of people elected and called out from the world to be partakers of the Priviledges of Jesus Christ The people of the Jews the seed of Jacob were the Church of God as the seed of such an one And this typified the Church that should be after a company that are taken out of the world to partake of the priviledges of Jesus Christ Canst thou say that thou art of the Church The word that we translate Church is a company that is called out from the world Canst thou ever tell of a work of God separating thee from the world that when thou wentest according to the world God gave thee a mighty call that made a separation between thee and the world For it is said so of the seed of Jacob Numb 23.9 From the tops of the rocks I saw him and beheld him lo the people shall dwell alone they shall not be reckoned among the Nations they shall be separated from the nations All the seed of Jacob are called out of the world they are separated from them by a mighty work of God to partake of Christ and be a member of him And upon this such an one mightily longs after all the outward priviledges of the Church to enjoy all the outward ordinances of Christ after his way those that are of the seed of Jacob they prize the excellency of Jacob as the greatest excellency their hearts are towards it and they rejoyce in that above all the excellency in the world If you ask what this excellency of Jacob is It is the joyning of Gods people in the way of ordinances and duties of Gods worship in the purity of them This in Scripture is called the excellency of Jacob Psal 47.4 He shall chuse our inheritance for us the excellency of Jacob whom he loved It is an excellent Scripture O it is a blessed thing to give all to God to let God chuse our inheritance What is our inheritance The excellency of Jacob whom he loved What was that The worship of God and his ordinances joyning with the people of God in the way of his ordinances in his temple those were the things that were the ordinances of God in those times those are called the excellency of Jacob and so it is now the excellency of a people to enjoy Gods ordinancies You have another expression to the same purpose And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah an inheritour of my mountain and mine elect shall inherit it and my servants shall dwell there Isaiah 65.9 What is the mountain of God Gods Ordinances in his Church I will bring a seed out of Jacob and Judah and they shall inherit my moantain So that the greatest inheritance of the seed of Jacob is the mountain of the Lord communion with the Church of God and his ordinances if you be of the seed of Jacob your hearts prize and rejoyce in this and that you have in Psal 24. vers 3 4 5. you shall find how the seed of Jacob prize the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob. It is so in the book but the particle O is not in the originall and therefore it may be read thus That seek the face of Jacob it may be read in the Genitive case as well as in the Vocative This is the generation of them that seek him even of Jacob and then he turns to God that seek thy face but because his heart was full of this of seeking Gods face though he intend to mention what generation it was the generation of Jacob he puts in that before the generation of Jacob that seek thy face that is this is the generation that so prize God in his ordinances and account it such a blessing of God that joyn themselves to the Church of God and set up his ordinances and wayes this is the blessed generation these are those that seek God truly We seek not God truly unlesse we seek him in his own wayes unlesse we seek him in all his ordinances we cannot comfort our souls that we seek him in truth For as in the way of obedience we cannot have comfort in our obedience that it is true except it be universall to all Gods commandments so we cannot have comfort in our seeking that it is true except it be in all his ordinances and wayes therefore we must be of the generation of them that seek the face of the Church that seek thy face O Jacob. So it follows in that place lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors that the King of glory may come in Where should the King of glory come but into his Church Who is the King of glory The Lord strong and almighty still the Church is called on to entertain Christ in his glory so this is spoken of the Church Thus you may know whether you be of the seed of Jacob. Again if you be the seed of Jacob you have the inheritance of Jacob and account it your inheritance What was Jacobs inheritance Deuter. 33.2 The Lord came from Sinai and from his right hand came a fiery law The law of God is a fiery law yet in verse 4. Moses commanded us a law even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. So that though the law be a fiery law a strict law a severe law yet it is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. If you be of the congregation of Jacob you account the law of God to be part of your inheritance not onely to be that which you are bound to that you must obey whether you will or no but you rejoyce in the law of God as your inheritance For my part I know not a more sure note of a gracious heart then this one that rejoyceth in Gods law as his inheritance as you know what expressions David hath he rejoyced in it more then in Gold and Silver more then in the honey and the honey-comb It is one thing to obey Gods Law and another to rejoyce in it as an inheritance If thou be of the seed of Jacob thou hast the inheritance of the seed of Jacob. Another is he that is of the seed of Jacob is faithfull in the place that God hath set him Jacob in serving of Laban Gen. 31.6 though he were churlish he professeth that withall his power he served his father It is an excellent text for servants you would fain have time to seek God and God forbid but there should be some time allowed the poorest and meanest servant to seek God alone But art thou of the seed of Jacob then be like
we provoke not God now but attend upon the word more then ever we did Lastly doth God say to us we shall not seek him in vain Let not God call to us in vain If when we seek God our seeking is not in vain then when God seeks us let it not be in vain There is all the reason for it in the world If God be so gracious to poor base worms sinfull creatures that if we do but chatter our prayers are not in vain is it not reason when God calls that he should not call in vain When God calls out of his word to perform such and such duties God seeks thee then make use of this text I have called upon God and I never called in vain and now I go to heare the word and out of the word he calls me and seeks me let him not seek in vain but say Lord what sayest thou to thy servant The Lord is ready to heare your cry be you ready to heare his and go on go on with incouragement the Lord hath incouraged us this day And let all your prayers and indeavours break through all difficulties and the Lords mercy shall break through all oppositions for he hath not said to the seed of Jacob Seek ye me in vain Psalme 16.3 But to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight IN the beginning of this Psalme David prayes to God for preservation and for deliverancc out of some great evil that it seems was upon him or that he was in danger of The argument that he useth is First his trust in God In thee do I put my trust And it was not an ungrounded and unwarranted trust but that which proceeded from his interest he had in God O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord thou art mine But what if David should now perish in his distresse should God be any looser by it David seems to acknowledge this that though he should not be preserved yet God was bound to preserve his own name and his own cause my goodnesse extendeth not to thee Though I should live yet it is little that I could do for thee But to the saints that are in the earth Though my goodnesse extend not to thee yet I may be usefull to thy people unto thy Saints while I live it extends to them and they are they that my soul closeth with O I desire to live and to be preserved that I may be of use to them It is a great argument to prevail with God when any of you are in danger and seek for preservation if your hearts work thus to God that the desire you have to be preserved is that whatever you are and what ever you can do may extend to the Saints that you may live to be of use and service in the world to Gods people Many of you when you apprehend your selves to be in danger you cry to God to be preserved but to what end wherefore would you be preserved wherefore would you live If we may judge of your ends according to your practise you would live that you may have more time to satisfie your lusts that you may have more time to dishonour God that you may have more time to do mischief in the places where you live There is this in the heart and God sees it God sees whatsoever will be after in your lives God sees before what was in your hearts when you cryed to be preserved But now one that is gracious he desires therefore to be preserved O that I might live to be of use in the place where God hath set me If God should take me away now my conscience tells me that it is little service that I have done for him I have been of little use in the place where God hath set me O that I might be preserved for this end that what I am or have might extend to the Saints in earth even the excellent in whom is all my delight Thus you have the scope of the words and the dependance of them And in them there are these two things First the high esteem of the Saints they are the excellent of the earth And secondly the sweet delight that Davids heart had in them in whom is all my delight For the first the high esteem that David had of the Saints and that Saints that were on earth the excellent The point is this that The Saints of God those that are godly are the excellent in the earth Then secondly from this that he saith in whom is all my delight Observe this that A gracious heart takes the most contentment in the Saints of God he is much delighted in them The first is but a preparation to the second therefore I shall passe it over briefly They are the excellent in the earth therefore my delight is in them They are the excellent in the earth Let them be what they will in regard of their outward meanness yet there is an excellency in them Job scraping upon the dunghill and Jeremy sticking in the mire in the dungeon yet they had more glory and beauty upon them then the great ones of the earth when they sate upon their thrones Though they lie among the pots as the Psalmist saith yet are they as Doves their wings are the wings of Doves whose feathers are of gold and silver Psal 77.13 beautifull and glorious You know the judgement that the holy Ghost passeth upon the Saints in old time that were outwardly mean enough there was as much meanness on them as the malice of the world could put the text saith they had tryalls of mockings of scourgings of bonds and imprisonments they were sawen assunder they were tempted they wandred in sheepskin and goats skins destitute aflicted tormented What kind of creatures were these surely they were some wretched men and women that were thus hunted up and down to wander in sheeps-skins and goats-skins destitute afflicted and tormented No such matter they were sâ—ch of whom the world was not worthy v. 38. that is the judgement of the holy Ghost upon such the world was not worthy of them The men of the world would have thought did think that they were such as were not worthy to live in the world but the judgement of the holy Ghost was such that the world was not worthy of them I remember Chrysostome hath this interpretation of the phrase they are such as are worth more then all the world more then many thousands of the world one of them is worth more then all the men of the world besides It is a truth so one Saint of God though never so mean one poor youth one servant that is truly gracious is worth more then all the men of the world besides that are not so All the Monarchs and Princes on earth have not that excellency in them that one poor child or servant hath that is gracious But the ordinary interpretation
way that it is so it appears by the Psalme that Christ especially is meant the text saith I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the middest of the congregation will I praise thee It is the promise of Christ to declare the name of his father to his Church and people and in the middest of the congregation he shall praise God Mark it in Heb. 2.12 the Apostle applies it to the saints joyned together saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the middest of the Church will I sing praise unto thee This was after Christ had been in the flesh yet the Apostle applies this to the Church in the middest of the Church will I sing praise unto thee This they gather hence that Christ he delights in being with his people when they are joyntly together because of the solemne worship of God that is tendered to God by them and he joynes with them in it as a delightfull work as they are together to praise God Christ is praising him as they worship Christ is worshiping Now every saint of God hath the spirit of Christ in him and so he delights in the society of the saints on this ground because there is worshiping of God and God is praised solemnly among them If there be any in the world wherein God hath solemne worship it cannot but grieve a gracious heart that he is not with them his heart is with them he delights to be with them especially in such a work as that it grieves him that he cannot be there It is a note of an Interpreter that I have met with upon Isaiah 6. where the Angles cry Holy holy holy Lord of Hosts the Prophet cryes Woe unto me for I am undone c. saith he upon this ground because he could not joyn with those blessed creatures and so magnifie and praise and worship God that he through his sinfulnesse was not able to joyn with them he cryes Woe is me I am undone So when any gracious heart doth but hear that there is a people in the world that are precious ones the excellent on earth that joyn in the worship of God and honour God in his own way and enjoy communion with God and I cannot joyn with them woe to me that there should be any let or hinderance that I cannot come and joyn with them for my heart is there my delight is in the saints when they are joyntly together because Gods solemne worship is there But thirdly my delight is in the saints joyntly in regard of the wonderfull delight God hath in them A gracious heart must needs delight in them because God himself takes so much delight in them but especially when they are joyntly together There are speciall expressions in Scripture of Gods taking delight in the sains joyntly as in Zephany Zeph. 3.17 the Lord thy God in the middest of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing What expressions are here of Gods delighting in his people The Lord thy God will rejoyce he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will love he will rest in his love and joy and joy over thee with singing And in Isaiah you shall find that the Church is called Hephzebah Gods delight it is a wondrous delight that God hath in his saints There are wonderfull expressions in Scripture for the manifesting of Gods delight even to admiration especially in the Church joyntly together They are such expressions as we could not think or invent as namely that he calls his people his portion his pleasant portion Deut. 32.9 God calls them his inheritance the lot of his inheritance Jer. 12.7 he calls them the dearly beloved of his soul Exod. 19.5 he calls them his peculiar treasure God hath treasures in the world the creatures that are called the good treasures of the Lord Deut. 28. but this people are called his peculiar treasure there is a particularity There is another kind of excellency in the people of Gods delight then in all other creatures they are his common treasure but his people are his peculiar treasure God calls them his glory The house of his glory Isa 46.13 The crown of his glory Isa 60.7 he calls them the Throne of his glory Isa 62.3 in severall places that I cannot stand on His glory the House of his glory the Crown of his glory the Throne of his glory He calls them the royall Diadem he calls them his ornament an ornament set in Majesty and glory There are these expressions and more I might name of Gods delighting in his people Therefore if God delight in them and finde satisfaction much more ' should we Christ speaks of his Church O my sister my spouse my heart is ravished with thee It is a strange expression for Christ himself to be ravished with his people It is an expression beseeming the Church to have said so to Christ but for Christ to say so to the Church it is wonderfull And again My love my dove my undefiled one Cant. 2. and at that very time when the Church was in a state of security that Christ should call her his love his dove his undefiled all to expresse the abundance of delight in his people Well if God have such delight in them much more should the saints Again if we consider further the presence of God among his people it is another argument why the saints of God should take so much delight in other saints especially when they are joyned together because God is present there The Lord is here is the name of all their assemblies The Lord dwells and hath his tabernacle in Sion It is a strange expression concerning the presence of God in that he makes his people his habitation As the people of God call God their habitation so God calls his Church his habitation God dwels in Sion Ps 90. Would you not delight to keep house with God Where Gods people are God keeps house and we should long to have it our own house and not come as strangers A man may come as a stranger and take a bit and be refreshed in a family but it is not his house But now Gods people when they go tootthers of the saints they see God there and they have that house for their house It is called as I told you the house of his glory that house that God desires to dwell in he hath a mighty love to that house to dwell among his people In Psal 132. there are many great and excellent expressions For the Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation Psal 132.13 14. God desires Zion what is Zion but onely his saints and people joyned together Zion was a type of the Church so now all the saints of God together are Zion Now God hath a desire to this habitation God dwels in the high and holy place the highest heaven is Gods habitation
but though God have such a house in heaven yet he is not as it were contented with that house but he desires another house he hath a desire to Zion to be his habitation and the house where his honour dwelleth You know a Prince may have some houses of meaner regard when he goes to his sport he may have a mean house to lodge in for a while but his pallace where he shews his Majestie and honour that is more glorious So the people of God and the Church is called the house of Gods honour it is not a mean house but a house of honour Further it is that house that he means to dwell in for ever he loves it so well This is my house I will dwell in it for ever I am so well pleased with it I will rest in it for ever Surely we have cause to rest our hearts in Gods people when God finds rest there and for ever It may be some of you are sometimes acquainted with the people of God and at the first delight in them but your hearts being carnall you soon grow weary of them It is not so with God he delights in his people and rests there and rests there for ever But you will say how is God present with his saints more then in other places why is God said to dwell among his people his Saints I answer in two regards God is said to dwell among his people in a speciall manner First because he makes himself known to his people more then to all the world besides There are none that know the counsell and mind of God so as his saints do God is known in Judah Psalm 29.9 There God opens himself In his Temple every man speaks of his glory Secondly because God communicates himself most among his people God is said to be in heaven Why but because there he manifests his glory more then in other places therefore heaven is his habitation If that be his habitation where he manifests himself more then his people are his habitation because he manifests himself most there Secondly heaven is the place of Gods residence because he communicates himself most there then also Gods people are his residence he communicates himself there And he communicates himself to them in a speciall manner in foure regards 1. He communicates more choise mercies 2. He communicates mercies more fully 3 He communicates mercies more powerfully 4. More universally then to others 1. He communicates goodnesse among his people and saints more choisely more choise mercies of God There is a remarkable place in the Psalmes The Lord that made heaven and earth blesse thee out of Zion Psal 143. ult He saith not the Lord that made heaven and earth blesse thee either out of heaven or earth but out of Zion as noting that the choyse mercies that God hath to communicate are out of Zion among his people joyned together in the way of worship Would you desire that God should blesse you with the chief mercies that he hath look upon God as blessing out of Zion out of Zion God communicates his choisest mercies therefore it concerns all to be in Zion that they may have God to blesse them out of Zion there runs the sweetest of Gods mercies indeed in Zion Again God communicates his mercies more fully among his people then any other way Psalm 36.7 8. How excellent is thy loving kindnesse O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures They shall be abundantly satisfied how not with the creatures but with the fatnesse of thy house Neither with thy communication to them alone God hath abundance of mercies for his saints alone but when they are among the saints joyntly together then they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of his house and he shall make them drink of his rivers of pleasures While they are alone in corners they may have many sweet drops of pleasure from God but when they are joyned with the saints there are rivers of pleasure and delight that come to their hearts therefore there is great delight to be had in the saints of God when they are joyned together Thirdly he communicates them more powerfully mark in Psalm 13â— 3 As the dew that descended upon the mountain of Zion for there the Lord commanded a blessing even life for evermore There was blessing and the Lord commanded it there went a powerfull work of Gods grace upon the hearts of people there when they were joyned together in Zion there God commanded the blessing If you would have God speaking powerfully to command a blessing on your souls you must be among his people you must joyn in a holy fellowship with his people there God commands it In the last place more universally all the goodnesse of God is communicated among his people therefore the Church is called the perfection of beauty Psalm 50. that some translate the universality of excellency and beauty There is a universality of all among the Church and people of God And in another place All my springs are in thee Psa 87. speaking of joyning with the people of God that is all my springs of truth that are revealed to me all the springs of comfort that I have communicated to my soul all the springs of grace that I have to quicken me they are all in thee in the joynt society and communion with Gods people I find all Thus we see the presence of God among his people in regard of the communication of himself to them and therefore what a great deal of cause there is to joy and delight in the saints joyntly together Again further there is abundance of cause to delight in them joyned together in regard of their admirable priviledges as they are joyned together They have priviledges as they are alone but as they are joyned they have committed to them the oracles of God Rom. 3.2 all the ordinances by which God conveyes himself To them are committed the seal of the covenant you cannot singly have the seal of the covenant but joyned with the people of God closing with them To them is committed the very power of Jesus Christ saith the Apostle When ye are together with the power of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 5.4 a glorious priviledge Yea further take this one thing they are inheritours to all the promises that ever God made to the Church from the beginning of the world There is no society of saints that joyn in Christian fellowship but they are so See a remarkable place for that in Isa 54.17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord. That promise that God made to the Churches before this is their heritage And conceive of this
Jacob as it was upon his father And dost thou walk in the fear of God Hast thou not a bold spirit that goes in slight presumptuous bold base wayes This is not like Jacob he looked on Gods presence as terrible Thirdly Jacobs heart was disingaged from the creature a little of the creature would serve his turn Ge. 28. Lord saith he if thou wilt give me meat to eat and raiment to put on He looked no further he minded no great matters Therefore in Psalm 24. there the generation of Jacob is set out and one thing is he that hath not lift up his soul to vanity The men of the world have great things in their eyes they are vanity in Gods eye though they be great in theirs and they lift up their hearts to them Now the sonnes of Jacob do not lift up their hearts to vanity though the things of the world be present their hearts stirre not they rise not but if God and Christ and heavenly things be presented their hearts are lifted up If thy heart be lifted up to vanity if thy heart be as iron and the vanities of the world come and draw it up thou art not a sonne of Jacob a little would serve Jacob though he were a great heir He was a plain man and dwelt in tents Gen. 25. and had a plain spirit he did not look after great things whereas Esau looked after great things abroad Again he was one of a tender spirit therefore where it is said he prevailed with the Angel it is said he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with us That story of Jacob concerns us how God dealt with our Father If now thou have a tender spirit as he had if when thou goest into the presence of God thou find thy spirit yield and melt and relent thou art one like thy father Jacob. Again further Jacob did in the time of his streights repair to the covenant that was a great satisfaction to his heart he looked to the covenant he fastned on that and there he held as the main support of his spirit Gen. 32.9 And Jacob said O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac the Lord which said'st unto me return unto thy countrey and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee c. He heard that Esau was coming against him with a great many and what doth Jacob he gets him to God O God of my father Abraham and of my father Isaac the Lord which said unto me return into thy countrey c. He repairs to the Covenant Remember thy Covenant with Abraham and Isaac and with me too I went on thy word Here was the guise of Jacob canst thou in a straight get thee too a word and a promise and brood thy soul over it and clasp it close say this is the promise that must and will do me good Again Jacob was of an humble spirit I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies He admired at the mercy of God that he had any thing and Gods mercies made him more humble this is an excellent disposition we are many times humble and lowly when we are under the hand of God in affliction but when mercies make us humble that the more God is gracious the more vile we are in our own eyes this is excellent And he looked back to his former condition he looked upon his poor beginning and gives God the glory I passed over this Jordan with my staffe Many of you came with your staff and God hath given you two bands you are grown great are you willing to think of it and to acknowledge the poor estate that once you were in and to give God the glory I was thus and thus of poore parentage and see how God hath dealt with me Another thing remarkable is that Jacob contented himself with God alone he accounted that he had enough in God alone though all were taken from him he did not look upon himself as undone but he had that that might make him for ever In Gen. 33. compare the 9. and 11. verses you shall find a notable difference between Esau and Jacob yet the word in our books is the same but this Scripture is much wronged by the translation In v. 8. Esau when he comes to Jacob when Jacob would have given him his present saith he what meanest thou by all these droves which I met he said these are to find grace in the sight of my lord and Esau said I have enough my brother It was a strange speech of Esau A covetous wretch that is alway pyning and murmuring for having no more and thinks he shall want before he dye he doth not come so farre as Esau and Esau could say I have enough are there not many of you that never say you have enough I pray thee take my present saith Jacob for I have all things nay saith Esau I have enough The one saith I have enough the other saith I have all things for so the word is Col Esau had enough he did not want he had meat and drink and he saw none to interrupt him he was satisfied with his estate as his portion he had enough he cared for nothing more they might talk of other things but that was enough to him Jacob comes and saith I have enough but this was another manner of enough Esaus enough is his estate but Jacobs enough is God for he saith I have all Jacob was meaner for his outward condition then Esau for he had nothing but what he had gotten in hard servitude Now Esau saith I have enough Jacob saith I have all that is God is enough in the want of all if Esau should strip him of all he had yet he had all in God Now one that is of the seed of Jacob in the time of want as some of you may be plundered and then all is gone you say no if thou be of the seed of Jacob if thou have God thou hast all There is such a promise He that overcometh shall inherit all things How is that and I will be his God Revel 21.7 Therefore whatsoever thou wantest if God be thine if thou be Gods child thou hast all Further one of the seed of Jacob is one of the Church of God for all Jacobs posterity was so therefore the blessing in Ruth is The Lord blesse thee like Rachel and Leah which two did build up the house of Israel Why is it not the Lord blesse thee as Rebeccah or Sarah but as Rachel and Leah It was a blessing upon a marriage condition the reason is because from Rachel and Leah came onely those that were of the Church that were members of the Church of God but there came others from Rebeccah and of Sarah came onely Isaac but Abrahams posterity was otherwise And that Church that was then was but a type of that which should be after that is of a company