithfulness unto his Master should in his reward be reduced to the proportion of him that laboureth less or with less faithfulness So that unless it shall be supposed which I presume is no man's supposal that all the Saints are uniformly or equally diligent and faithful and zealous in their servings of God it cannot be supposed that God who rewardeth them all by a rule of proportion or according to what is right or meet should reward them all alike and not consider those that have abounded in his work above those that have been more sparing and remiss in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God doth all things by Geometrical Proportions was the Saying of an ancient Philosopher Sixthly and lastly to add this also The reason why the Lord of the Vineyard gives order unto his Steward to give the Labourers their hire beginning from the last unto the first v. 8. may be to signifie that the heart of God is more set upon those who after long continuance and obduration in waies of sin and wickedness yet unfeignedly repent and turn unto him at the last than upon those that have been trained from their youth up in his service though they have not declined from it This disposition in God our Saviour seteth forth by several Parables in the Gospel as of the joy for the lost sheep that was found Luke 15.6 And so for the lost Groat or piece of Silver being found ver 9. And most Emphatically by the Parable of the Prodigal whom whilst he was yet a great way off in his return his Father ran to meet fell on his neck and kissed him with several other expressions of great affection and high contentment for his return Ver. 20 22 23 c. Upon this account it is that as the Lord Christ who perfectly understood the temper and disposition of Heaven informeth us there is more joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance And again that there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Luke 15.7.10 Doubtless the joy that is before the Angels of God ariseth proportionably to that contentment joy or satisfaction-which they observe in God himself either upon his own or his Creatures acting to his glory If it be any mans objection Sect. 6 But how doth it stand with that Rule of Equity according unto which you lately taught us that God alwaies rewardeth his Saints and Servants that his heart should be more set upon rewarding those that have of a long time done him the greatest disservice and provoked him to his face only because at last they repent and do him some service for a short time than those that have served him in righteousness and true holiness all the daies of their life I answer That such a disposition in God as this with his actings sutable to it is no waies inconsistent with the strictest Rule of Equity in rewarding Only this is to be known and considered by the way that he doth not alwaies or in all cases without exception walk according to it but only for the most part or more generally As any particular disposition in a person truly prudent and wise though never so strong may by some extraordinary circumstance intervening be sometimes over-ruled Our Saviour himself seems to intimate some such caution or restriction as that now hinted in that method of proceeding in God about the rewarding of his Saints according to which he maketh the last first and consequently the first last or giveth order to have the last called to be rewarded in the first place For when he saith Many that are first shall be last he seemeth to suppose that it will not universally so prove or that all without exception that are first shall be last but that for the most
make a donation of it unto men upon any terms at all upon any condition or conditions whatsoever or without condition He might have kept it without any breach of Justice had he so pleased as an appropriate treasure to himself and his holy Angels for ever 2. Because he is now pleased to confer it upon them without any merit or desert of theirs which in strictness of justice can be so called But 2. It doth not follow from either of these senses wherein Eternal life may be called the gift of God that therefore he divideth it unto his Saints by a line of equality For supposing that this life may be enjoyed in several proportions or degrees of the glory and good things of it as the Land of Canaan was possessed and enjoyed by the Israelites and their respective Tribes by unequal portions and as Christ saith that in his Fathers House there were many Mansions Joh. 14.2 the collation of it in any of these may properly be called the gift of God Nay 3. And lastly for this Though God simply considered and as not having made any disposal of what is his own as either by promise agreement or the like may do with his own what he pleaseth as it is in the Parable lately opened at large Mat. 20.25 yet having once made a disposition of it in one way or other and ratified it by his word he is not at liberty to do with it any thing contrary hereunto For he cannot he is not at liberty to deny himself 2 Tim. 2.13 And David speaking of him Psal 138.2 saith Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy name meaning that his Word or Promise shall have as it were and exercise a kind of Soveraignty over all his Prerogatives and Attributes Wisdom Justice Power c. So that men need not fear that any of them shall at any time or in any case whatsoever move in the least contrariety thereunto So that as Peter said to Ananias concerning the money which he pretended to have brought to the Apostles Whilst it remained was it not thine own And after it was sold was it not in thine own power Meaning that he was not compelled to devote it unto the service of the Church but having done it and declared it he was not now at liberty to resume it either in whole or in part In like manner God I little question might at least without being liable to any just imputation from any Creature for so doing have communicated Eternal life equally unto his Saints had he not declared himself by Promise that his purpose was to do otherwise as hath been formerly shewed but now having spoken it he will also bring it to pass He hath purposed he will also do it as himself speaketh in another case Isa 46.11 The word that hath once passed his mouth returneth not but holdeth on its course until it hath passed his hand likewise Only it may be some question whether such a dispensation as that we now contend against a levelling of all Saints in their rewards would not have been opposed by some of his Attributes as Wisdom Righteousness c. in case he had kept himself free in respect of any promise or declaration to the contrary We touched somewhat upon this lately A second Objection against our present Tenent may be made from those passages in the Parable lately mentioned Sect. 11 Mat. 20. in which all the Labourers called and coming in some early and some at the eleventh hour of the day to work in the Vineyard are notwithstanding said to have received at even every man a Penny ver 9 10. I answer That the sting of this Objection was formerly pulled out where we traversed the Parable at large and argued upon several accounts that though all the said Labourers be said to have received every man a Penny yet every man's Penny which he received might be or rather was of a different stamp and value from that received by another And this reasoning proceeded upon a supposal that not only the Labourers first and last called into the Vineyard but that those also called at the hours between as at the third sixth and ninth hour received every man a Penny But upon a more steady and narrow view of the Parable I find nothing at all mentioned concerning the proportion or value of what those intermediate Labourers received It is not said of them that they received every man a Penny but only of the first and last Concerning them it only appears that the Steward had order from the Lord of the Vineyard to give them their hire or wages as their turn came amongst the rest of the Labourers But most probable it is that it was not a Penny or the same in value with the hire of the first and last For if so why should it not be as expresly said to have been a Penny as theirs is Besides as was formerly argued it cannot reasonably be conceived that these received alike amongst themselves or that those of the third hours call received no more than those of the sixth or those of the sixth no more than those of the ninth at least supposing that they were all third and sixth and ninth hour men alike diligent and faithful in their labour For they were by the Lord of the Vineyard called in to labour upon these terms respectively whatsoever is right or just 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will give you These words plainly point at rewards answerable in Equity Reason or Justice in one kind or other unto what their several labours should be He doth not say unto any of them whatsoever I give to the rest of the Labourers whether they or you work more or less I will give unto you So that nothing can be more evident than that there is nothing to be found in the said Parable that countenanceth in the least that equality among the Saints in their rewards of blessedness and glory which some imagine If it be yet urged and demanded but why or how should they that were called at the eleventh hour and laboured but one hour only be made equal in their wages or reward unto those that were called early and bare the heat and burthen of the day for it is said expresly of both these that they received every man a Penny if God intended not equal rewards unto all his Saints I answer 1. We have an English Proverb Early up and never the nearer They that are longest at work do not alwaies the most or best service Men may busie themselves and take pains as we use to say about lifting a feather And on the other hand some in a short time are as much or more beneficial with their endeavours unto those that imploy them as some others that are doing all the day long The Apostle Paul saith of himself that he was born out of due time as our Translators render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though not so properly as I conceive 1
as this is therefore he is said to be sent sometimes by the Father sometimes by the Son And yet the same sending as I said before doth not imply as the Argument would have it as if he changed his place because he is said to be sent from heaven as if he were not resident and present there still But he is said to come from Heaven to shew that the work which he doth accomplish and bring to pass from day to day is a divine work And it is the manner of the Hebrew Dialect and Language to say that that is spoken from heaven or revealed from Heaven which is done with a high hand and in a wonderful and more than ordinary manner As when there is the unbared Arm of God then the work is said to be done from Heaven The Holy Ghost when he was sent down upon the Apostles was as much in heaven as before So much for answer to this Argument we will God willing be briefer in the rest The seventh Argument He that is the gift of God is not God Sect. 13 the Holy Ghost is the gift of God therefore he is not God The sum and substance of this Argument being contracted is this The Holy Ghost cannot be God because he is given God being himself the giver of all things and so not capable of being given and a gift or that which is given being at the disposal of him that giveth which is unworthy to conceive of God viz. that he should be at the disposal of another These three Propositions laid before us in this Argument which are Pillars and supporters of it are all weak and unsound As first That he that is the gift of God is not God or cannot be God Secondly That he that is the gift of God cannot be the giver of all things Thirdly and lastly That a gift is in the power and at the disposal of another For To the first of these God being sui Juris at the absolute disposal of himself for who shall deny him this liberty may give himself unto whom he pleaseth so that God may be both the Gift and the Giver As when the Husband or Bridegroom giveth himself to his Bride he is both Gift and Giver And thus Christ gave himself to his Church in respect of which Act of Donation he is both the Giver and the Gift And the truth is that God in giving his Spirit unto us yea though we should grant the Adversary his blasphemous Supposition viz. That the Spirit is not truly God may yet be said to give himself unto us how much more when we according to the Scriptures which teach us that the Spirit of the Lord and the Lord the Spirit are all one 2 Cor. 1.11 do believe this Spirit is God and consequently giveth himself For what is it for God to give himself unto men but by a free and voluntary disposing himself by Covenant or Promise to become theirs Did he not establish his Covenant between himself and Abraham and his seed after him for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto him and to his seed after him Gen. 17.7 And so afterwards unto Israel this Seed of Abraham did he not say by the mouth of David Hear oh my People c. I am God even thy God Psal 50.7 What is that which is given us more than ours Or what can it be more So that the first Proposition mentioned is notoriously untrue He that is the gift of God is not God or cannot be God From the errour of this Proposition thus evicted as you have heard the weakness of the second fully appeareth many words I shall not need for confutation of it The Proposition was this He that is the gift of God is not cannot be the giver of all things If God be the giver of all things which our Adversary with the Scriptures granteth and affirmeth and withal be his own gift It is a clear case that he that is the gift of God may be yea and is the giver of all things And concerning the Spirit of God it is expresly said 1 Cor. 12.11 But all these things worketh one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will these words as he will clearly prove that those Administrations and gifts of the Holy Ghost there spoken of are not only distributed and given immediately by him but that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at full liberty of and from himself to order and make this distribution as he pleaseth which is a Character not of a derived and commissionated power but of that which is soveraign and absolute which in this case must needs be divine and appropriate unto God for it is not only said that he worketh all these things and giveth all these gifts but that he giveth and maketh distribution even as himself pleaseth Certainly there was no Commission so large as this ever given out by God for any Creature whatsoever to do by the great things of Jesus Christ and such as concern the Salvation of men to dispose and distribute of them to whom and where and to what degree he pleaseth And accordingly he that in the place last cited is termed the Spirit but all these things worketh one and the self same Spirit He is in the sixth verse expresly said to be God And there are diversities of operations but it is the same God that worketh all in all therefore certainly the Spirit of God and God himself they are one and the same these things duly considered they are impregnably express for the proof of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost For the third and last Proposition of the three specified viz. That a gift is in the power and at the disposal of another neither is this necessary and universally true For God as we have proved is a gift viz. of his own giving and yet is not hereby proved to be at the disposal of another but only and solely of himself so that this Argument is crazie and loose all over As for that which he adds towards the close of it it is altogether as inconsiderable as the rest viz. That if the Person of the Holy Ghost be given unto certain men then he was not Personally with them before and consequently cannot be God by the concession of his Adversaries themselves who deny not that God is alwaies personally present with all alike For the Holy Ghost is noted to be given unto some certain men in respect not simply of his Personal presence with them but in respect of the fruition and enjoyment of his Personal presence or in respect of such a presence of his Person with them which sheddeth or poureth out the love of God abroad in their hearts i. e. perswades men effectually and with power to believe the love of God towards them stirs up many holy thoughts and motions in them from time to time We do acknowledge indeed such a personal presence of his with all men alike
the Spirit of God was in men before they believed for otherwise they neither could or would ever have believed yea and a long time before they believed otherwise there would have been no workings of Conscience or movings unto things either morally or spiritually good When men are prevailed with by him to believe he advanceth his presence in their souls and now moveth them to things Actions and waies of a more worthy and blessed consequence and import and of a nearer and stronger Connexion with their supreme good and happiness as to love God with all their hearts with all their souls to embrace waies of Excellency waies of Righteousness and true Holiness to mortifie the deeds of the Flesh c. By the way When I say that the Spirit of God moveth the hearts of men when they believe I do not say or suppose withal that Believers alwaies are prevailed with by these movings of the Spirit to do the things or effectually to consent to the doing of the things whereunto they are thus moved For though the Spirit be Omnipotent yet he is a voluntary Agent and so can exert or put forth his Omnipotency in what degree or manner of efficacy himself pleaseth and we have heretofore I remember upon occasion shewed and proved unto you that the Spirit of God is not pleased to work either compulsively or necessitatingly upon the hearts and wills of men but only so as to leave them at liberty at least a possibility of going their own way contrary to that whereunto he moveth To plead that God is Omnipotent and from hence to conclude that therefore he should not fail of any or all things which he intendeth to do it clearly sheweth that men do not understand the true nature of God For though God be Omnipotent yet God useth his Omnipotency according to Rules of Wisdom and Counsel Now therefore he putteth forth his Omnipotency only in putting men into a capacity of doing such things upon which he will reward them which capacity would be utterly destroyed in case men should be necessitated to do any thing pleasing unto God Only this by the way Now this is one thing why the Spirit of God is not an under Agent because that men covld never have called for nor sought for his assistance did not the Spirit first move them thereunto Therefore hence it is evident that he is the principal Agent and yet this notwithstanding he may truly and properly be said to be drawn into our assistance by us Secondly This is by God himself Enacted and established for a Law between his Spirit and his Saints That when they having any spiritual Work services or Exercise to perform shall apply themselves unto the Spirit now at hand and dwelling in them after such a manner and upon such terms as we shall presently declare unto you If they shall seek for his help and assistance herein that then he will aid and assist accordingly he will not deny them but will condescend graciously unto them and assist them Now by the knowledge and consideration of this Law and confidence that there will be no failing on the Spirits part all which too are preventing wise wrought in men by the Spirit they are encouraged to make their recourse unto him and to depend upon him for his assistance at all times of need In this case the application of the Creature to the Spirit of God being submissive and obediential and not authoritative there is no reason or ground to judge or call the Creature the principal Actor or Mover in what is done by the assistance of the Spirit though the Creature may properly enough be said to engage the Spirit to assist in such and such Actions As when David being to encounter with his Enemies calling upon God for his help and his presence with him in the Battle may properly and truly enough be said hereby by his Prayer to engage God to him in his Battel yet it doth not follow from hence that David was the principal chief or first Actor in the Battel Because first It is God that freely maketh that gracious Covenant with David as with other Saints that if they call upon him in time of trouble Psal 50.15 or danger he will hear and deliver Secondly Because that it was God that put it into David's heart and stirred up David's spirit to go and apply himself by Prayer for his help in such a case Thirdly and lastly That which David did in this case to draw in God to his assistance he-did it in subordination to the will and good pleasure of God in that kind who had encouraged him to call upon him in a day of trouble There is a like consideration in Believers engaging the Spirit of God and his aid in all our spiritual occasions works and employments For first the Spirit of God hath made a Law that if we will call upon him upon the Spirit in the time of our need he will be present with us and help us But then secondly Because we are engaged hereunto I mean to call upon him for his assistance by his instigation hereunto Thirdly and lastly All that you do in this kind it is in subjection to his will and pleasure These things being considered it is clear that the Creature Man though he have a power to obtain the Spirit yet he is not principal Actor but the Spirit of God is the principal Agent Thus much for answer to the first Question A second Question was How Sect. 3 and by what means we may engage or prevail with the Holy Ghost to Act with us and to assist us in such occasions of our spiritual Concernments as have been mentioned To this I answer This may and ought to be done by these four means First By disclaiming when we go about any thing any spiritual duty or service our own strength and sufficiency as to the performance of it in an holy and acceptable manner as of our selves without the presence and assistance of God I say when men and women shall present themselves in all their works and services as weak and impotent unless they be endued with strength from on high this is one special strain that doth marvelously comport with the Spirit and that which is in the first place to be done by us if we desire to do any thing if we desire his help and assistance at any time Now to present our selves altogether weak without some such presence and assistance we speak of this is that which will awaken us to do things by the Spirit For the way to do things by the Spirit is not to forbear the doing of things or duties our selves or not to perform any services I say it is not to forbear the doing of things until we find the Spirit of Grace and feel it to work upon us But to go about that which is our duty to do in the season of it with a serious and humble acknowledgment and deep sense of our
and Exhortations teach the Sons and Daughters of men such a deportment and demeanour of themselves in all cases and under all circumstances that will set them off with the best and highest acceptation with men for every Command and Precept of his hath a kind of pleasant correspondence with the frame and condition of man and when men and women neglect the performance of any of them in their season or shall do any thing contrary unto them they render themselves so much the less lovely and desirable No man ever neglected any of the Commands of God but that by every such neglect ipso facto they stain and spot the dignity and excellency of their glory whereas if they had been true to themselves and to their own interest in yielding obedience to those Commands of God they would have been more lovely comely and pleasant and more highly accepted both with God and amongst men The Holy Ghost himself very frequently commends obedience and subjection unto the Laws of God under this very Notion we now speak of unto men My Son saith Solomon Prov. 1.8 9. hear the Instruction of thy Father and forsake not the Law of thy Mother For they shall be an Ornament of grace upon thy head and Chains upon thy neck meaning that Instructions from the Word of God administred unto us by our Parents and those that be over us being regarded and submitted unto by us will render us lovely and respected both of God and men So again Prov. 3.22 So shall she meaning Wisdom submitted unto be life unto thy soul and grace unto thy neck She shall be an Ornament of Grace unto thy head c. So again 1 Tim. 2.9 10. The Apostle in this Contexture of Scripture sheweth how women professing Godliness ought to behave themselves in all Modesty Shamefac'dness and Sobriety accompanied with good works these namely good works are comely Ornaments as well for men as for women And it is the property of good works and all manner of conforming to the Will of God to make a kind of noise in the World and to provoke men to look upon them who are found fruitful in them Even as rich Jewels do make and beget by their Lustre a kind of high esteem and reverence in men to persons who wear them In like manner they who shall adorn themselves with works of righteousness by submitting to the Commands of God shall by such waies be known to be the Sons of God even by the richness of those Ornaments and Jewels which hang about their necks Mat. 3.15 It becometh us saith our Lord Christ to fulfill all Righteousness as who should say This is the way that would advance and adorn him and make him more comely in the sight of God his Father and of Angels and of Men. And so Rom. 16.2 That ye receive her in the Lord speaking of Phebe as becometh Saints and that ye assist her c. My Brethren there is no occasion no business nothing to be done either abroad or at home when a man is sitting in his house or speaking to his Servants or any other persons but there is an opportunity for such a kind of behaviour which will well become us and which will set us off with a kind of comliness or loveliness in the eyes of those which are about us This then is the first thing which we commend unto you by way of Instruction That if it be a Duty imposed by God upon all men especially Believers to be filled with the Spirit then is it a comly and honourable thing for men and women to be filled with the Spirit and to walk accordingly by means whereof they shall find acceptation both in Heaven and in Earth Secondly Sect. 2 If it be the Will and Command of God that all Believers especially should be filled with the Spirit of God take we further knowledge from hence that there are some Duties and these of most worthy consequence and concernment unto men unto which the minds and consciences of men even of Professours themselves are generally asleep taking little notice of them or of yielding obedience unto them they do not put them into their Roll or Catalogue of Duties or things commanded or enjoyned For first That this Precept of God which enjoyns a being filled with the Spirit of God directed more particularly unto the Saints is a Precept of very high concernment unto them hath been made to appear formerly and particularly when we gave directions how to raise an ardent desire in your souls unto it by setting before you the various and most rich accommodations which do alwaies accompany such a fulness Secondly That this Precept notwithstanding the excellency of it is little in the thoughts of Believers themselves and that their Consciences are little better than dead unto it is too too evident from the general neglect that is found amongst them of the use of the means which are proper to fill them accordingly without the diligent use whereof it is impossible they should be obedient unto the Precept as we have heretofore opened the business unto you and besides the little regard of this Precept even amongst Believers themselves is apparent more than enough from the general tenour of their actions and waies which are nothing like the actions and waies of men filled with the Spirit And as it is with this Precept of being filled with the Spirit in being so generally neglected and forgotten by Believers So is it with several other also which share in the same disrespect at the hand of Believers with it viz. as That of walking circumspectly or exactly as the word signifies That of redeeming the time in respect of the evil of the daies wherein we live That of bearing one anothers burthens That of not respecting persons for their wealth and costly cloaths That which enjoyns rich men to be rich in good works These with some others as generally all such which grate hard upon the flesh and require a spiritual Heroickness and true greatness of spirit to submit unto them and which are not sanctioned or back'd with an express threatning of exclusion from the Kingdom of God and of Salvation in case of disobedience Most of the Precepts of any of these Characters are like some absolute and antiquated Laws or Statutes in a State or Commonwealth which through a long customary and general disuse and neglect are no more minded or regarded than if they were not nor persons any waies challenged charged or thought the worse of for not conforming themselves unto them So are such Precepts of Christianity which respect excellency of walking and have not the vengeance of hell fire attending them to awaken the Consciences of men to the observance They seem to be no otherwise looked upon by Professours than as if they were given by the Lord Christ only to be gazed on and looked at and not with any intent that they should be obeyed by men or with any expectation
see and perceive upon the minding and narrow considerations of them that surely these things are so and so because they have so clear and happy a consistency with those things which they do believe already But what may be the Reason why the men and women we speak of Sect. 10 should think they edifie by such a kind of Ministry as their hearts are now lift up unto and could not edifie by the other which they did forsake I reply First The reason why they think they edifie by their new Ministry is either because they meet with new and strange terms uncouth phrases and expressions which they had not learned or heard of before or else for want of skill but chiefly for want of will care and desire to compare the substance of the matter which is delivered unto them in such new and strange Phrases and antique kind of Language with what they had learned before they conceive that behold now all things are become new now we are enlightned now we see and understand things that never entred into our thoughts or minds before whereas the truth is the matter that many times lieth under these new and uncouth Phrases and Expressions is but one and the self-same thing with that which they did understand and know before and they themselves might discover as much if they did but weigh and compare the words and phrases and what is imported in them As for instance the plain Doctrine of Mortification and Self-denial it is very strange to hear how and in what kind of habit they do adorn these Doctrines which are plain and wholsome and sound They put them into a new kind of expression that was not seen nor heard of before nor declared by those Ministers who are sound and sincere in their teaching of the Gospel It is in this case only as if a man should meet an old friend of his with a new Suite on his back of an antique and uncouth fashion which he was never seen or known to be in before in such a case as this one would think him to be a new man and some stranger So these men if they have but their old matter put into a new garbe of expression they are pleased and think they have heard excellent Notions and such things as they never did hear before The second Reason hereof seemeth to be this because they received distaste and dislike upon the account formerly mentioned namely that this Ministry is not for their turn it will not serve their lusts and the waies wherein they desire to walk Now upon such an occasion as this is beginning to conceive a distaste thenceforth they do gather from day to day and from time to time all matters which have any colour of dislike in them and if they can put any unworthy sense and interpretation upon any Passage or Doctrine that is delivered by such Teachers all this is put to that account namely to strengthen their own hands and hearts to forsake them and to quit themselves of them as it is with a side of a house which begins to settle all the weight of the house cometh that way So if the credit or authority of a Ministry do but begin a little to fall in the minds of men then all the weight of their infirmities who manage it or any thing in them that can be conceived to look like weakness or miscarriage will be laid upon it and so in a short time men will work themselves to a perfect liberty and thoughts will be made that this is not a Ministry for them and that their soul is not like to prosper under it and therefore they will seek where it may be better with them Again Sect. 11 Whereas the persons under reproof frequently charge that kind of Ministry which they forsake with being a legal Ministry I reply That I verily believe that they who thus pretend either know not or consider not what they speak herein for I would gladly know of them what they mean by a legal Ministry Is not their sense and notion of a legal Ministry this viz. to be frequent and zealous in pressing men to keep the Law to obey the Will and Commands of God and to threaten with wrath and the vengeance of hell fire the Children of disobedience and those that shall walk after the flesh and to promise the love and favour of God to the exact observers of his Law But if such a Ministry as this be legal what Ministry can be more legal than that exercised by the Lord Christ himself and his greatest Apostles both Peter and Paul c What Minister did ever press holiness or the duties required of men in the Law more strictly more zealously with greater authority and power than he Whoever threatned Transgressors with greater severity and dread than he in that most excellent discourse a Sermon of his as it is called upon the Mount Mat. 5. How doth he all along command and press the observation of the Law and the things contained in it The eight Beatitudes as they are commonly called what are they but a pressing by motives of weight certain duties contained in the Law As blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are the merciful c. Now all these are express duties contained in the Law and yet we see our Saviour commends them unto his Hearers by the great motives of blessedness which shall attend those who shall perform them And in ver 17. and many passages of that Chapter we find that the Lord Christ is very full and high in calling upon men for the duties of the Law Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil meaning in his own Person first and then to fulfill them likewise by his Doctrine and by the charge which he would leave with his Apostles and by them derive to all his Ministers and Agents to the worlds end So in ver 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these Commandments and shall teach men so to do he shall be accounted least in the Kingdom of Heaven But towards the end and conclusion of this Sermon Chap. 7.21 see with what mighty authority and force doth he impose upon men the keeping of the Law Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in heaven which holy and perfect will of God is comprehended and laid down in the Law ver 22. Many will say unto me in that day Lord have we not Prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils c. Yet saith he ver 23. I will profess unto them I never knew them depart from me ye that work iniquity So that from this and many such like Passages it is evident that the Lord Jesus Christ was a great Exacter and Perswader a constant Urger and Presser
be a great piece of wordly Felicity But alas What is such an interest in the greatest or mightiest King or Prince under the Heavens being compared with that interest which such a person as we have spoken of hath in God The gleanings of him that hath the Ear of the Great God of all the Earth open to his Prayer are better than the Vintage of him that hath the Ear of the greatest Monarch in the World open unto him They who have the Ear of God open upon such terms as persons filled with the Spirit have it are in a capacity hereby not only to provide or procure for themselves as oft as they desire all accommodations regularly necessary to render their lives full of peace comfort and contentment but likewise to Umpire and order the great Affairs of the World round about them yea and to give Laws unto Nations and to rule them with a Rod of Iron For such persons as we now speak of are a first fruits of that World to come which in Scriptures is called the new Heavens and the new Earth the Kingdom of Christ and of the Saints and is much discoursed amongst us under the name of the Fifth Monarchy a Name and Notion proper enough for it and have a first-fruit granted unto them by God of those glorious Priviledges of that Interest of Power and Grandeur which shall be vested in the great Body or whole Community of the Saints in that day of which we may have occasion ere long to speak more particularly So as this shall be the Priviledge and Prerogative of all the Saints in that day that they shall rule the Nations as it were with a Rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel meaning that the whole Earth shall be given unto them as it is in Daniel Dan. 7.18.27 Even so shall the persons we speak of before the Dawning of that Day before the New Heaven and the New Earth taste of the great happiness and felicity of the Chosen of God in those daies and they shall Umpire and Rule and carry and sway the great Affairs of the World as we have it in Rev. 2.26 27. He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end that man that standeth it out in my Cause and fights it out unto death to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule with a Rod of Iron c. meaning that he shall have part in the great felicity of that day You know that passage in Jam. 5.17 where it is said that Elijah who was a man subject to the like passions and the like infirmities with other men I suppose he means not so much if at all sinful infirmities as corporal he was a man subject to sorrow and sickness and death as well as we or any of us are and yet he did thus by Prayer he prayed and he shut the Heavens and again he prayed and he opened the Heavens and provided rain for the Earth by his Prayer Now I suppose the Apostle inserts these words A man subject to like passions as we are to remove that great stumbling stone which might be in the minds and thoughts of ordinary Christians that are weak and poor that carry about with them a body of sickness and death and are despised in the World and not regarded and set by by the great men in the World How then should they expect that a God of that infinite Majesty which he is to whom they should pray and make their requests should regard them Especially in the gratifying of them upon any such terms that he should do any great or excellent thing more than ordinary for them Now to such the Holy Ghost here saith do not be troubled let no such thought as this arise within you upon such an occasion for I tell you that Elijah was a man as weak as you cloathed with the same flesh subject to sicknesses and pain and to be contemned and slighted by men as he was by Ahab and others yet this did not at all obstruct his interest with God his Prayer was potent and powerful with him for he did very great things as you know by his Prayer he shut the Heaven being highly offended with the wickedness of the People and their Idolatry He interceded as it were against them and sought to draw down Judgments upon them indeed he sought hereby to humble them and to bring them to the sight of their sins as it seems he did and accordingly when he saw that they did repent and were reformed in their waies he did by another Prayer turn the course of the Displeasure of God another way and drew down the love and favour of God out of Heaven upon them And Sect. 6 my Brethren doubtless the reason why the interest of Prayer is fallen so low and sunk as it were in the Christian World in comparison of what it was in the Primitive times in the daies of the Apostles and in the Ages next after them the reason I say why so little is done in the World by means of Prayer is because the Generation of those who in the Primitive times were wont to be filled with the Spirit and to be large hearted towards God is in a manner extinct and that heavenly vigour which possessed the hearts and reins and brake forth and shewed it self in the lives and waies of the First and Second Ages of Primitive Christians was not lookt after in the Generations afterwards but instead thereof many of them suffered a Spirit of ignorance and blind zeal to enter into them and to possess them which under a pretense of bestirring it self and acting for God and Jesus Christ made wrack and havock of their interest in the World And there is more than enough of this kind of spirit and vigour that is gotten into the the hearts and inward parts of many Professors amongst us who like to the Jews of old have a great zeal for God but not according to knowledge yea there is a great variety of several shapes and forms of this kind of zeal amongst us The Antinomian he laies out himself effectually for the advancement of his Opinion and waies and thinks he doth God and his Gospel the only service in the World A second sort of Professor he is as a flame of fire he is content to spend and to be spent in the Service of his way being full of confidence that even whilest he treads and tramples under foot the peace and comforts of the Children and dear Servants of Christ yet he is the only Benefactor to his Throne and Kingdom amongst men A third Party abominating the Zeal of the former riseth up early and goeth to bed late and eats the bread of much carefulness to mount upon the back of Secular Authority and if he get but his foot fast and sure upon this ground he makes account that by turning the edge of the Magistrates Sword against all that he conceipts
shews â—hat the reward of a Prophet is great And so again He that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous mens reward Now here he makes a difference between the reward of a righteous man and of a Prophet And so in 1 Cor. 3 12. the Apostle speaking of the different managing of the Ministry of the Gospel in the preaching thereof expresseth himself thus If any man bâ—ild Hay and Stubble c upon the foundation Jesus Christ he shall suffer loss namely in his reward though he may be saved And so on the other hand he that shall build Silver and Gold and Precious stones shall not only be saved but shall sustain no loss or detriment in his reward which the other shall certainly do Other foundation saith the Apostle ver 11. can no man lay i. e. upon any reasonable terms or grounds Men indeed may build upon this foundation either Silver or Gold or Precious Stones or Hay and Stubble and rotten Wood I mean men may build such kind of Doctrines which do hold a natural correspondency with the foundation or they may build such Doctrines as are unsutable and are so expressed by the terms of Hay and Stubble and Wood that is such Doctrines Notions and Imaginations which are altogether inconsistent with that precious foundation Jesus Christ Now speaking of these things saith he Every mans work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it and if any mans work shall abide the trial he shall receive the full reward of it but if any mans work shall be burnt meaning in part not that the foundation shall burn if any mans superstructure shall be Hay Stubble c. he shall suffer loss his reward shall not be so large so rich and so great as it would have been in case he had neither built Hay nor Stubble nor Wood but only Gold Silver and Precious Stones Therefore it is clear that there shall be some difference even amongst those that are Preachers and Teachers of the Gospel which together shall be saved in respect of the reward of their labours Besides this place there are several other expressions to this purpose that of our Saviour in his answer to the Sons of Zebedeus Mat. 20.23 clearly doth suppose that there are such places in his Kingdom places at his right hand and at his left hand we know it is not only the common interpretation of the place but it is likewise according to the manner of all Nations of Kings and supreme Governours that those that are nearest unto them in place and highest in their favour do sit next unto them at the right hand and at the left And so again 2 Joh. v. 8. he adviseth them not to lose those things which they had gained meaning that they had done much good that they had held forth the name of Jesus Christ now take heed saith he that you do not lose the things which you have wrought that you may receive a fall reward Now such men who shall hold on their way not only when there shall be no interruption in their way of well-doing but also when troubles and temptations shall attend them for righteousness sake these are they that shall not lose what they have wrought But for others that shall abate in their zeal and faithfulness to God though they do not decline to that degree but that they may be saved at the last yet will they not receive so full a reward there will not be so many blessings for them as there might have been in case that they had pursued without making any digression Mat. 5.10 11 12. Our Saviour pronounceth blessedness to them who are persecuted for righteousness sake Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my names sake rejoyce and be exceeding glad the word signifies leap or dance for joy for great is your reward in heaven Sect. 16 But besides the general vergency and leaning of the Scriptures on that hand we speak of there are several reasons and grounds agreeable to the Scriptures and to the nature of the thing it self that perswade very much that way First If God should make those of his Saints or believers that are most remiss and negligent in his service here on earth equal in reward of blessedness and glory unto those who have been eminently zealous and signally faithfull and have been content to spend and be spent as the Apostle speaks upon his interest and service and especially if he shall be supposed to declare his mind accordingly unto the World he shall not only want one of the greatest Arguments and Motives to perswade men and women unto waies that are excellent but also overture such a thing which would be a snare and temptation to fight low and to move drowsily heavily and slowly in the course of Christianity For when men shall know and consider that whatsoever they shall do more than others of their Brethren shall turn to no account at all unto them unless it be haply to somewhat that is less considerable in this present World as matter of credit reputation c. though in such respects it is much more like to work a quite contrary way viz. to matter of envy hatred c. When men I say shall understand that all their high acting for God and the interest of his glory in the World shall produce nothing of a more desirable consequence or import unto them than seven times less would have done must not their hand hereby be much weakned as to the things that are excellent Secondly If they who shall excell in righteousness shall be but equal in reward unto those who shall act but at an under rate therein then it follows that God should not love Holiness and Righteousness at least that there should be some Holiness or which is the same some degree of Holiness which he doth not love or at least that he should love something in the Creature which yet he should not reward or which is the same with all these that God should not love him more who is more holy and righteous and consequently more like unto himself than another who is less righteous less holy and so less like himself But all these things are repugnant to the Nature of God For certain it is that if God loves righteousness and holiness simply and in respect of their nature absolutely considered then he proportionably loves them more where they are found in any further or more eminent degree As it was in Christ Because he loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity viz. with a more perfect hatred than any other of the Saints therefore he anointed him with the oyl of gladness above his Fellows Heb. 1.9 Thirdly and lastly it is evident that God doth consider the eminent services of some men in this World and doth eminently and above the rate of the ordinary wages of
Cor. 15.8 but certain it is that he was born an Apostle and came into the work of God some considerable space of time after all his fellows yet we know he laboured more abundantly there than they all 1 Cor. 15.10 In like manner they that were called at the eleventh hour might do as much good and acceptable service as those that were called early And therefore no marvel if they received equal consideration for their work with these Besides God represented by the Lord of the Vineyard estimateth as we know the frame of the heart and inward disposition of the mind into the outward works and services of men So that the body and bulk as it were of their services may be fair and large when as the spirit of their value and acceptation with God may not answer by much and yet their persons nor services be wholly rejected neither As on the other hand where the hidden man of the heart is beautiful and lovely in his sight a performance or service which is but slender and ordinary in appearance may be highly prized and accepted of by him and this according to the most exact Rules of Justice Reason and Equity Christ pronounced a just and true Sentence when he said that the poor Widow who cast in only two Mites into the Treasury had cast in more than all the rich men who yet are said to have cast in much Mar. 12.41 43. Now it is not improbable but that by the early-called into the Vineyard may be set forth such a kind of Christian or Believer who savours much of the justiciary and legal spirit and is commonly active and zealous enough in his way for God but inclined to a rugged harsh and peremptory temper which unpleasant complexion and frame of heart though it doth not make void their Faith nor exclude them from the saving love of God yet it much abates and brings down the value and esteem of their outward services and performances with him So that Believers of a more Evangelical sweet and Christian constitution and frame of soul may equalize them in acceptance with God although they have not had time or opportunity to equalize them in the one half of their external services If it be yet urged and said But the Lord of the Vineyard doth not alledge against the early-called either any defect in them or in their work or labour nor any thing more commendable in those called at the eleventh hour as any reason why he should make these equal in reward unto them but only his will and pleasure I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. ver 14. From whence it seems that the will and good pleasure of God is the only Rule by which the Saints are rewarded and that by this Rule they shall be rewarded equally whether their works have been more or fewer more or less excellent according to any computation I answer These words from the Lord of the Vineyard to one of the first-called in the name of them all I will give unto this last even as unto thee c. do not at all prove either that the Will of God is the sole Rule by which the Saints shall be rewarded or that no consideration to the difference of their works whether they have been more or fewer more or less excellent shall be had therein They only prove that God typified in the Lord of the Vineyard will not acquaint proud quarrelsome or high minded persons with the Counsels of his Will or Reasons of his Doings especially with such as are more secret but will put them off with telling them what his peremptory Will is and an asserting the justness and lawfulness of it even as men likewise are wont to do by persons of a like evil temper whereas they are willing and free to give account of matters unto those that are ingenuous and of good spirits And this disposition is found in God himself according to these sayings of David The meek he will guide in judgment that is he will acquaint him with the grounds and reasons of all that he requires of him to do the meek he will teach his way viz. by shewing him the goodness and desirableness of it Psal 25.9 So again The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ver 14. And Prov. 3.32 His secret is with the righteous God is most wont to communicate things of a more spiritual and mysterious cognizance but only unto those that are of meek and yielding spirits and reverently affected towards him So that it is no marvel if the Lord of the Vineyard would give no other reason but his will unto persons that were evil-spirited and contentious of such a dispensation as seemed hard unto them although he was able and ready to give reason enough thereof otherwise This for answer to the second Objection The third and last Objection Sect. 12 which pleads against all preheminence amongst the Saints in glory is taken from such Scriptures which intitle the Saints indefinitely taken or the whole species of them not only unto the same glory but unto such glory greater than which none can lightly be imagined The places of this import are these with others Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 So where it is said of Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body c. Phil. 3.21 So again to mention no more where the Apostle Paul having said Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that last day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 All these Texts of Scripture speak of the Saints in general and without any differencing some from others by way of greater excellency and yet they promise unto them all shining like the Sun in their Fathers Kingdom and having their vile bodies changed by Christ and fashioned like unto his own glorious body the receiving Crowns of righteousness from God as well as Paul himself Which all seem to be expressions of as great glory as the greatest of Saints are capable of Therefore it is not to be conceived that one Saint shall differ from another in glory But To this also I answer That these and the like places only prove an identity or sameness in the species or kind of that glory whereof all the Saints shall be partakers not that they shall all partake of this glory in the same degree They shall all shine with a Sun-like lustre and brightness and yet some out-shine others The Sun it self doth not alwaies shine forth with the same lustre and glory Debora Judg. 5.31 prayeth that those that love God may be as the Sun when he riseth or goeth forth in his might which supposeth that sometimes he riseth with a weaker and less glorious splendour Yea it is said that
hired in the Morning and then with the rest that came later and then with the last that came at the Eleventh hour When the first saw that there was as much given unto those that had laboured but one hour of the day as there was unto them that had borne the heat and burthen of the day this caused them to break out against the Housholder that had hired them as if he were unequal unreasonable and unjust in giving more unto such as had laboured less as they judged it and less to them who had laboured more the proportion of their labour considered Now Christ shews that this might very well be in the Kingdom of Heaven that is in the business of the Gospel and preaching of that in the World that God may justly and upon his own terms though he would not account with such Murmurers and Quarrellers about his terms yet that God was at liberty to make what Law or Terms he pleased for the disposal of his own and to walk by this Rule accordingly that this was just and equal and there was no cause to contend with him or to murmur against him for so doing But it may be some mans Question Sect. 20 But how could any such Terms or Rules be equal for God to proceed by to make these equal in reward who laboured but one hour with those that laboured many and as themselves pleaded their own cause that had borne the heat and burthen of the day To this I answer That God doth not simply and barely estimate the external Actions and Services of men but doth lay together and puts into the balance whatsoever it may be the inward frame of the heart and soul And so we find in Scripture that when mention is made of the righteousness of God in judging of men it is said that he will judge men according to their works and bring forth every secret thing to judgment That which will bear special weight in the judgment of God is the frame of the heart and spirit which it may be some had not the opportunity fully and thoroughly to express in their outward deportments and service in the World but when God comes to pass Sentence and to give Judgment then he will estimate things according to the strictest and accuratest terms of reason But our Saviour in this Parable sets forth the high presuming nature of the Jews in opposition to the Gentiles whom they despised and who at the Eleventh hour of the day were called into the Service of God He there sets forth their Genius and Disposition who because they had done so much and had been so laborious above others in the Works of the Law and in the Ceremonies and Sacrifices and in the legal Rites and Observations therefore they thought they should have double and trebble and a thousand-fold above the Gentiles that came in so late Now the Lord Christ declares unto the Jews Parabolically that he knew the frames of their hearts how they were much expecting and looking for rewards from him for what they did upon the account of themselves but intimates that the Gentiles were content to submit to the good will and pleasure of God that they came in to serve him freely without indenting or any particular contracting with him after the manner which it seems the Jews did Upon this account he makes equal the performance and Services of the Gentiles though it was not of so long a continuance The Gentiles had not been so long in his Vineyard as they had been yet the Gentiles served him with a better heart and more ingenious mind and affections than the Jews did which they ought to have considered and not so much to have stood upon their ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl their Sacrifices and Legal Observations as to contend with God for a reward in rigour of Justice That by the Peny is not here meant Eternal life Chrysostome of old and sundry later Interpreters have sufficiently proved from hence namely that they who come in at the first hour of the day that is the murmurers and those whose eyes were evil because God was good that envied at the bounty and magnificence of God towards the poor Gentiles that such persons are not like to receive the Kingdom of Heaven Salvation from the hand of God Or if we should in the last place understand by the Peny here the Kingdom of Heaven or Salvation it self yet would it not follow from thence that therefore all these workmen had all the same part and the same portion there or the same degrees in glory Because as when it is said that the Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father though they shall be all equal in this that they shall all shine as the Sun yet it doth not follow that they shall all shine with the same lustre and splendor and brightness but that there may be different degrees of shining So it may be said that all those persons even they that were men of an evil eye and were apt to murmur and grudge at them who they thought were inferiour unto themselves and had not been so long in the Service of God as they supposing I say that those persons should be saved as well as the other yet it doth not follow that therefore there should be no difference between the one and the other for every one may have his Peny if we understand Salvation by it for all the Saints and all Believers that have the least Faith and the lowest degree in Grace as well as the highest they shall all be saved But it doth in no wise follow from hence because they shall receive every man a Peny that therefore they shall each one receive no greater proportion than the other I say it hinders not but that there may be degrees and greater proportions and shares in this Salvation to be conferred upon some above what shall be given or conferred upon other So that the truth is though this Parable be very hard and obscure and accordingly hath tried the Judgments and Understandings of men and divided them to purpose Yet there is nothing can reasonably be brought from it which hath any clear or pregnant Argument against that inequality of rewards which we have been arguing until now So that we shall take this for a ground or Basis of that Discourse which we are upon That certainly there is a variety and difference of Rewards in Heaven there are Crowns some greater and more weightier than others Now this we should have added in the close that the Crowns of greatest weight and glory are prepared for the heads of those who are filled with the Spirit of God these are the persons that shall be highest and nearest unto Jesus Christ in his glory they that shall most abound in the work of the Lord they that are fullest of Zeal and Faithfulness they that will make the greatest disposure of themselves that shall be content to