sence a comforting of us in Distresses a companion for us in solitariness and loneliness and what not If there be so much contentment in other Authors how much more is there in the book of God which is the chief Book of all It is the want of Experience and Tryal of such performanees as these are which makes any to be ignorant of the Delight and sweetness which is in them Those which have tasted of honey they know the sweetness of honey And so those which have tasted of Gods word they know the Excellency and Comfortableness which is in it and will desire it again and again Thirdly The Communion of Saints how pleasant likewise is this That holy Conference and Discourse which Christians have one with another in provoking one another to love and good works in quickning one anothers graces in Communicating one anothers Experiences in the inlarging of one anothers Comforts As Iron sharpens iron so does the heart of man here his friend It is the begining even of Heaven it self and a pledge of that perfect contentment which the Saints shall have hereafter in that place which should stir us up so much the more to the practise of it We see how it was with the Disciples in the first Plantations of the Christian Church Acts 2.46 They continued daily with one accord in Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of bread from house in house and did their meat with gladness and singleness of heart They did eat their meat with gladness namely in regard of the delight which they had one with another Fourthly The Communion which Christ and the Saints both take at the Lords Table There is a great deal of Contentment here also How does the soul of a Christian feast it self with these Royal and heavenly Preparations Here Christ spreads His Table as it were for us sets before us His Milk and His Wine and His Honey and His Oyl and all that may be to give us refreshment A conscientious Christian who uses these things as he ought not Formally not Customarily but in obedience and dependance upon God He findes a great deal of Comfort in them which another does not find As Jonathan when he had tasted of the honey in 1 Sam. 14.27 It is said his eyes were enlightned by it and he was cheared and revived in his spirit and more strengthned for the pursuit of the Philistims even so is it with a Godly soul in its partaking of these Comfortable dainties this spiritual honey and Oyle he becomes more inlighten'd in his judgement more quicken'd and inlarged in his Affections and so much the more fitted to incounter with all his spiritual enemies whereas those which abstain from that grow weary and faint as the people did there in that place that abstained from the tasting of the honey There 's no Epicure has such pleasure in his Corporal dainties as a good Christian has in these Spiritual which he does by faith apply himself to and in an holy manner partake off Lastly In a word Take the whole Sabbath together The sanctifying of the Lords day in all the several performances of it and the mixture of the one with the another how much sweetness is there in it The Scripture tells us of some that make the Sabbath a delight as there are others which make it a burden Isa 58.13 14. Amos 8.5 This is the different Disposition of Persons in the world though some snuff at the Ordinances yet others take Contentment in them A Godly man he rejoyces when the Sabbath is come it is the best day to him in all the week in regard of that satiety of soul which he meets with in it He is hereby taken off from the world and the distracting imployments of it He is set upon thoughts of God and Heaven and Salvation and the life to come such thoughts as have some kind of a satisfactoriness and pleasingness in them And the very change and intercourse of Duty is not without its delight herein also sometimes Prayers and sometimes Hearing and sometimes Meditating and sometimes Conferring and sometimes Reading and sometimes Singing How graciously has God provided for our weakness in this particular while our Natures are so desirous of Varity that no one duty might be tedious to us we have many Duties to imploy our selves in and to exercise our selves with And that 's a Third Explication of the Pleasantness which is in Godlyness viz. from the Duties and Exercises of Religion Now the point thus Explain'd unto us may be fruitful in these following Applications Namely First As it serves to confute the fond conceit of men of the World which they have concerning Godliness and the ways of Piety There are many which are of this opinion that Religion is a Melancholly Condition that it makes men pensive and sad and has no pleasure nor delight in it at all and hence they come to be discouraged from the following and professing of it and are apt to discourage others likewise from following it to But this proceeds from a plain mistake and Ignorance and erroniousness of Judgment in them for indeed it is quite contrary as 't is here exprest to us in this Text. Her wayes are wayes of Pleasantness There 's a great deal of sweet delight and refreshment in the wayes of Godliness to those which walk in them and what ever is pleasant in any ways the same is to be found here in these First Godly Prospects they are one thing which make a way pleasant green Fields and flowing Rivers and the like to walk by such wayes as these it carries a great deal of pleasure and delight with it why thus now does the Spirit of God in Scripture set forth to us the wayes of Religion Psal 23.2.3 He makes me to lie down in green Pastures he leads me besides the still Waters he restoreth my Soul he leadeth me in the paths of Righteousness for his name sake Where the latter is an Explication of the former The green Pastures and still Waters are no others then the paths of Righteousness and the Ordinances which lead thereunto Secondly Another pleasantness of wayes consists in their Lightsomeness to walk in dark wayes in Holes and Woods and the like it carries no pleasure at all in it He that walkes in Darkness he knoweth not whether he goeth sayes the Apostle and from thence can have no pleasure in his walk such are the wayes of Sin and Wickedness no comfort at all in them Who leaves the paths of Vprightness to walk in the wayes of Darkness Pro. 2.13 But the wayes of Grace are otherwise Light is sown for the Righteous as it is in the place before used And joy for the Vpright in heart Thirdly Another Pleasantness of the way is much taken from the Company Comes facundus in via per rehiculo est Why this now is the advantage of Goodness there 's good Company in this way Prov. 2.20 That thou mayest walk in the way
had the means betimes and continued a great while under them and neglected and slighted them such as these have very seldom in Age found the comfort and benefit of them God does so far prize and value his own grace and the means for the working of it as that he will not easily yield it to those that reject it Therefore I say It is a very hazardous business it carries a great deal of peril and danger in it for youth to be spent in sin Again Thirdly It is very grievous and uncomfortable when men shall come to reflect upon it and call themselves to an account for it as sometime they will There will a time one day come when men are landing in Eternity that they will then stand upon the shore and look back upon the way and course which has been past by them in the Sea of this world when they will be ready to consider how they have spent their former time Now when they shall find that it has been in vanity and in the waies of looseness and ungodliness how pinching and vexing will it be to them especially when they shall consider that there is now no revoking at all or recalling of it These evils are still the most grievous which are most incorrigible which are desperate and past remedy Now such for the most part is this of which we now speak Because that time 's irrecoverable it is such as being once spent cannot be again fetcht back and restored The Consideration of this Point may be therefore a very good Item to such persons as are now in their youth and in the prime of their Age to mind it and to have regard unto it how it is spent by them as being that which they are accountable to God at another day and which he will sadly reckon with them for Take heed here of the censure of Ephraim Strangers have devoured his strength strange courses or strange company ye may take it of which ye will and the latter has a great influence upon the former and upon the devouring of this strength which we now speak of How many poor mouths are there in the world especially which have any thing of the world belonging unto them who are ensnared and set upon by strangers and evil companions which devour their strength to whom they are made a very booty and prey for the undoing of them Now what a miserable condition is this and how much to be lamented What need have Parents in these cases to look to themselves when they shall see it thus with them But so much for that As we may take these words here before us in their Personal Notion as denoting the fin and miscarriage of such particular Persons Now further Secondly We may take them in their Notional signification and more at large namely as setting forth to us the condition of this people of Israel in their latitude and full extent And so as I must still put ye in mind of it we have their sin and their punishment promiscuously and involved one in the other forasmuch as the words may be very well applied to either and if ye will to both we shall see it in the particular explication and handling of them The word that stands in the front and which leads on to the two other is strangers Zarim as it is the Hebrew Text which is of a large and various Interpretation But accordingly as it lyes here before us in this present Scripture may admit of a threefold Reference or Emphasis in it First Strange Gods Secondly Strange Women Thirdly Strange Enemies of if ye please Allyes and Confederates All these are the strangers which had devoured Ephraim's strength Strange Gods that we have signified in Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Idols Strange Women that we have signified in the 18th of the same chapter They have committed whoredom continually Strange Enemies or Allies and Confederates that we have also in Hos 5.14 Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb And this diversity and variety of Strangers to make the connexion so much the fuller it does refer to a variety of strength which is answerably devoured by them the one is Spirtual the other is Natural the third is Temporal The Spiritual or strength of Grace that 's devour'd by strange Gods The Natural or strength of Temper that 's devoured by strange women The Temporal or strength of Estate and Power and worldly subsistence that 's devoured by strange Enemies or such Allies and Confederates as were aliens and strangers to them Here 's the full and perfect connexion of these things one with another and the order in which they lye in the Text now before us We begin with the first Strangers have devoured his strength that is strange Gods have devoured his grace false and Idolatrous Worship which he has for a while addicted himself to has eaten out the very strength and marrow of Religion and Piety in him so that he has nothing left him but the very outside and form of godliness yea hardly that This is one thing to be taken notice of by us and of very great consequence That what-ever's corrupt or amiss in Religion it does take out the very heart of Religion in those which do give themselves to it or partake in it This is true not only of Idolatry and the grossest kinds of Superstition as is here principally intended but also as well such as we may take notice of of formality and a customary service of God in the Duties and Exercises of Christianity which are performed by us It is not only so in strange Gods but in strange Fire as it was with Nadab and Abihu That is in the application of it with strange affections and an undue frame of heart and spirit in those sacrifices which we offer up unto the Lord. And for as much as it is more pertinent and seasonable I will now fasten upon this to shew how this strange kind of worship not only strange for the object and matter of it as it is in flat and absolute Idolatry but also strange for the manner and carriage of it as it is in formal and customary performances it does devour the very strength of Piety and Religion in those persons which do give themselves to it or content and please themselves with it or allow and favour themselves in it This is the Point now in hand Look as it is on the other side that hearty and lively services and a spiritual use of the Ordinances it does keep up grace alive in the heart and increase the habits and principles of it so fomal and customary do abate it and diminish it and take from it and make it less and cause a very great decay of spiritual vigor in those which yield thereunto When men come to the Ordinances of God carelesly and hand over head or behave themselves slightly and perfunctorily and superficially and negligently in them they do many times
judgment This passage may be looked upon by us as it lies here in the Text two manner of ways First in the general proposition of it as it stands in it self Secondly in the particular scope of it in reference to that which went before and the persons to whom it is directed First Take it simply and absolutely as it lies in it self and in the general proposition which is here exprest in a twofold representation First in the Affirmative what it is and that is that it is darkness Secondly in the Negative what it is not and that is that it is not light First To speak of the former and that is the Affirmative The day of the Lord is darkness Thus we find it to be called in some other places besides as Joel 2.1 2. The day of the Lord cometh and is nigh at hand A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness And so also in Zeph. 1.15 A day of wasteness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess c. This is true of the day of the Lord in the full extent of it whether we take it of personal desolation the day of death or of national desolation the day of captivity or of general resurrection the day of judgment But still with this restriction as it referr'd to ungodly persons and to impenitent sinners with respect had to such as these are is this day that which it is said here to be But especially as I said does it refer to the day of death and final judgment which is here intended This is called a day of darkness that is to say a day of extreme misery and perplexity Darkness and light they do in the usual acception of Scripture where they are used metaphorically denote sorrow and gladness as it were easy to give instance of it and so here in this place amongst the rest Forasmuch as darkness does contain in it all kinds of sadness in which is fear and horror and solitariness and all kind of misery Such is this day of the Lord to the fore-mentioned persons not only dark in the conerete but also darkness even in the very abstract it self Take the unprofitable Servant and cast him into outer darkness Matth. 25.30 The ground hereof is this Because wicked men they are darkness themselves therefore is this day of the Lord darkness They are in the darkness of sin and ignorance whiles they live here in the world delight in works of darkness and which are opposite to the light of Grace and therefore go into a place of darkness and which is opposite to the light of Glory Their understandings are darkened and therefore their conditions are darkness also Being led and carried from one kind of darkness to another It is a day of darkness that is a day of fearfulness and terribleness and horror and consternation of mind There 's every thing terrible in it and adding to the astonishment of it The sound of the Trumpet the appearance of the Judge the opening of the Books the passing of the Sentence the dissolution of the whole frame of Heaven and earth the Sea and the waves roaring the Heavens passing away with a great noise the Elements melting with servent heat the Earth and all the works that are therein burâ—â— up the Sun darken'd the Moon withdrawing her light the Stars falling from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shaken What a terrible day must this be to such as are not provided for it that has all these concurrences in it That 's the first expression here considerable viz. the Affirmative The day of the Lord is darkness The Second is the additional Negative and that is that it is not light which is added for the greater emphasis of it Therefore we find it to be reiterated in the verse following darkness and not light even very dark and no brightness in it And it is agreeable in the like form of speech in reference to other matters which we meet withal in Scripture Thus Deut. 32.4 speaking of God A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he And Joh. 8.44 speaking of Satan He is a liar and there is no truth in him c. In 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us In all which places and the like the Negative is joyned with the Affirmative to make it more emphatical and so here To take a more particular account of it It is said here darkness and not light as we may conceive for these reasons First by way of opposition darkness and not light that is it is not light but darkness as expressing the simple nature and condition of that day Take the word day and it does in the ordinary and common acception of it denote light Whensoever it begins to be light it begins to be day and whensoever it ceases to be light it ceases to be day as that which does give the proper notion and denomination unto it and which distinguishes the one from the other God called the light day and the darkness he called night Gen. 1.5 Yea but here now in the Text it is day and yet not light day and no light in it This by way of opposition Secondly By way of intension and to shew the greatness of this darkness It is dark and dark entirely without the mixture of any thing to qualify it or to take off from the severity of it without ease without comfort without direction or any good counsel which are such things as are sometimes exprest to us by the name of light This is the misery of Hell and of the judgment which passes upon wicked men that it is absolute and compleat and entire The wrath of God without mixture as the Scripture calls it that is without any mixture of favour or refreshment in it Take any day whatsoever here in the world whether in the proper sense or in the metaphorical and it is not so over-darkned with darkness but has some kind of glimmerings of light in it The day which is fullest of clouds the rainiest and most tempestuous day yet it partakes of some light And the day which is fullest of troubles the saddest and most disconsolate day it has some mixtures of refreshment in it likewise which do serve to allay it Yea but this day of the Lord here spoken of it has none of this it is darkness and no light it is sadness and no comfort Thirdly By way of perpetuity and continuation Darkness and no light that is darkness and always dark There are some days which though they may be dark for a while yet they do not abide and continue to be so but do at last overcome that The Sun it breaks through the clouds and the day recovers its light at last though perhaps it be long first ere it does it Yea but here it does not do so Dark and no light this is a continual and
for heavenly discourse He that exercises communion with God shall be better able to exercise and maintain communion with men And he that converses with his own heart shall be the better able to deal with others because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks as our Saviour tells us He that will lay out must lay up and he that will ever be profitable to others he must have a treasury and store-house within himself None can give but he that has And this is one rule to be observed by us as tending to this duty Secondly We must also have respect to the company we converse withal There 's a casting of Pearls before Swine which our Saviour has given us warning of Thirdly To time and season Every thing is beautiful in its season and a word spoken then is like apples of Gold in pictures of silver The use which we are to make of this Point is in our places to conform to this example and to study all opportunities of doing good that possibly we can Thus much for that which is here implied Christ's instruction and improving of himself whiles he was here present with them The Second is that which is exprest The different entertainment of him by these two Sisters Mary she sate at his feet and heard his word but Martha she was cumbred about much serving We 'll speak to the carriage of them both c. First Of the carriage of Mary She sate at his feet and heard his word Wherein we have divers things observable of us First here was her wise improvement of the opportunity for the good of her soul She was not sure to have Christ always therefore she would make use of him whiles she had him From whence we learn the same wisdom for our own particulars we should get as much good as we can from Ministers and other Christians whiles they abide and continue with us And we should also draw them forth and improve them Thus in all probability Mary did here Christ did not only speak to her of his own accord but she ask'd him and question'd with him Thus the Queen of Sheba did with Solomon she pursued him with hard questions 1 Kings 10.1 c. She tried him and put him to it So the Disciples to Christ upon his Ascension c. This is requisite to be done First From the proportion of gifts which God does variously distribute to his servants There are some which have knowledg in them but such as does not run out of it self till it be pumpt and drawn forth yea oftentimes the greatest abilities this way the deepest as Pearls which must be digg'd for ere they be had Prov. 20.5 Counsel in the heart of man is like deep waters but a man of understanding will draw it out Secondly There is also sometimes an indisposition and retiredness in many persons which must accordingly be quickned and removed Thirdly There are particular cases wherein such and such particular persons do need advice and instruction which are best known to themselves And therefore they must be active in the expressing of them How shall a Physitian be able to apply himself to such and such Patients except themselves shew their disease This condemns the contrary course of many people Many of excellent abilities which are as good as lost for want of this That 's one thing here observable in Mary she improves the opportunity of Christ's presence to draw forth knowledg and instruction from him whiles he was with her Secondly She sate at his feet Here 's another expression of her carriage which has also its several intimations contain'd in it as especially these two First Her reverence and composedness of carriage and quietness of mind Martha she ran up and down the house as one which was distracted with business but Mary sate still at Christ's feet A composed gesture is a good argument of a composed spirit Those which cannot sit still in a place but run up and down from one to another as many do sometimes in our Assemblies they shew but little reverence and regard to the business in hand This holy woman she sate still as a note both of her inward reverence and quietness of mind free from worldly cares and distractions This is one qualification required of worthy hearers they must come as near as they can with free minds A roving and unsetled hearer can never be a good hearer Be still and know that I am Col Psal 46.10 For this purpose we should come with preparation and premeditation afore-hand labouring to disburthen our minds of those cumbrances which are apt to molest us otherwise the world will be ready to be choaked in us and become unfruitful to us And that we may the better do this disuse our selves from our worldly employment Thus when the Sabbath's approaching we should lay aside our trade betimes And on other days when we go to hearing the word we should not go immediately out of our shops but fitting our selves to it by prayer c. And that 's the first thing here observable in Mary to wit her reverence and composedness of spirit Secondly Here was her humility She sate at his feet This expression is taken from the custom of ancient times which is still continued to this present day That the Teachers were plac'd in some higher and more eminent part not only for the opportunity of speaking that so they might be the better heard but also as a Symbol of authority and eminency in regard of their Doctrine In which regard their Scholars and Disciples were said also to sit at their feet Thus Paul Act. 22.3 He is said to be brought up at the feet of Gamaliel Here in Mary it does denote that subjection and tractableness and pliableness of spirit which every hearer ought to bring with him to the word of God We are to come with meek and humble and double affections hereunto Jam. 1.21 Laying aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness receive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls This was the commendation of Cornelius and his company Acts 10.33 Now therefore we are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God They came with an humble and teachable spirit to the word of God as ready to yield obedience to every thing which should be made known unto them So the Thessalonians 1 Thes 2.13 c. We have many hearers sometimes which do not sit at the feet but rather at the head of their Teachers which will be teaching those which should teach them intruding into those things which they do not know vainly pust up by a fleshly mind as the Apostle's phrase is Col. 2.18 We have many captious and frivolous hearers which nothing will please or satisfy them but such as suits with their own lusts having itching ears This godly woman in the Text was otherwise disposed She sate at Christ's feet a note of
Thirdly therefore There is his coming at the last day to judg the World This is the coming indeed which is here intended by him and is now to be taken notice of by us as a grand and principal Article of our Christian Faith This is that which we find to be declared by the Angels at the very instant of his Ascension Acts. 1.11 This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Come and come in like manner that is as really as conspicuously as gloriously Therefore it is usually exprest in Scripture by the name of his appearing When Christ who is our life shall appear Col. 3.4 Who shall judg the quick and dead at his appearing 2 Tim. 4.2 To them that look for him he shall appear the second time c. in Heb. 9.28 This coming and appearing of Christ after this manner is very requisite upon a very good account As namely for the fulfilling af all the testimonies which are made to this purpose It is that which Christ promises to us here in this Text and it is scatered as I have shewn already in sundry other places of Scripture now therefore it must needs be so that the Scripture may not be broken Forasmuch as no tittle of God's word shall ever be abolished or diminished or fall to the ground Then it follows also from the condition of wicked men who must be reckoned withal and brought to judgment We see here in the World how men carry it by living as they list What wrong and injustice and oppression and violence there is amongst them What looseness and profaneness and wickedness and all manner of impieties Now these things will not always hold thus however men think they will do so There will a day of account come at last and Christ himself will therefore come to call men to to this account and it is very requisite he should do so God hath appointed a day in which he will judg the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained that is to say by Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul tells the men of Athens Acts 17.31 And therefore must this man come for the execution of this judgment thus ordained And then again also Christ will thus come for the accomplishment of his work of Redemption towards his Elect in the full effects and consequents of it That as he has redeemed their souls from sin so he may also redeem their bodies from corruption And as he is contracted already to them so he may further consummate and perfect his Marriage with them and as it is exprest afterwards in the Text which in its place we shall come unto that he may receive them and take them to himself These and the like considerations do enforce this second coming of Christ which is here signified to us This for the better amplifying of it to us is considerable in all the circumstances attending them First He will come visibly He will come so as to be seen Tha we had before hinted to us in the word appearing And it is sutable to some other places as Rev. 1.7 Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him even those that pierced him c. 2 Thef 1.7 The Lord Jesus shall be reveald from Heaven with his mighty Angels He shall come in state and he shall come in pomp and he shall come with great solemnity Jude ver 14. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all Thousand thousands stood before him and ten thousand times ten thousand ministred unto him the Judgment was set and the Books were opened Dan. 7.10 Secondly He will come unexpectedly He will come when people do not think of him or are aware of his coming Come perhaps before they do some of them desire or wish for his coming Behold I come as a thief says he And therefore blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame And so 1 Thess 5.2.3 Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape The certain time of Christ's second coming is unknown to us Matth. 24.36 Of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven but my Father only Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come as it is accordingly enforced in the 42d verse of that Chapter Yet Thirdly He will come quickly too There 's that also signified in Scripture speaking of his coming In Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be And again in ver 20. to put it out of all doubt Surely I come quickly Here in the Text according to the Greek which is in the Original it is exprest in the present tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do come as if he were come already So ready is he to come and as it were near at hand The Lord is at hand Phil. 4.4 And the Judg standeth before the door as it is Jam. 5.8 9. And thus we see t is coming of Christ both in the thing it self and in the circumstances of it The consideration of this Point is thus far useful to us First as it is matter of great comfort and encouragement to us in our present estate and condition here in the world That which is the scope of the Text should be the use of the Doctrine which the Text does exhibit to us Now we see what that is namely to chear and satisfy the hearts of the Disciples upon Christ's going away from them And so it should be likewise with our selves here in our pilgrimage and in our or phanage as I may so call it It is true that Christ is gone but he is not lost because he is gone cum ammo revertendi with a mind and purpose of reurning again which is matter and ground of very good satisfaction to us To part with our friends absolutely so as never to meet with them more that has some kind of irksomeness with it and we know not well how to digest it but when they promise us to return again to us we do then more easily dismiss them Why this now here is the case betwixt our Blessed Saviour and his Disciples and in them towards all his children He goes away so as to come again It is not a final farewel but only a temporary retirement and withdrawing of himself And that as we have heard before out of the fore going verse for our benefit and advantage that he may prepare a place for us This is the end of his departure The end for which And the end in which The end for which it is so order'd
their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled There is a ripeness and maturity of sin which calls for the execution of judgment till which time judgment is delayed and put off and for a season procrastinated and then he that shall come will come and will not tarry Lastly This desire of the Church to Christ's coming and hastning of it it hath a respect to Christ himself who in a manneris hereby also perfected for the Church in the fulness of its Members is the fulness also of Christ and so it is called in Ephes 1.23 The fulness of him that filleth all in all We must distinguish of Christ in his person and Christ in his office If we look upon Christ as God and as the second person in the Trinity so he is absolute and compleat in himself and capable of no addition or augmentation but if we look upon Christ as he is God-man the Mediator and Head of the Church so he is so far forth perfected as the Church it self is perfected and compleated in the number of Members And as himself also has finished and compleated all the works which do belong to his Mediatorship which is coming in Glory This is the only remainder of what 's behind and lest yet undone as to the full work of our Redemption and therefore does the Church very properly call for it and put him in mind of it out of her respect unto him This if not so to be taken as if Christ himself would not come otherwise for that he would though she should be silent and never call for him nor yet if she could properly hasten it or speed it before its time for that she cannot neither God has appointed a day wherein he will judg the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained as the Apostle tells us Act. 17.31 As he has appointed the man namely Christ so he has also appointed the day which we cannot name nor it does not belong unto us It is not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power Act. 1.7 But the Church prays for his coming as a testimony of her affection to him and as desiring thereby to put a respect upon him because in coming his Glory and Majesty shall be so much the more revealed and discovered And that 's the last account which may be here given of this Prayer and Petition When the Spirit and the Bride say Come namely out of respect to Christ The Vse of all to our selves serves to teach us to labout for such a frame of spirit as this is whereby we may in truth and sincerity come up to this requess and desire so as to pray and to pray heartily for the second coming of Christ and the appurtenances of it It is a request which is so much the more considerable as it is such as we are taught to make by Christ himself in that Prayer which he hath left unto us whereof one branch is this Thy Kingdom come As the Holy Ghost suggests it so Christ himself also commands it and requires it of us and accordingly we should all indeavour that it may be practised by us We should labor for the Considerations above-mentioned to say Come Lord Jesus come quickly as it follows afterwards in this Chapter Where when Christ promises it the Church presently apprehends it and returns upon him with desires answerable and suitable to so gracious an intimation For this purpose let us especially endeavour to have the Spirit of God Himself in us and to be filled with that For observe how it is said here in the Text The Spirit and the Bride say Come Nature that does not say it but rather reluctates against it and puts it off no but it is the Spirit that says it and we our selves say it to purpose so far forth as we are spiritual and act upon spiritual Grounds and Principles in the desires of it There are some kind of people who now and then in a discontent and when any thing crosses them then it may be they could wish for an end of the world and of their own lives with it But that may be perhaps from the flesh and not from the spirit and so to be suspected no but then it is so as should be when it proceeds from a work of the Holy Ghost and Spirit himself in us Now there are three ways especially whereby the Spirit of God does usually work such a desire as this in us and makes us in Truth and Reality to desire Christs second Coming First By discovering to us the vanity of all these things here below What is the reason that many people are so unwilling to think of another world It is because they think there is no other but this but place their happiness and contentment here in these poor outward things which if their hearts were taken off from it would be otherwise with them Now those whom God has a delight in he does by his Spirit convince them of the vanity and Transitoriness of this world Secondly By purging our consciences from any thing which may be burdensom to them and putting us upon duty and that work which is required of us in our present opportunities When Christians shall have this lye upon their spirits that either they have been sinful or unfruitful they cannot so easily wish for Christs coming either guilt or their work yet unfinished they are great pull-backs and retarders in this particular Now therefore does the Holy Ghost take order with them to both of these purposes by not suffering his servants to lye under the power of any known sin nor yet wilfully to omit and neglect any known Duty but to be sincere and fruitful both to such Christians as are so Christs coming will be the more acceptable to them Thirdly By manifesting unto them the Excellency which is in Christ himself and the blessed and glorious condition of God's People in another world together with their own interest and concernment in it When Christ had declared before that he was the bright and moring-star then the Spirit and the Bride say Come it is ignorance of Christ that makes men no more to breathe after him nor to be desirous of him Therefore the Spirit of God may rouse those desires in us he presents these Excellencies to us and gives us some glimpses and anticipations of that glorious condition which he has provided for us And then also which belongs hereunto vouchsafes some kind of assurance of our interest in this condition and that it belongs to us for our particular whereby the more to quicken our desires Excellency is nothing without propriety it is the Spouse of Christ alone which can with joy desire Christs coming When therefore the soul is convinced that it is so with it self that it is contracted and espoused to Christ and owned by him then the Spirit an the Bride say Come When we
Mischances is this worldly Wealth subject unto By Land and by Water and by Fire and by Winde by every Element from bad Debters from bad Servants from bad Wares and the sundry Miscarriages of them I need not reckon them up to you your Experiences often times are a sufficient proof of it so that now ther 's as much need of a power for the preserving and holding of wealth as there is for procuring and getting it Nec minor est virtus quam quaerere parta tueri Now who is it that bestows this upon thee but God alone It is he that gives thee Power to keep Wealth and indeed there is no Security like to his It is the best Security and Preservetion in the World and that which will hold when nothig else will do it besides All the strength and power which is in Chests or Locks or Bolts or Barrs they are all nothing to this which is therefore to be preferr'd by us And it is that which so far forth as God see 's fitting and Expedient for his Servants he is also pleased to bestow upon them As his Providence Extends it self to their Persons and to that which they are so likewise it Extends it self to their Estates and to that which they have And accordingly they may in an humble manner depend upon him for them as to the keeping of them That which Paul says of his Soul and of his Life and of his Ministry and such things as those are may a good Christian say also of his Goods and his Lands and his Estates and such things as these are I know whom I have trusted and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him If we speak of other Depositaries in the World men cannot always say it so of them that either they know whom they have trusted or that those whom they have trusted are able to keep that for them which they have trusted with them But of God it may be said so Who as he gives thee power to get Wealth so also to keep it â—ly He gives thee Power to use it we must take that also This is that which is very Desireable and so very considerable and so much the rather as it is so much wanting often times in the world as indeed it is There are many who sometimes have very great and large Estates and yet know not what to do with them nor how to improve them which know not how to improve themselves nor yet know how conveniently to dispose them to the fruition and injoyment of either This is a great Vanity and sore Evil which Solomon says He has seen under the Sun when Riches are thus reserv'd for the owners thereof to their hurt they have power it may be to keep them but not power to imploy them For why as it follows they do by degrees moulder a way by evil travel and he begets a Son and there is nothing in his hand in Eccle. 5. vers 13.14 Therefore he resolves it afterwards in the 19. vers of that Chapter Every man also to whom God hath given Riches and Wealth and hath given him Power to Eate thereof and to take his portion and to rejoyce in his labour This is the gift of God And so again to the like effect in ch 2.24 There is nothing better for a man then that he should eat and drink and that he should make his Soul to injoy Good so much likewise for that and so I have done with this Passage in its simple and absolute Consideration both explain'd and also inlarg'd in these words It is God that giveth thee power to get Wealth The Second is it's Relative or Connexive Consideration in the particular For which knit's and conjoyns both the parts of the Text together and makes the Former to be an Inference upon the latter The latter part that 's as it were the Doctrine It is God that gives thee power to get Wealth And the former part that 's as it were the use and Application which is made of this Doctrine Therefore thou shalt be sure to remember the Lord thy God The one contains the Priviledge of God's people And the other contains this Duty which lies upon them from it And this other is that which we are now to speak unto we have formerly spoken of it distinctly and at large as a point by it self Now we shall look upon it Connexively and as a Practical Inference and Deduction from the foremention'd Proposition and Intimation because it is the Lord who gives his People power to get Wealth which we have heard as the Doctrine therefore it is his Peoples Duty to remember now the Lord their God which is the present Application Here 's a a special and particular Reason for the Inforcement of that Duty upon them And this Remembring of him to this purpose it must be taken in its full Latitude and extent as pertinent hereunto First Remember to seek to him and to call and to depend upon him for his Assistance and Blessing in this particular Seeing it is God that gives thee power to get Wealth therefore whosoever thou art that desirest to thrive in the World and to get any Estate to thy self remember to take in God with thee as an helper and Assistant to thee Her 's good Counsel for those that are young Beginners and Traders in the World and who seem to have the world before them to know what course is to be cheifly taken by them for the furtherance and advancement of them And it is the best Counsel which can be given unto them It is the Vanity and folly of a great many Persons in such Conditions as these are that they least of all remember God of any thing else what Stock they have what Commodities what Friends what outward Advantages these are oftentimes thought of and thought of again and again Ye but what Interest in God what Acquaintance with Him what Relation to Him what Expectation from Him Thus it does not many times so much as enter into their minds and Cogitations Now what a weak and fond thing is this whether it shall appear that it is He alone that gives Power to get Wealth Do not they reckon as we may say without book who make account to be Rich without Him who is the Spring and Fountain of Riches Yes without question they doe And therefore let all such be here perswaded to be put in minde of Him accordingly to make their repaires and addresses to him in this behalf to Sanctify their Labours and Indeavours undertakings by calling upon God in prayer and Supplication to Him which is the most absolute and Compendious course which can be taken by them in this respect and most effectual to the prospering of them in all their affairs Indeed this must not be the first occasion of their addresses to God nor yet the onely To go to God onely for an Estate and never care
God First That God would bless him in his Estate and give him sufficient Maintenance That thou wouldest inlarge my Coast Secondly That God would bless him in his Imployment and give him proportionable Assistance And that thy hand might be with me Thirdly That God would bless him in his Person and vouchsafe him Gracious Preservation And that thou wouldest keep me from Evil that it might not grieve me All these three particulars are here Considerable of us in this Text thought the first of them we shall onely speak to at this present time The First is this That God would be pleased to bless him in his Estate and subsist me in the World That thou wouldest inlarge my Coast Vt dilataveris terminos meos A phrase that suits very well here with your own Language and Occasions and is proper unto them This is that which Jabez would here have an Extention of the Bounds of his Estate and the Possessions which he injoyd to a just measure and Proportion when he desires that his Coast should be inlarged we are to understand it in a Qualified sense not for such an Inlargement as men of the world commonly seek after without any Bounds or limits at all An unsatiable desire which like the Horse-leach that Solomon speaks off cryes nothing but Give Give Prov. 30.15 Or like those that the Prophet speaks off and denounces a Wo unto them which joyn House to House and lay Field to Field till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the Earth Esay 5.8 Such kind of persons as these they would have their Coast inlarged like the Sea There 's no measure at all of their desires which surely is such a kind of inlargement as the Lord does not approve and therefore we are not to understand it to be meant here in this Text. But we are to take it in a more restrain'd Acception That thou wouldest inlarge my Coast that is that thou wouldest bless me with a fair and competent Estate This was that which Jabez in this Scripture did seem to desire at Gods hands in this Expression And there are two things here answerable of us from it First That this is a Blessing considered in its own nature and such as in a strict way may be desired Secondly That it is such a Blessing that if it be desired at all it must be desired and desired from God himself Whosoever would have it they must wait upon Him for it as Jabez here did he calls upon the God of Israel that he would inlarge his Borders for him First I say it is a Blessing in it self considered in its own nature and such as may be in a sort desired A fair and large Estate here in the World This we gather from the reasoning and practise of Jabez here in this place That it is so and may appear unto us not so much by the Inclinations and Affections of men themselves which are many times in this point irregular as rather by the Representations which the Scripture it self makes of it First As promising it for a Blessing sometimes to those that do well as we may see in Deut. 28.1 If thou wilt harken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God c. Then all these Blessings shall come upon thee Blessed shalt thou be in the City and Blessed shalt thou be in the Field Blessed shall be thy Basket and Blessed shall be thy Store So again 't is said of Spiritual Wisdome Prov. 3.16 That length of Days is in her right Hand and in her left hand Riches and Honour It is true it is but in her left hand but in her right hand it is notwithstanding And for Incouragement of men in labour and Industrious following of their Callings it is said That the diligent hand shall make Rich. So again Secondly on the other side The Contrary is threatned for an Affliction as in the same fore-named Chapter in Deut. So likewise in other places As Habb 1.8 Ye looked for much and loe it came to little c. That it is a Blessing indeed and so in that regard may be desired which I need not stand much to prove may appear further upon this Account First As an opportunity of Receiving Good And Secondly As an opportunity of doing Good and of Receiving as Appears by that of our Saviours Luk. 16.9 Make ye friends of the Mammon of Vnrighteousness that so when ye fail that is when ye Dy they may Receive you into Ever lasting Habitation What 's the meaning of that what Are Riches alone of themselves able to do this no but by the Friends which they make in the improvement and Dispensation of them He that Conscionably Scatters his Estate amongst the poor Servants of God he has so many Prayers to the Bargain which are put up for him to the throne of Grace not onely for the increasing of his Temporal Estate but likewise for the promoting of his Spiritual c. Thus we see how t is an opportunity of Receiving Good It s so also of Doing which if we compare them is somewhat more then the former It being a more blessed thing to Give then to Receive as the Scripture speaks The Comfort of a great Estate is not as most men make it to be onely to look upon it with his Eyes and to please themselves in the Injoyment of it no more but so No but as a Greater opportunity of greater Services and of doing greater Good This then serves to teach us in what respects principally to desire it if so be we ever desire it at all and also upon what terms to injoy it and to be partakers of it namely with Thankfulness and Improvement which is that which makes it to be a Blessing indeed Honour the Lord with thy Substance and the first Fruits of thine Increase So shall thy Barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine as Solomon advises to this purpose in Prov. 3.9.10 There was never more need for it then now in these present times of want and distress which many people abroad in the world are perfectly pincht withall it being that which is the proper result of such a Mercy and Blessing as this is which is bestowed upon us For consider seriously with our selves Why should God multiply us while hedeminishes others Why should he add to us while he takes from others Why should he make us to abound while he causes others to want If it were not for this reason that we might be so many Stewards and disposers of his Goodness to others through our hands and so many standing Monuments and Patterns and Examples of the freeness of his Mercy and love in these respects Alas what is it for men at any time to have an inlarged Coast and not to have an inlarged Heart To be amplified in their Estates and yet to be straiten'd in their Bowels To have Great comings in to themselves and
First Vanity both of Spirit and Conversation That 's one kind of Distemper which this Age is Exposed unto so the Preacher has told us Eccl. 11.10 Childhood and Youth are Vanity Not onely Vain but Vanity it self in regard of that frame and temper of Spirit which is upon them They mind and imploy themselves chiefly about Toys and Trifles and Superfluities but in the mean time neglect Solider matters and those things which are more Real and Substancial How much part of men's time even the prime and floure of their Age is as Samuel speaks to the People 1 Sam. 12.1 Carryed after vain things which cannot profit nor content in the latter end because they are Vain Pastimes and Pleasures and Sports and Gaming 's and such things as these are they are made not onely the Play and Recreation and Refreshment but even the Work and Business and Imployment oftentimes of that Age. Lovers of Pleasures more then lovers of God 2 Tim. 3.4 Secondly Flexibility to Evil that 's another Evil in Youth easily wrought upon and drawn away and intised to that which is Evil. The very Heathen Poet Himself couldtake notice of it Cereus in vitium Flecti Like wax to any sinful impression which shall be fasten'd upon them Like dry Tinder to Sparks of Fire thus is Youth for the most part to Temptation quickly takes no sooner can they meet with any Persons which are willing to Corrupt them but they are presently Corrupted by them In matter of Judgment to such in any new Opinion though never so Gross In matte of Practise to conform to any sinful Course though never so vile this is that which is very much incident to the Age of Youth A Flexibility to that which is Evil. Thirdly Unteachableness and Untractableness and Uncapableness of Admonition that 's another thing in Youth Monitoribus asper that Age does disrellish such as would reform them and bring them into rights so deferring of Repentance c. Wax to Temptation and Flint to Admonition and the means of Reforming These and the like are the Distempers which that Age is subject unto in regard of the frame of their Spirit Now as for outward Practises and the actings of Sin so Impetuousness and Intemperance and Violence and Uncleaness and such Bodily Lusts they are such as though all are not guilty of which is not the meaning of this Discourse yet the Age it self is exposed unto which accordingly does give this Denomination of the Sins of Youth that is as it is First of all to be understood by way of Specification as denoting the kind of Sin The Second is as denoting the Time Thus a Sin may be in some sense call'd the Sin of a mans Youth when it has been committed by him in his Youth though it may be as to the Quality of it it was a Sin of riper years There are some kind of People in the World which do Antedate their Age to themselves as in other things so in matter of Sins in which they grow old betimes and make hast unto it As there are some which are guilty of the Sins of Youth in the time of Age so there are others which are guilty of the Sins of Age in the time of Youth Malitia supplet aetatem Their Wickedness it makes up their years when they were Defectives Now these also are as well as the other the Sins of Youth what ever Sins men committed in the time of their Youth they are to them Youthful sins by way of Denomination And so much briefly of the first Particular Considerable in this first General viz. The sin he Sins of his Youth The Second is the Punishment of his sin which is exprest and propounded in those words where it is said that his Bones are full of them Thus although it may be very well applyed as to the matter of Guilt as we shall hear more anon Forasmuch as Sin does as it were Incorporate it self into Wicked men and is as a part of their Substance yet as I conceive in this place it does refer Especially rather to the Punishment The Spirit of God would hereby signify to us the sad and miserable Condition of an obdurate impenitent sinner that has Especially lived for a long time in a Course of sin That he possesses the iniquities of his Youth as it is Exprest in another place of this Book His bones are full of it This word Bones it may be taken here in this Text two manner of ways either in a Corporal sense or in a Spiritual Either proper in a Literal or in a Mystical If we take it in the next and Literal sense Corporally so it does denote the Body and outward man If we take it in the Remote and Qualified sense Spiritually so it does denote the Soul and the more particularly the Conscience each of these are full c. First The Bones that is the Body and Flesh and outward man taken it Literally There are many which in old Age feel the sins of their youth in their Bones according to this Interpretation which mourn at last when their Flesh and Body is Consumed Prov. 5.11 And which receive in themselves that recompence of their Errour which is meet as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1.27 Namely in regard of those Diseases which does attend their Vicious Courses and hasten their Bodily Destuction There are some kind of Sins which God does punish even in this present Life and as they are committed with the Body so are they avenged upon the Body which is made the Subject of Punishment as it has been before of Miscarriage and all little enough to take off such Persons from them as are addicted and given up unto them Secondly By Bones here we are to understand not onely the Flesh but the Spirit and more particularly the Conscience Thus we shall find the phrase used in some other places besides of Scripture As Psal 6.2 Have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my Bones are vexed So Psal 38.3 There is no Soundness in my Flesh because of thine Anger There 's the remembrance of sin in the Body Neither it ther any rest in my Bones because of my Sin There 's the remembrance of sin in the Soul So again Psal 51.8 Make me to hear Joy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce The broken-Bones i. e. The broken Spirit and that occasion'd from the sense of sin Sin it will stick in the Conscience for a long while after the Commission of it And when men are grown old they then pay for the Sins of their Youth in the reflections of them God charges the Guilt of them upon their Souls when the things themselves are past and gone Thus it hath several ways and degrees whereby it does proceed First In rubbing up their Memories and bringing their sins to Remembrance There are many which in the heat of their Lusts and while they are in the full
no God will do it and surely he will do it this that in it But what will he do He will wound the head of his Enemiss what 's that why not onely his Enemies in the Head as we have hitherto handled it but likewise as we may further Explain it The principal of them He will wound the head of his Enemies that is he will wound the chief of his Enemies that 's another Explication which we may very well fasten hereupon according to that also in another place Psal 110 6. He shall wound the Heads ever many Countryes And Hab. 3.13 Thou woundest the Head This may be reduced to three Heads especially First To Satan Secondly To Antichrist Thirdly To all other potent Enemies whatsoever First Satan God will wound his Head it is the course which is threatned upon Him from the very beginning Gen. 3.15 Semu mulieris conterit caput Serpentis The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head That is Christ shall break the head of the Devil This was promised to our first Parents in Paradise and it is that which we shall find to be made good to our selves So Rom. 16.20 The God of Peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly And Luke 10.18 I beheld Satan like Lighting fall from Heaven This is that which the Scripture sayes of Him Secondly Antichrist It says as much of him also in 2 Thes 2.3 The man of Sin is there Emphatically called the Son of Perdition And expresly vers 8. Whom the Lord shall Consume with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his Comming Thirdly All other Potent Enemies whatsoever The Rulers Princes and Governous of the World Thus again Psal 110.5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath So Psal 2.2.3.4 And here in this present Psalm vers 11.12 The Lord gave the word great was the Company of those that published it Kings of the Army did flee apace and She that tarried at home divided the spoyl The use of all this is Comfort to the Church of God that we being delivered from all our Enemies c. So much for that Exposition and so also for the whole Text. But God shall c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XVIII Psal 75.8 For the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them This Text which I have now read unto you is a very terrible Text which Carries a great deal of Terrour and affrightment and Consternation with it even in the very first Proposal of it but yet Couch'd and vayled under such terms and Expressions and Metaphors and allusive Resemblances as doe allay and Mollify it to us It is in one word an Account of the Severity of Gods Dispensations in the Dispising of these inferiour matters and affairs here below The Psalmist had in the verse before told us of Gods absolute Power and Soveraignty in the Ruling and Governing of the World that he is the Judg of all who Changes the Hours and Seasons as Daniel speaks Dan. 2.21 And takes upon him to remove and settle as he pleases he putteth down one and setteth up another in the 7th vers of this Psalm Now here in the Text he does amplify and prosecute this Argument which he had mentioned and propounded by taking men off from opposing or contradicting that truth which he had there promised from the Consideration of the danger which is consequent and insuing thereupon For in the hand c. IN this present Verse before us to give the full view of it we have a lively description and amplification of the Judgements of God upon the world which are here set forth unto us under a threefold representation of them First In their preparation Secondly In their Execution And Thirdly in their Participation The Preparation of them that we have in those words In the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red c. The Execution of them that we have in those words He poureth out of the same The Participation of them that is in these words But the draggs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them We begin in order with the first viz. The Preparation of these Judgements For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture Wherein again we may take notice of three particulars more First The Vessel and that is a cup. Secondly The liquor and that is red wine full of mixture Thirdly The Preparer and Orderer and Disposer and Qualifier of it and that is God himself This cup of red wine and full of mixture it is in the hand of the Lord. First I say Here 's the vessel and that is a cup. This is one thing whereby the Judgements of God in Scripture both here and in other places are described and represented unto us It is Calix es poculum Indignationis Isa 51.17 The cup of fury And ver 28. The cup of trembling and Ezek. 23.33 The cup of astonishment and many such expressions as these are This it is among other reasons especially for this as hereby signifying the collection and gathering together of his punishments all in one that as in a cup you have the liquor united and incompast in such a space so is it likewise with the Judgements of God they are a great while gathering together and then they serve to make up a cup from the fullness and completeness of them God distributes these his sorrows not by drops only but cups To speak more distinctly of it and to open this Metaphor so much the better unto us By this Cup or Vessel of reception we may understand whatsoever it is which is the means and conveyance and derivation of any evil unto us For as there are divers evils and calamities in the world which our natures are subject unto so there are accordingly divers conveyances and transmissions of these evils to our hands since they come to us in one way and some they come to us in another and they are but the expression as we see it was with holy Job There were the Sabeans and the Chaldeans and the Fire and the wind from the wilderness All these were so many cups wherein the Lord gave him to drink of the waters of bitterness affliction And so he does with many others He hath his several conveyances to his purpose some he afflicts in their bodies and some in their spirits and some in estates and some in their relations All of them are but cups of displeasure and that they are They doe serve for this end and intent to be the means and instruments of their afflictions Indeed t is true these cups are of different sizes and capacities as I may so
's his thoughts his Meditations his Expectations his Hopes and Desires He is nothing but Earth in the whole frame and temper of his Spirit Therefore are wicked men in Scripture Emphatically call'd the World and men of the World and Inhabitants of the World and dwellers upon the Earth as if there were nothing else which they cared for or had any mind or affection unto And then as it is their portion to we must take in that with it Terram dedit filicis hominum God has bestowed the Earth upon them as being all which he makes account to give them here they have their Portion and Reward and Inheritance and consolation as the Scripture does abundantly signify and demonstrate unto us more particularly and expresly in that place of the Prophet David Psal 17.14 Men of the world have their portion in this life as expressing the quality of the offender Thirdly The Wicked of the Earth it may be taken by way of Denomination that is such persons as are more notoriously wicked and are guilly in a more eminent degree The Spirit of God makes choyce of such words which might be most expressive and proper to the business in hand he does not say simply Sinners for then no man should be excluded forasmuch as the best that are they have the Defilement of Sin in them nor he does not say onely the Wicked that is meer natural and unregenerate persons for there is a difference also of these and all are not so deeply involved and ingaged in Sin one as another but he says the wicked of the Earth that is such as are more Scandalous and Presumptuous and Impenitent and farthest from Reformation such as these who for the nature of the Sin are more Abominable and for the continuance in it are more Incorrigible these are they which the Holy Ghost does here point at in a more principle manner And this for the persons here mentioned to wit the wicked or ungodly of the Earth The Second is the Evil which is denounced against them and that is That they shall wring out the Dregs and drink them Where again two things more First The Draught or Potion it self and that is the Dregs of the Cup. Secondly The manner of Participation of it and that is by wringing them out and drinking them .. For the First The Potion or draught it self it is the Dregs of the Cup. This is the Potion and Portion of wicked men while t is said they shall drink the Dregs there are three things implyed in this expression as belonging unto it First The Reservation of Judgment they shall drink the last Secondly The Aggravation of Judgment they shall drink the worst And Thirdly The Perfection and Confirmation of Judgment they shall drink up all They shall drink the last they shall drink the worst they shall drink all each of these are implyed in the Dregs First They shall drink the last here 's the Reservation of Judgment The Dregs they lie at the botom and are not come to till all the rest of the cup be drunk up before And this is the Stato and Condition of wicked men As to the Judgments of God they are such as are last in it When God has warmed Himself a little with his Children in the Chastening and Correcting of them then he pours forth the fierceness and fury of his Vengance and Indignation upon his Enemies in the Punishing and Destroying of them so that they have in a manner the weight and Impression of all that went before Look as in the shewing of Mercy in Dispensation of Himself to his People God reserves the best for the last to them as he did with the Wine at the Marriage in Canaan so likewise in the Exercise of Wrath and execution of Judgment upon his Enemies God reserves the worst for the last to them also He reserves wrath for his Enemies as it is in Nahum 1.2 Therefore let none flatter themselves from present forbearance and by thinking that they are not involved in the common Calamities for although they be not as yet they may be time enough hereafter and their condition so much the heavier It is is no sign or argument of innocecy alwayes to escape present Judgement The wicked they drink the dregs that is the last of the Cup. Secondly They drink the dregs and that 's the worst of the Cup If there be any thing worse then other at any time it still settles at bottom there 's the collection and congregation of all the venome and poyson together And so t is with ungodly persons in regard of Divine Judgements they partake of the very worst of all the rest .. That cup of mingled wrath which we spake of before it comes to them with the greatest disadvantage that possibly may be They have that which others have left and which there soul abhorred to partake off which they desired to be delivered from and were heard in that which they desired That wicked men do taste of and not onely taste but swallow down and as they are the vilest in sinning so they are the miserablest in suffering and that 's the aggravation Thirdly Here 's the Perfection or Confirmation of Judgement they shall drink up all there 's nothing comes after the dregs that 's the last of all in this cup and therefore they that take down them they take down all And this is the lot of ungodly men there 's not one judgement which belongs unto them which they shall not partake of As they fill'd up the measure of their sins so they shall likewise fill up the measure of the wrath of God which shall be poured upon them for their sins Yea and they shall All do it too we may not omit that neither All the wicked of the earth As there 's an universality of the Judgement so there 's an universality of the Patients They shall drink all of it and they shall all of them drink it that so no man may here favour or flatter himself They that are far from thee shall perish thou shalt destroy all them that go a whoring from thee as it is in Psal 73.27 And thus much for the first Particular to wit the draught or potion it self The dregs of the Cup. The second is the manner of Participation They shall wring them or suck them out and drink them whiles t is said they shall do it There are two things implyed in this expression First The Certainty of it it is unquestionable And Secondly The necessity of it it is unavoidable They shall do it that is they are sure to do it and no body shall contradict it and they shall do it that is they shall be forced to it and themselves shall not escape it or divert it or withdraw from it but do it thy shall First I say here 's the certainty of it it 's unquestionable there 's no doubt to be made of it God hath said it who is truth it self
Conscience and more immediate Impressions upon the Heart God does oftentimes so apply Himself to the Soul and Spirit of a Beleiver by inlarging it and filling it with his Grace and raising up holy motions and desires in it as from whence he may be said to bespeak as it were Communion with Himself and to say seek thou my face He knocks at the door of our Hearts and says open unto me This by the Prophet David is called a preparing of the Heart in Psal 10.17 Lor thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine Ear to hear Thirdly In the Dispensations of Providence and the things which God does in the World and especially to our selves here he calls to us for our seeking of his face as to instance in two or three particulars more especially above the rest First In any special business or Imployment which he puts upon us this is a sure rule That where God calls a man to any more eminent Services especially which is of more publique Concernment he does then more especially call him to seek first of all his favour towards him and acceptance of him Forasmuch as all Assistance and success comes from Him and it is he that must give a Blessing to every thing that is undertaken by us It is a very dangerous and hazzardous matter for a man to go about any busines of great importance in a state of difference and estrangement from God for then he will be ready to blast and to cross that work unto him We are apt sometimes to beg Gods Assistance but we should first of all beg his Favour which is the ground and foundation of all Assistance and Success whatsoever and without which we can never expect it Thou saydst seek my face In case of any special undertakings Secondly In case of some special outward trouble and calamity God herein sayes seek ye my face Forasmuch as this is oftentimes his very end in the sending of it He does it to bring men to Himself Because in affliction men are then apt to run God when he slew them they sought Him as it is said of the Israelits And in their affliction they will seek me early Hos 5.25 Lord in trouble they have visited thee they have poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them Isa 26.16 And it becomes us so far forth to close and to comply with Gods ends to us in this particular Thirdly In Spiritual Desertions and the withdrawings of Gods Countenance from the soul when God hides his face from us He does then more especially call upon us to seek his face As when the mother hides her self she then puts the child upon looking for her and seeking after her even so is it here A constant and continued enjoyment of Gods countenance shining upon his servants is apt now and then through their corruption to make them a little more remiss but withdrawings of it quickens them to attendance and dependance upon them as it is in Isa 8.17 I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the House of Jacob and will look for him Fourth In the Desertions of Friends when they shall at any time fail us or leave us and be taken away from us God then sayes to us more particularly seek ye my face when either they fail in their affections as not continuing still to be friends or when they fail in their Persons as not continuing still in the world but it may be removed and taken away out of it In either of these cases and conditions does God more especially call his servants to the perfeiting of their friendship with himself and the getting of a greater evidence of his Love and favours towards them First When they fail in their Affections as not continuing still to be friends for there 's an uncertainty in all these things There 's many a man loves to day and hates to morrow and of a Friend turns to be an enemy The Love of the world it is no Foundation for any to build on in regard of the inconstancy of it Now here 's a special call to closer intimacy and acquaintance with God Acquaint thy self now with Him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee when a mans ways please the Lord he will make his enemies to be at peace with Him Prov. 16.7 Therefore now seek His face whose love is unchageable whose Purpose is immutable whose Affection is alwayes the same This is one thing which calls us hereunto And so secondly As in the failing of Affections so also in the failing of Persons when friends are removed and taken out of the world and ye see their face no more why then seek ye His face who never fails but abides for ever even from one Generation to another Lastly In the hour of death and at the Time of Dissolution when men are themselves going out of the world it concerns them then especially to seek the face of God and it should qualifie the thoughts of Death unto them being such as belongs to God to think that they shall now injoy it as David I will behold thy face in righeousness when I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Psal 17.15 And so Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fullness of Joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Thus have we seen in what respects and cases God does especially call unto us to seek His face And so I have done with the first General part of the Text which is Gods invitation Thou saidest seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek The second is David's Answer to this Invitation of Gods as to the Acceptance and entertainment of it Thy face Lord will I seek Where before we come to speak of the main point which is here considerable of us here is somewhat to be taken notice of by us by way of Preparation As first Observe this That the Heart of a Cristian it is the Reflexion of the law of God Look what the Lord in his word does injoyn and Command to be performed that the Soul and Spirit of a Believer and regenerate Person so far forth as he is regenerate does incline and tend unto Thou saydst seek my face there was the tenor of Gods Command And thy face Lord will I seek there was the temper of Davids Spirit So Psal 40.7.8 I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my Heart And this is the difference betwixt a child of God and another person take another man and his heart rises and rebels against the word and love of God and he wishes there were no such thing as that is But a good Christian he has an agreeableness to it and from thence a Complyance with it it is as the wax answering the Seal A second Observation is this That a good and a gracious heart is carryed on to the doing
in the neglect or miscarriage of his Work upon any occasion And then Thirdly In reference also to others that we may be the better affected towards them in all respects First of all In a way of Compassion to pity them and to sympathize with them in the same condition Secondly In a way of Assistance and Concurrance with them by easening and lightning the burthen what we can unto them Thirdly In a way of Thankfulness and Acceptance by acknowledging that labour and pains which hath been taken by them In all these Considerations is this sense and apprehension of the burthen and difficulty of our Works very necessary for us This does therefore justly come home to a great many people in the World who are very far from this present disposition and affection in them There are divers and sundry persons who though they have many times very great and weighty Burthens upon them yet have no sense nor feeling at all of them which set very light by them and are very little affected with them as if they were the easiest matters in all the World Take it but for instance sake among many others besides in the Work and Calling of the Ministry How many are there in the World even at this present day that do not feel the burthen of this Work Which think that to be a Preacher and Dispenser of the Mysteries of the Gospel is the easiest Work that can be Which think that the care of Souls has no care and burthensomeness in it That which the Apostle himself trembled at and cryed Who is sufficient for these things That they may likewise undertake without any fear or awfulness at all Surely such a temper as this is far from this Intimation in the Text which implicitely calls us to the sense of the burthens which are upon us Secondly As here is required of us Sensus oneris a feeling of this weight so withal which we must take in too with it Susceptio operis an understanding of the Work Whilst we are commanded to commit our Works we are hinted unto not to omit them There are many which do indeed feel sometimes a weightiness in such and such Employments but they make but a very ill use and improvement of it for from hence they take occasion to neglect them or shift them off and put that from themselves because this is a hinderance to them therefore they will not meddle with them nor stir them with one of their fingers even there where they are called with them by God himself This we must take heed of by all means The difficulty of our Employments ought not to make us to shun them but rather to labour for strength for the performance of them and to fly to God for his help and enablement and assistance of them in them Whilst we are bid there to roll upon the Lord it is not meant to roll them off our selves but our selves to submit unto them Thirdly In this Expression of Rolling and Devolving or as it is in our Books Committing We have this insinuated to us as our duty namely A fiducial Relyance upon God and the referring of our Works to Him for the prospering and succeeding of them This is that which serves properly and particularly to be the very scope and drift of this Text wherein Solomon does require this of us that we should satisfie and ease our minds in all the difficulties and perplexities which are upon us by casting our care upon the Lord and submitting of our selves to his Providence and Disposal of us This is very hard for us to do especially in times of Temptation and present Exigence but yet it is that which in a special manner does belong unto us and which is expected from us to discharge our selves of all sollicitudes and anxiety of minds Thus Psal 10.14 The Poor committeth himself unto thee Thou art the helper of the Fatherless He commits himself to thee The word in the Hebrew Text is Jagnazov that is he leaves himself with thee lays himself down at thy Feet and lets his Cause rest in thine Hand This is the Committing here spoken of and it is put in the Future Tense rather than in the Present not as a matter of Vncertainty and Procrastination but rather as a matter of Constancy and as a continued Act in him It is that which he does now and which he is ready still to do upon All Occasions And so David himself 2 Sam. 15.26 Loe here I am let him do unto me as seems good in his eyes And so much also of the Second Sense wherein we are bid to commit our Works to God Namely In a way of Humble Resignation The Third is in a way of Faithful Improvement Commit thy works unto the Lord that is order and dispose and direct all thine Actions unto him Roll our Works to him as we would roll a Bowl to the Mark Make him the Scope and Aim and End of all our Endeavours This is another thing which is required of us whatever we do we should do it to the Glory of God that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ as the Apostle speaks It is not enough for us to do that which is materially good but we must do it for a good end which can be no better than the pleasing of God Take heed of making our selves the Centre of our own Works in any thing we undertake yee know how the Lord by his Prophet took up the people for their fasting in Zach. 7.5 Did ye at all fast unto me even unto me This is that which God looked for at their hands and because they failed in it therefore he taxes them and rebukes them for it The same may be applyed to any other action or work of ours besides whether in our General Calling or in our Particular How do we aim at God in them and make Him the Scope and End of them which is a turning and rolling of them to him Fourthly In a way of Thankful Acknowledgment Commit and roll our Works to God thus in a gracious and ingenious Reflection upon him again As those that play at Tennis which strike the Ball one to another as Chrisostom sometimes makes the Comparison As we receive any thing from Him so to give Him the Glory of it both in the use of it and also the praise This we have again in David himself 1 Chron. 29.14 In the Offerings which he and his people there made in the Temple What am I says he and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee In which present Passage before us we have each of these two last Particulars which are here mentioned unto us namely both a faithful Improvement and likewise a thankful Acknowledgment First Here is a faithful improvement of that Store which God had given him to the building of the
There are many devices in the heart of man The Second is the Qualification of this Propostion or the Check as I may so call it which is put upon it in these words Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand Wherein again two Branches more First The simple Assertion Secondly The Additional Opposition The Simple Assertion that is in these words The counsel of the Lord that shall stand The Additional Opposition or Correction that is in the word Nevertheless We begin with the former viz. The Simple Assertion The counsel of the Lord that shall stand The Counsel of God in Scripture as before the Devices of Man does admit of a Double Acception and Interpretation in which it is taken Either First For the Word and Truth of God Or Secondly For the Purpose and Decree of God Now according to either of these Notions does it hold good that God's Counsel shall stand And that also as pertinent to this Scripture First For God's Word and Truth This is sometimes called his counsel Act. 20.27 I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God says St. Paul to the Ephesians And Luk. 7.30 The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves where the same word also is used and that likewise to the same effect as applyed to God's Word and Truth which is called his Counsel as depending much upon his Counsel for the discovery and manifestation of it As Ephes 3.9 10 11. speaking concerning the Gospel The Mystery which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God but now made known by the Church According to the Eternal Purpose which he Purposed in himself This Counsel of God taken for his Doctrine and Truth it shall be sure to stand and that in Opposition to all the Fansies and Devices of men which labor to obscure and pervert it Veritas magna est prevalebit The Truth is great and so shall prevail as it is commonly declared Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one Jot or Tittle of God Word shall pass away The Reason of it is this because it is an Emanation of himself As God himself is so is his Word All flesh is grass and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field The grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth away but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever And this is the Word which by the Gospel is Preached unto you says the Apostle Peter in 2 Pet. 1.24 25. And so the Apostle Paul to the like purpose 2 Cor. 1.18 As God is true our word towards you was not yea and nay but in him was yea For all the Promises of God in Him i.e. in Christ are yea and Amen c. Therefore let us stand for this Truth and hold to it all that may be which the more we stand by it the more it will stand by us yea and make us our selves to stand at another Day Humane Error it shall fall before Divine Truth as Dagan sometime before the Ark. And so it needs must in regard of the different basis and Foundation on which each of them stand Look what difference there is betwixt God Himself and man the same difference is there also betwixt mans Conceits and Devices and betwixt Gods own Counsels and Discoveries which should teach us therefore to hearken unto these rather than unto them And so for Gods Doctrinal Counsel and that Truth which he propounds to be beleived So for his Praeceptive Counsel likewise and that Law which he propounds to be obeyed This may be referred to this Head also of the Counsel of his Word and has the Name given unto it As Prov. 1.25 Ye have set at naught all my Counsel and would have none of my Reproof And so Jer. 23.22 If they had stood in my Counsel In his Counsel that is in his Commandments As God will make good the Counsel of his Truth against mens Errors and Corrupt Devices So he will make good also the Counsel of his Commands against mens Lusts and Corrupt Practises And thus much for his Counsel in the First Notion as it may be taken for the Counsel of his Word either in its Propositions or Injunctions either of which are in Scripture called his Counsel and said also to stand The next and which I conceive is more agreeable to the Scope of the Text which therefore I will insist upon though the other is not to be excluded is the Counsel of Gods Purpose and Decree and which most usually and commonly is exprest by this Appellation The Counsel of his Will as it is called in Eph. 1.11 This especially is sure to stand indeed And so the Scripture does signifie to us in sundry places of it as to instance in one or two amongst the rest Thus Psal 33.12 The Counsel of the Lord stands for ever the thoughts of his heart to all Generations Esai 46.10 11. My Counsel shall stand and I will fulfill all my Pleasure I have spoken it I will also bring it to pass I have purposed it I will also do it In Job 23.13 He is in one mind who can turn him And what his soul desireth even that he doth And Psal 115.3 Our God is in Heaven he hath done whatsoever he pleased And again in Psal 135.6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased that he hath done in Heaven and in Earth in the Seas and in all deep places Thus is the Scripture sufficiently pregnant in the Assertion of this Point before us This is a General Truth and may be extended to two Particular Heads Either First As to matter of Predestination and the Concernments of the Life to come Or else Secondly As to matter of Providence and the Transactions of this Life Present If we take it in either of these References The Point holds good as a clear and undenyable Truth That the Counsel of the Lord shall stand First In matter of Predestination Gods Counsel it shall stand here in Rom. 9.11 That the Purpose of God according to Election might stand And 2 Tim. 1.19 The foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knows them that are his Ephes 2.11 In whom also we have obtained an Inheritance being Predestinated according to the Purpose of him that worketh all things after the Counsell of his own Will In Rom. 11.7 The Election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded This is a Point which I shall not stand long upon at this time as being not the main drift of the Text although it be not excluded neither yet I cannot but give an hint of it It is that which we should hold fast and keep close to notwithstanding the many Devices which are in the heart of man to frustrate it and bring it to nothing We should cherish it as our great Comfort and Support in Spiritual Desertion and the many faylings which are in our selves whilst bewayled and striven against our uncertainty and infirmity and
establishing of his own Counsels Thus it was said to be as concerning the Betraying of Christ He was delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God Act. 2.23 Though it was also by the wicked plottings and contriving of Men. And again Act. 4.27 28. Against this holy Child Jesus were Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people gathered together To do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done Their malice did but further God's design So the Egyptians and Pharaoh for the diminishing and destroying of the Israelites The more they conspired to lessen them and thought they did wisely in doing so the more their number multiplyed and increased And so Haman instead of destroying the Jews he confirmed their Peace and Liberties to them so much the more I might be infinite in Examples in this kind wherein God has over-ruled Men's Devices by the Accomplishments of his own Purposes And the more that they have had their Will the more at last has he come to have had his occasionally from it But To shut up all which hath been spoken with a Word of Application and to conclude These Points thus opened unto us may be drawn forth in a Various Improvement First As matter of Conviction to all such persons as walk contrary hereunto And they are of two sorts especially First That Device without God And Secondly That Device aginst Him That Devise without him first They herein come to be censured and so to be awakened Alas it is but a vain and foolish thing for them so to do as neglecting that which is principally to be looked after by them for the prospering of their Counsels to them that they may be successful Woe be to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that come with a covering but not by my spirit that they may add sin to sin as it is in Isa 30.1 That advice of Solomon is rather better which he gives unto us in Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Secondly As which devise without God so also which devise against him These are far more vile than the other and their case is desperate for Did ever any man harden himself against God and prosper as Job expostulates Job 9.4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks in Act. 9.5 Surely there is no wisdom nor conscience nor understanding against the Lord in Prov. 21.30 Therefore the Church of God has sometimes upon this Account triumphed over her greatest Enemies whether for Wisdom or Power as we have a notable place to this purpose Isa 8.9 10. Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces and give ear O ye of far Countries Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together and it shall come to naught speak the word and it shall not stand for Immanuel or God is with us In which excellent portion of Scripture the Spirit of God seems to come home to the disposition and practice of men to this purpose in all particulars Men are apt to think with themselves that if they cannot obtain a thing one way they may haply do it another if they cannot do it at this time they may haply do it hereafter if they cannot do it themselves yet they may perhaps do it if they take in other if they cannot do it upon the suddain yet they may do it upon deliberation advice and consultation Well but here is signified that none of these things shall prevail Not Combination not Strength not Counsel nor all these matters reiterated and repeated again If there be a mistake in the End all the means are frustrate that lead and carry unto it But Secondly Here is likewise a Word of comfort to the Church it self and to every true member of it Here is the Encouragement and Security of a good Christian and that in all Varieties and Changes and Uncertainties and Revolutions that are in the World Whosoever belongs to God he may be sure it shall go well with him for his particular because The counsel of the Lord shall stand We know saith the Apostle that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose We know not what things shall be nor we know not what time shall be But what ever either times or things happen to be we know they shall all be for the good of Gods People to the best for them that own him and are saved by him Those who are the called of his Purpose his Purposes shall be sure to be establisht to them and for them There is none besides in the world who can have this promised to them Eccles 8.12 Though a sinner c. Yet I know it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the sinner c. It is the Blessed and Happy Privilege of all those that are in Covenant with God that God does nothing in the World but he does it for there sakes and they have a share and interest in the Good and Benefit of it both because they are mainly and principally intended in it as also have hearts in themselves to improve it to their own Advantage All the paths of the Lord are mercy and Truth to them that keep his Covenants and his Testimonies So that the Firmness of his Counsel is by Consequent likewise the firmness of their Conditions Lastly Here 's a Word of Direction how to carry and behave our selves in answerableness to these Truths here propounded and premised Seeing after all the Devices of Man the Counsel of the Lord shall stand as we have all this while heard there are therefore three things especially which do lye upon us to be done by us in reference and order to this Counsel First To be carefull to know it Secondly To be carefull to own it Thirdly To be carefull to improve it and to have recourse unto it First To endeavour to know it let us be carefull of that To know it How can we do that Who hath known the mind of the Lord Or who hath been of his Counsel says the Prophet first and then the Apostle And so it is true in regard of an absolute knowledge and discovery of it His ways are unsearchable and his Judgments are past finding out His way is in the Sea and his path in the great Waters and his footsteps are not known There is a depth in the riches both of the Wisdom and knowledge of God as the Scripture tells us But yet so far as he reveals it us we may be acquainted with it and it concerns us so to be Be
These are the several Parts of the Text as they lye before us We begin with the first General viz. The Specification of the Persons The Prudent and the Simple that is indeed The Righteous and the Wicked For these are the Titles which are frequently given them in Scripture not only here but in dives other places where Godly Men are described by Wise Men and Wicked Men are described by Fools It is that which we frequently meet withal but never more than in this Book of the Proverbs I shall not need to make a distinct handling of these two in the Prosecution of the Text but invole one in the other as mutually consequent and dependent For if Godly Men be eminently Wise Men then Wicked Men are consequently Fools who are so far opposite to them And if wicked men be transcendently foolish men then Godly men are consequently wise ones who do so far depart from them and do set themselves in ways against them Now that this is so indeed that the Godly are truly wise and none properly so but they will appear and may be made good unto us in sundry respects not only in that they are so often called so by the mouth of Wisdom it self but likewise if we look upon them in those Qualities and Action and Principles and Properties which do belong unto them Whatsoever is truly considerable as concurring to a wise man the same is to be found in a good Christian and Child of God And so again whatsoever is observable and remarkable in a Fool the same is in a wicked person and such an one as is devoid of Grace Nay to joyn them and put them both together the weakest and simplest Christian is wiser than the wisest and subtillest Worldling Take a Godly man but of low and mean parts as to Natural or Acquisite Qualification and he hath more true Wisdom in him than a Wicked man of the choicest Abilities and Accomplishments either of Art or Nature That this is no empty Flourish but a Truth may be evidenced to us upon these Consideration First A Godly man hath the true Principle of Wisdom in him Wisdom is not a Fit but an Habit and does imply a Spring and Principle for the nourishing of it No this is that which a Godly man hath and none but he What is the right Principle of Wisdom It is a Gracious and Savoury Spirit the Work of Regeneration and the New Creature in us In a word The fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom as it is signified both by David and Solomon This a Godly man hath He hath that Wisdom which is from above as it is called in Jam. 3.17 which is also in other places called The Wisdom of God whereas wicked men have only in them the Wisdom of the Flesh and the Wisdom of the World which is opposite and contrary to God yea indeed to true Wisdom it self Foolish Wisdom being Earthly Sensual Devilish as the same Apostle there speaks of it in the place before alledged Secondly As in regard of his Principles so likewise in regard of his Ends and the Aims which he does propound to him This as much as any thing else has a stroke and influence upon Wisdom what it is that one propounds to one's self Now for this a Godly man carries it above any one else as whose Aims are heavenly and spiritual the Glory of God the Salvation of his own Soul the Good of others These are a Christian's Ends and Proposals which are all very good and warrantable and such as do justifie and approve him for true Wisdom in that which he undertakes Thirdly In regard of the Rule whereby he is led That is a part of a wise man to have good Rules whereby he is squared Now a Christian has here the Word of God which is the perfect Rule of Wisdom This is that which the Apostle mentions to the Philippians Let us walk by the same rule Philip. 3.16 And to the Galatians As many as walk according to this rule Gal. 6.16 Lastly In regard of the Object whereabout he is conversant which is the Gospel the Doctrine of Wisdom We speak wisdom amongst those which are present 1 Cor. 2.7 As Christ himself is The Wisdom of the Father so that Doctrine which treats of him and leads to him is a Dostrine of Wisdom and they themselves wise which are employed and occupyed in it Thus in all these respects is a good Christian the only wise man This then serves to rectifie men's Judgments and Opinions in this particular The World accounts none wise but such as are so in their sense wise to get great Estates to set up themselves to advance their own Lusts to become great in the World wise to circumvent others to do evil Yea but see what is the Opinion of God himself and the Censure which his Word passes upon it Accounting those the wisest indeed that are wise to God that are wise to Salvation that are wise to lay hold on the Eternal Life These are the wise ones indeed whatever contrary Conceit men of the World may have of them The Godly are the only Wise Men and the Wicked are the only Fools and Simplicians that are in the World So much may suffice of the first General which I propounded to be handled in the Text viz. The Persons specified The Prudent and Simple The Second is the different Account which is given of each consisting also of two Parts First the Account of the Prudent that is of the Godly In these words He foreseeth the evil and hideth himself Secondly The Account of the Simple that is of the Wicked In these words They pass on and are punished We begin with the first viz. The Account of the Prudent or Godly Man Which is again layed forth unto us in two Particulars more as the Discoveries of Wisdom in him The one is in point of Judgment and Apprehension He foreseeth the evil as the Antecedent And the other is in point of Practice and Activity as the Consequent And hideth himself First Here is a Godly Man's Wisdom discovered as to his spiritual Judgment and Apprehension and Spirit of Discerning He foreseeth the evil It is a part of Wisdom to do this and such as is in special the property of a good Christian He does not only see the Evil when it is upon him which is that which many do not neither but even then before it comes at him He does not only see it but foresee it This is that which is here commended to us in him And it is not only so here in this place but also because it is so certain a truth it is signified to us likewise in another and that here in this Book Prov. 27.12 We have this Verse repeated again in so many terms which does serve so much the more to certifie and assure us of it So Prov. 14.16 A wise man feareth and departeth from evil but a fool rageth
one and the same purpose Whereby we have signified to us the Vniversality and Impartiallity of this Destruction which is here threatned It shall be of so general an Extent as to reach to all sorts of Persons High and Low Rich and Poor Great and Small to one as well as to another But yet for Order's sake we will speak distinctly of each and begin first with the former which is the Metaphor taken from a Body in the Head and the Tail Under this Resemblance first of all we have declared unto us the Generality of the Persons which are here threatned with final Abscision or cutting off It shall extend even to such as these Head and Tail in the sense and use of Scripture are sometimes the Expressions of Superiority or Inferiority of Conditions the one being an Emblem of Preferment the other of Disparagement Thus we find them to be taken in Deut. 28.13 where Moses speaking to such an one as is careful to keep God's Commandments he thus expresses it The Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail and thou shalt be above only and shalt not be beneath Where the later Expression does seem to interpret the former Thou shalt be the Head that is thou shalt be above and in degrees of Honour and Dignity And not the Tail that is not beneath and in places of Servitude and Subjection And so again in Vers 44. of the same Chapter speaking to one who refuses to keep God's Statutes he says this to him The stranger that is within thee shall get above thee very high and thou shalt come down very low he shall be the head and thou shalt be the tail So that by the Head and the Tail is meant the High and the Low such Persons as are in a state of Advancement and such Persons as are in a state of Abasement both one and the other We may reduce it by way of Explication to a threefold Rank still First Of Age and so Head and Tail that is Old and Young Secondly Of Estate and so Head and Tail that is Rich and Poor Thirdly Of Place or Authority and so Head and Tail that is Governors and Governed Magistrates Ministers People and those who are subordinate and in subjection to them When God says here that he will cut off from Israel Head and Tail he threatens in case of their Impenitency and Persistence in Sin the Extirpation of all these Ranks and Conditions of Men. First In point of Age Old and Young He will cut off these The Ancient he is said to be the Head in the Verse immediately following And so by proportionable Opposition the Young are the Tail But both in case of Obstinacy and Perverseness of Carriage exposed to God's destroying hand Age in its Nature is such as calls for great respect and therefore in the same Place joyned with Honourable the Ancient and the Honourable The hoary head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the way of righteousness Prov. 16.31 Therefore the Lord had so much respect for such Persons as he gave a Commandment in particular about them Levit. 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man But yet Age where it shall degenerate into Wickedness it becoms obnoxious to Judgment When these who are old in years shall withal become old in Sin and confirmed in the custom of Evil Doing their hoary head shall not save them nor their gray hairs be a security to them The Lord shall cut off from Israel the head that is him that is mighty And So the Tail even him that is young also God threatens to cut off this likewise Those which are young there is somewhat in them inviting to tenderness and compassion from the tenderness of their condition as also from the hopefulness of Succession Such as these may continue in the World when others have left it and are in their Graves Yea but if these grow naught and wicked and loose and licentious and incorrigible there is no hopes for them neither that they should escape God's Destroying Hand but shall so much the sooner be cut off by it as the greater punishment to that Nation whereunto they belong Because when the young ones are destroyed there 's no likelihood for a succeeding Generation And this is that which is threatned expresly even here in this Chapter the 17th verse of it the next but one following the Text Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men neither shall he have mercy on their fatherless and widdows for every one is an hypocrite c. And that 's the first Branch of Explication as it refers to Age Head and Tail that is Old and Young The Second is as it refers to Estate Head and Tail that is Rich and Poor This is another explication which may be well fastned upon this expression For Rich and Poor are as much distant one from the other as those two Those who are rich may very well be called the Head from that priviledge which they have in the World And those who are poor may as well be called the Tail from that dependance which they have upon them and inferiency to them together with that scorn and contempt and reproach which is now and then put upon them when the Lord threatens even such as these also in case of Impenitency in either Head or Tail First The Rich he will deal with them and their wealth shall not secure them from the Judgment of God Those who abound in wealth and withall abound in sin they shall consequently abound in punishment and there shall be no escape for them When God comes to punish any People for the sinfulness and wickedness which is amongst them this shall be no defence unto you Riches avail not in the day of wrath Prov. 11.4 And in Ezek. 7.19 They shall cast their silver in the streets and their gold shall be removed their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord they shall not satisfie their souls nor fill their bowels because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity Therefore the Apostle James does upon this account denounce a most heavy woe to such persons in Jam. 5.1 c. Go to now ye rich men weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you your riches are corrupted and your garments moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were with fire Ye have heaped up treasure for the last days This for the impenitent Rich. And so for the impenitent Poor Ther 's Judgment and cutting off for them likewise if they so continue Look as there are the Temptations of Poverty as well as of Riches and therefore of those which are Poor as well as of those who are Rich so there are the Punishments which do belong to
the one as well as the other which shall accordingly and occasionally be inflicted upon them And that 's also the second Explication of this Passage as it refers to Estate Head and Tail that is Rich and Poor The Third and last is as it refers to Places or Authority and the want of it Head and Tail that is High and Low Governers and Governed Magistrates with Ministers People and those who are Subordinate and in Subjection to them First To speak of the former viz. The Head And this I say does especially denote Magistrates and Governours And so even the Holy Ghost himself seems to interpret it in the very next verse here in this Chapter The Ancient and Honourable he is the Head that is the Great ones and such as are in place of Publique Authority Ancient in regard of that Wisdom and Gravity which was required in them The Elders of the People and Honorable in regard of their Descent or Allyance or the Places themselves which they held in the Nature of them The State whether Politick or Ecclesiastick making up as it were one Body Look as other Persons have the Analogy and Proportion of other Members so are these very fitly called the Head and that in a Threefold respect First In regard of Eminency and Dignity The Head that is Superior and the Highest Part of the Body And so are such as these in the state Eccles 5.8 He that is higher than the highest regards it and there be higher than they Where Magistrates are called the Highest namely of Persons here in this World Though God himself who is the Soveraign Lord is higher than Magistrates Secondly In regard of Government and Direction The Head it guards the Body and orders it and disposes of it and so do such as these that is it is their place and Office so to do as proper unto them Thirdly In regard of Influence and Causality The Head it does communicate sense and life and motion to the rest of the Parts even so is it also the work of Magistrates to do to those which are committed unto them Peace and strength and safety and protection and all kind of welfare whatsoever which they are capable of it is to be fetcht and derived unto them from this well-head Fourthly In regard of Sympathy and Fellow-feeling All the greifs which are in the Body the head is sensible of them if there be but cold in the feet the effects of it do quickly strike up to the head Even so it is also with those who are true and right Magistrates indeed the sufferings and injuries and oppressions and greivances of the People they are such as do very much affect them Thus are Magistrates and Governours the head Now Secondly As for the other which is the Tail by this we are to understand those who in one place of Subjection and Inferiority such as are ruled and governed by them that 's the sense and meaning of it in this 14th verse which we have now before us where the word Tail is not to be taken as a word of Disparagement but onely of Distinction Head and Tail that is as I have said Magistrates and Subjects Governours and People under Rule and in Subjection unto them But in the verse which is next the Text viz. the 15th verse of this Chapter there we find another Character to be put upon it and another Application to be made of it And that in a way of reproach and disparagement where the Prophet that telleth lyes he is said to be the Tail By taking the word Tail in a Moral sense and in a sense of Diminution where that which we may observe by the way is breifly this That vertues or vices do give the true and real Denomination of Titles and Places It is not said that the Prophet which tells lyes is the Head nor it is not said that the Prophet simply and absolutely censidered is the Tail But the Prophet which telleth lyes he is the Tail This Tailship as I may so call it is not fastned upon the office but upon the person in the discharge of that Office The Prophet considered in his place and office at large he is the Head but the lying and deceiving Prophet he is the Tail Those who are sometime the Head in regard of the places which they do officiate they may in the mean time be the Tail in regard of the execution of those places when they shall carry themselves in them either negligently or else corruptly And it is not any outward dignity or advancement which may be put upon them which in such circumstances can exempt them from such a Nick-name as this is And so much of the First kind of Metaphor or Resemblance which is here used as taken from the nature of a Body in the distinct Parts of it The Head and the Tail The Second is that which is taken from the nature of a Tree or Plant The Branch and the Rush It was the conceit of the Philosopher that man was a tree turned upside-down His Head the Root his Breath the Stock his Arms and Legs the Branches And such is the Similitude which the Prophet Esaiah here seems to make in this present passage which we have now before us where he makes mention of the Branch and the Rush which is here now to be explained by us It is not said the Branch and the Root because the Lord reserv'd a Remnant which should be spared by him But the Branch and the Rush The Branch as an emblem of usefullness Persons of Parts and Imployment The Rush as a note of unfruitfullness idle and unprofitable Persons The Branch is a note of strength and solidity The Rush of weakness and inconstancy The Branch in like manner as the Head as a note of Supremacy the rush of Meanness Here 's the Metaphor and similitude doubled to note the uncertainty and undoubtedness of the thing This is the sum of all and which this whole discourse arises unto That in the Execution of Publique Judgments for the Impenitency and Incorrigibleness of a Nation Gods hand is indifferent and impartial He will spare no ranks or sorts or conditions of people at all But he will cut them off all indefinitely Head and Tail Branch and Rush as it is here exprest As Sampson in the Destruction of the Philistines whom it is said he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter Judg. 11.8 Look as Sin that is general and indefinite in the proceeding of that From the Crown of the Head to the sole of the Foot as the Prophet elsewhere expresses it Esaiah 1.6 And as all sorts and ranks of people do defile and corrupt themselves so shall Judgement proceed in the like proportion and indefiniteness likewise as the Lord threatens by the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 12.12 The sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the Land to the other end of the Land No flesh shall have Peace Mhere are but
of the Admonition it self saying This is the way walk ye in it Now this in a Suitableness and Correspondency to what went before may be taken three manner of ways and may seem to carry a threefold Impression upon it First As a word of Correction and Reformation in case of Miscarriage This is the way walk ye in it It is very fitly said to those which wander and are out of the way to reduce them and to bring them again into it Secondly As a word of Direction and Instruction in case of Ignorance This is the way walk ye in it It is very properly said to those which are to seek and know not what to betake themselves to nor which way to turn them to shew it and to chalk it out to them Thirdly It is a word of Strengthening and Confirmation in case of Unsettledness This is the way walk ye in it It is very suitably said to those who are doubtful and wavering and uncertain in themselves whether they be right in the way or no to encourage them to persevere and go on in those good Ways which they have made entrance upon All these Emphasis are in this Expression First I say It is a word of Correction and Reformation in case of Miscarriage This is the way walk ye in it It is very fitly said to those which wander and are out of the way to reduce them and to bring them into the way again And to them it is said God doth not only by his Word but by his Spirit admonish them of the evil Courses which they are in and turn them from them That Way which you are in is not that wherein you should walk No it is this and therefore walk ye in it Thus we have it in Ezek. 33.11 Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel The Lord calls upon men dayly to Repentance and Amendment and Reformation of their Lives Not only in the way of his Providence and the things which he does in the World as Grounds and Motives to them for it but likewise in the Work of the Ministry and the stirrings of his Spirit in the heart as enforcing those Occasions upon them This he does as we may conceive especially upon a twofold Consideration First Out of Mercy to them that so by this means he might at last recover them God delight not in the death of a sinner as he hath said and sworn about it It is no pleasure to him that men should sin and live wickedly and damn their Souls He desires rather their Amendment and Salvation And because indeed he does so therefore as a means tending hereunto does he admonish them and check them upon their Miscarriages and Goings astray Secondly In Judgment and Aggravation against them that so hereby he may leave them inexcusable and that they may have nothing to say for themselves that they may not plead they wanted memory that they had no body to rectifie them and set them right He himself does therefore undertake to do it for them They shall hear a word behind them saying this is the way walk ye in it It is a word of Correction and Reformation to them in case of Miscarriage And that is the first Emphasis or Impressions which is upon it wherein we may consider it Secondly It is a word of Direction and Instruction in case of Ignorance This is the way walk ye in it It is very properly said to those which are to seek and know not which way to turn themselves And to them also is it said especially so far forth as they do any thing seek unto him and depend upon him for it Those which desire Direction from God in those Ways which are to be taken by them they shall receive Direction from him The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way Psal 25.9 This is true and may be made good unto us according to a double Explication whether we take it in reference to Civil things and the Affairs of this present Life Or whether we take it in reference to Spirituals and things of a better First Take it in reference to Civil things and the Affairs of this present Life So there are very Gracious Hints which are sometimes given to the Servants of God for their direction in this particular In Businesses of any great Concernment and Moment and Importance to them where they are ignorant and know not what to do it pleases him to advise them This is the way walk ye in it And they may very well satisfie themselves in this respect when it is so with them Though it be that which is not chiefly intended here in the Text yet it is not excluded and therefore we may very seasonably observe it and take notice of it Secondly In reference to Spirituals and the Affairs of a better life Here those that wait upon him shall not want Direction from him but he will advise them and by counselling to them For which purpose they do with a great deal of confidence betake themselves to him as the Prophet David says in sundry places Thus in Psal 25.4 5. Shew me thy ways O Lord and teach me thy paths Lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day So again Psal 86.11 Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth make my heart to fear thy name So again Psal 143.8 Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning for in thee do I put my trust cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee Now in answer to such Prayers and Requests as these are does the Lord accordingly very graciously instruct them and give direction to them And they shall hear a word behind them saying this is the way walk ye in it That is Secondly A word of Direction and Instruction in case of Ignorance Thirdly It is a word of Confirmation in case of Unsettledness This is the way walk ye in it It is spoken very suitable to those which are somewhat doubtful whether they be in the way or no by way of Encouragement God will Graciously provide for the Settlement and Constancy and Perseverance of his People that they may not depart of start aside from him And this is another kind of Word which is as useful and necessary as the other We have not more need to be diverted from those ways which are evil and to be directed to those which are good then when we are in good wayes already to be settled and confirm'd in them that we do not forsake and leave them This is that which is in this Supplication Least that which is lame be not turned out of the way but that it rather be healed as it is in Heb. 12.13 There 's hardly any can be in a good way but as soon as ever they
us Now to shut up all with a word of use and Application and so to Conclude We have heard out of the words of the Text three things that there is such a Monotor as this is A word behind us the Effect and matter of the Admonition This is the way c. and the occasion of it When we turn to c. Now what remains to ourselves to be done by us upon these considerations two things especially This observation is to be improved by us two manner of ways First In a way of Thankfulness And Secondly In a way of Obedience In a way of Thankfulness First we are to bless God that he is pleased thus Graciously to provide for us not only to instruct us by his word and his voice sounding in out Ears in the ministerial Dispensations but also to admonish us by his Spirit and the Holy Ghost moving in our Hearts in our Christian Conversation This is a matter of great Thankfulness and Acknowledgment to us A faithful Monitor is a very great advantage it is so betwixt man and man betwixt one friend and another to have one to tell them when they do amiss and to reform them in it or to direct them where they are at a loss and to instruct them about it This is that which God Himself does for his people as we have heard all this while out of the Text which is matter and occasion of great thankfulness and acknowledgment to them which their hearts should be very much taken and affected with all It is a mercy and favour that God will afford these helps unto us Secondly We are to improve it by Obedience and closing with it seeing we have this word speaking to us let us not stop our Ears against it take heed of that do not neglect the whispers of the Spirit and of the word of God set home upon thy heart How many are there in the world which have such things as these are daily and continually sounding in their Ears in case of Omission and neglect of Duty This is the way walk ye in it These things they are to be done and perform'd by you it is not safe for you to let them alone Again in case of committing of Evil and wayes of Extravagancy this is out of the way do not walk in it ye are out of your place of your Calling of your Duty which is to be done by you Nay ye walk opposite and contrary to it How many are there in the World which in their lewd and ungodly Courses of Drunkeness Filthiness Uncleanness evil Company Consuming and such practises as these have many a sad check upon their Consciences restraining of them and a voice behind them pulling them back now let all these consider how far they hearken and give ear unto it It is a dangerous thing to stifle the motions of Gods spirit or to stop their Ear against the voice of his word No but there should be a present closeing and compliance with it As young Samuel when God call'd him speak Lord thy servant heareth so should we do in these cases we should receive and entertain his motions and turn those motions into purposes and those purposes into practises in our selves we should never suffer such good hints as these are to die in us Especially considering this for our Incouragement that as Gods motions follows his Instructions so his Assistance always follows his motions in the tenders of it Look as he never shewes us the way but he does also move us to walk in it that our practises may be answerable to our knowledg so likewise he never moves us to walk in any way which he shews us but he does likewise offer us at the same time some kind of help to walk in it Therefore now not to close with him is not onely to refuse his Counsell but likewise consequently to reject his Assistance more or less which he does exhibit to us whereby we offer a double injury to the Spirit of Grace And here further let us consider the danger and hazard of such a course as this is which is manifold and various First Gods future silence where he is not regarded he will speak no more especially having spoken to us very often for some time already past and let us think with our selves what it is to be deprived of such a Blessed motion as this is But Secondly That 's not all thare's a suffering of another voice to speak in us and if we look not to it to prevail upon us they that hearken not to the voice of God in them they are many times given up to Satan and their own Corruptions to work upon them to rule and bear sway in them This is plain by that of the Prophet David speaking in the Name of God concerning Israel My people would not hearken to my Counsell and Israel would have none of me so I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own Imaginations Prov. 1.30.31 SERMON XL. Esay 40.31 Butthey that wait upon the Lordsh all renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint As God is a God of strength so there is nothing wherein he does appear more to be so than in the Dispensations of Himself to his people to whom he does in part Communicate of that strength which is in himself for their greater Supportment and Incouragement in the worst Conditions that may happen unto them He delights to manifest his power in their weakness and to shew his strength in their Infirmity as he sometimes elsewhere expresses it As he himself faints not neither is weary so he gives power to them that are faint and to them that have no might he increases strength as it is in 28. and 29. verses of this Chapter Yet still he does it so as may be with the greatest furtherance and advantage to themselves As it was in the Miracle of Canaan The wine which Christ produced it was the best wine of all and better then all other before it so is it indeed in every thing else which God does and amongst the rest in this particular the strength which he does vouchsafe to his Servants It is better and surer and firmer then any other strength besides That strength which comes from God directly and in the way of the new Covenant in Christ it is far surpassing and transcendant to any Natural or Corporal strength whatsoever which is that which the Holy Ghost does here signifie and Illustrate by an Elegant opposition in this Scripture which I have now read unto you Even the Youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall those which have either the advantage of Age or Exercise or Bodily temper and Constitution But they that waite upon thee c. IN the whole Verse before us we have two General Parts considerable First A Proposition
and diseases and plagues and corporal death Those that receive the Sacrament unworthily they are said to eat and drink judgment to themselves that is in part temporal judgment We shall find if we look into Scripture many sad proofs and instances of this unto us wherein as people have been any thing more formal and hypocritical in Gods Service he has exercised them and follow'd them with many grievous temporal calamities which for this cause he has inflicted upon them Thirdly and last of all Eternal the vengeance of eternal fire and everlasting destruction Damnation as some render that place 1 Cor. 11. It is that which hereupon they deserve and which without repentance they likewise shall suffer The Lord will not hold them guiltless that thus take his name in vain but will give them their portion with the hypocrites in the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone Thus we see how much danger there is in it as well as sinfulness and therefore danger because sinfulness The greater sin has always the greater danger attending it What 's the use of all this to our selves but even the Question of the Text it self Will ye now be any of you guilty in this particular shall any man now dare to presume in this kind as we have now exprest Oh far be it from us let them not so much trespass upon God and abuse his patience nor yet so much venture themselves by provoking of his indignation and the fierceness of his wrath against them And so now I have done with the first Branch of these peoples wickedness which God does argue and expostulate with them for viz. their abominable hypocrisie in the conjunction of these two both together Will ye steal and murther c. and yet will ye come c The second is their stupidity or carnality in these words And say We are delivered to commit all these abominations There are divers Translations which I find to be made of these words The Septuagint reads the words thus and so does the Arabick and say We have withdrawn or abstained from all these abominations and so it signifies their impudence in denying their manifest wickedness and notorious profaneness which is that which a great many people are also guilty of Though they be never so manifestly wicked yet they will not acknowledge it or be brought to the confession of it The Syriack renders them thus Deliver us because we have abstain'd from all these abominations which makes it more impudent still not onely to deny their notorious and manifest guilt but likewise to plead their innocency as meritorious of their preservation But there are three Translations which I shall especially fasten upon The first is that of the Chaldee Paraphrase We are delivered though c. which agrees both with Geneva and our Old English Translation The second that of St. Hierom and the Vulgar Latin We are delivered because c The third and last is that of our own last and newest English Translation which we have now before us which reads it that we may or 't is lawful to commit c. First Here was their security and insensibleness of their present condition in regard of sin We are delivered though c. whereby they would make their iniquities to be no hinderance at all to their preservation they might be delivered for all them and for all that the Prophets did menace and threaten against them for them their abominations should do them no hurt This was the first step and degree of carnality in them and it is that which accordingly the Lord does by his Prophet here call them to account for It is that which is oftentimes observable abroad in the world that men imagine as if their wickedness would bring no very great trouble or inconvenience unto them but that they shall scape well enough with it let them be as vile and bad as they can be steal and murther and commit adultery and swear falsly and what not yet that they shall evade for all this No evil shall overtake them or happen unto them They have made a covenant with death and with hell they are at an agreement as the Prophet Esay speaks They say When the over-flowing scourge shall pass through yet that it shall not come unto them as having made lies their refuge and under falshood hid themselves Isa 28.15 There is a various ground of this security and presumption in the hearts of many people First a false conceit in them of the mercy and indulgence of God they think that God is not so severe a punisher of sin as indeed he is or as he is said and proclaimed to be and as long as they do so they are well enough in their own apprehensions Tush the Lord does not see it nor the God of Jacob regards it as it is in Psal 9.7 Secondly A freedom and preservation from Judgment and Punishment at the present They are delivered and therefore they shall be Judgment is not executed speedily and therefore it shall not be at all This is commonly mens humour and disposition to go by sense and to make that to be a rule unto them either for fear or hope where they feel some evil at present there they think they shall feel it still and when they do not as yet feel it they never think they shall feel it at all And so it is here Because judgment is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men c. as I have lately shewed Thirdly Carnal refuges and reliances they think they shall be delivered because they think it is impossible they should be punished they think they are Judgment-proof and that all that can be done unto them shall be no way able to offend them or be disquieting of them This is the true account of such security Now the Lord by this Expostulation does seem to check them for it and to shew them the vanity of such thoughts as these are Do ye say so that is Ye are mistaken in saying so it is an error and misconceit in you and which in conclusion you 'll find to be so And that 's the first thing here impli'd viz. their Security according to that reading of the words We are delivered though we have committed all these c. The second is their Stupidity according to the reading of it thus We are delivered because c. Here is a further step and degree of the wickedness of these rebellious people and which is observable in many more not onely to think they shall receive no hurt by their sins but also that they shall have good for them that the more they abound in abominations the more they shall abound in deliverances and that God multiplies their mercies so much the rather as they multiply their transgressions Thus we find it in another place of this present Prophesie as in Jer. 44.16 When we burnt incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out our drink-offerings
to sin there is not onely Privative evil in it but a Positive He that toucheth Pitch shall be defil'd and so here srequent converse and society it does convey a similitude of disposition which goes along together with it nay this fire it does quickly take but upon a little mingling and joyning in this particular We see here then what to think of such persons as are for all companies and Societies whatsoever they be that care not with whom they converse and associate themselves it is a sign that they have little of true grace or goodness in them for if they had they would be a little more wary in this respect they would consider where they went and whom they joyn'd and appli'd themselves to in regard of their intimacy and intireness We see how it is with men which regard the health of their bodies they will not go into infectious places but as they desire to avoid the plague so they will shun and avoid the house which is visited with it They that would keep themselves from Leprosic they will take heed of coming near the Leper The same should it like wise be with them in regard of their Sould when it is not it is so far taxable in them as here in Ephraim He hath mingled himself among the people it was a fault in him to converse with them no more but so That 's the first Explication as we may understand a mixture which is Local The second is a Civil mixture a mixture of Affinity and Alliance this is another thing forbidden in the People of God with Heathen and Idolaters that they mix not themselves with them thus Thus Exod. 34.15 16. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the Land and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons c. So Deut. 7.34 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them c. Again 2 Cor. 6.14 Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial Such unsuitable mixtures as these are of Gods People and those which are either enemies or strangers to Religion they are not without a great deal of mischief and hazard in them they are like the lying of a living and a dead body together which was wont to be accounted of the greatest punishments that could be But thirdly which seems here chiefly and principally to be intended a mixture Spiritual or Moral Fphraim hath mixed himself with the people that is Israel hath shared in the iniquities and abominations of the Heathen And so it seems not to be much unlike to that in Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to idols For Gods people to comply with those which are wicked and ungodly in their practises and to conform themselves to their customs and manners is a thing very grievous and unsufferable This is that which the Prophet especially condemns here in this place and it is that which the whole Scripture besides does almost every where set it self against in sundry passages as Rom. 12.2 Be not conformed to the world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds c. So 1 Cor. 8.6 A little leven leaveneth the whole lump Purge out therefore the old leven c. And Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them And many such places as these are This we have cause to take care of upon sundry grounds and considerations First as contrary to our Election and Gods special designation of our persons to eternal life Those whom God has separated from others in regard of their end and final condition they should be separated from them likewise in regard of their way and present conversation Now thus is it with those which are the Saints and Servants of God God has appointed them to another end than he has done those which are not his people and therefore their course especially should be varying and different from them This is the very argument and reason of the Scripture it self as 1 Thess 5.6 Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober Why upon what ground it follows in verse 9. of that chapter For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Because we are not appointed to wrath as others are therefore let us not walk in ways of wrath as others do that so the Way may be suitable to the End So Ephes 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love God hath chosen us that therefore we might be holy So again Rom. 8.29 Whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son as in glory so also in suffering and in holiness tending to glory And 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God standethsure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Gods peculiar interest in our persons by reason of Election calls for a peculiarity of carriage from us towards him again as to our holy life and conversation Secondly This conformity of Gods people to the fashions and manners and corruptions of men of the world as it is contrary to their Election so it is likewise opposite to their Redemption we are redeemed for another purpose than this is Thus Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life And Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works So Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God And 1 Pet. 1.17 18 19. And if ye call on the Father c. pass the time of your sojourning here in fear forasmuch as ye know that ye were redeemed from your vain conversation not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb c. Thirdly Our effectual Calling and Vocation This is another thing which restrains us herefrom we should not therefore be mingled with the world because we are call'd out of it and God hath thereby distinguisht us from other men which are in it This the Scripture does likewise with other arguments press upon us to this purpose As Eph. 4.1 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech ye that ye walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called So 1 Thes 4.7 God hath notcalled us to uncleanness but unto holiness And Heb. 3.1 Holy Brethren partakers of the Heavenly Calling And 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us
word or two unto them And first to begin with the former namely that of Doctrine and Instruction which are taught to do evil so this is properly teaching and has therefore the name of it put upon it and 't is appliable to this business of sin There is a great deal of such teaching as this is oftentimes in the world a Talmnd as to matter of iniquity Thus in Matth. 5.19 Whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandments and teach men so to do he shall be call'd the least in the kingdom of heaven So Tit. 1.11 Teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake And Mark 7.7 Teaching for Doctrine the commandments of men There is a great deal of ill teaching in the world now and then and ill-learning also following thereupon people are here very quickly taught so capable and apprehensive are they yea they seek to themselves teachers to this purpose and Lessons also as we have it in 2 Tim. 4.3.4 The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turn'd into a fable Teachers after their own lusts that is such Teachers as by their Doctrine do nourish and strengthen their lusts in them as many Teachers and Doctrines do There are divers and sundry Teners and Opinions which have very great influence upon the life for the perverting and corrupting of it and those which are tainted with them do much miscarry in that particular yea indeed they cannot well do otherwise as it is here implied in the Text. Those which are thus taught to do evil cannot do good there is an impoiency and there is an indisposition upon them to all good and proneness to all manner of evil This is the condition with them There is nothing more leading and conducing to a vitious life than is the infusion of unsound Principles and the sucking in of erroneous Opinions especially such as they may be for the nature and kind of them As in Popery and Pelagianism and Antinomianism and such as these Those which are taught and principled thus they must needs miscarry If they do not always actually break forth into the very enormities themselves yet they have that within them which does carry them to them and whensoever they have an opportunity for them they are in great hazard and danger of them This shews what great cause we have to be advis'd and take heed hereunto to be careful what we teach and what we learn especially we which live in these places of Teaching and Learning the Schools of the Prophets It is a matter of great concernment both to our selves and others as to the regulating of our lives and conversations How can ye which are taught to do evil do good that is taught in a way of Doctrine and Instruction That 's the first Explication Secondly In a way of Pattern and Example Which are taught so Such a kind of teaching as this is there is also sometimes yea and that no less effectual than the other if it be not more That which men see to be done and practised before their eyes they do the more easily fall into to do it and in nothing sooner than in sin Here wickedness is taught There where it is seen not onely as acted upon the Theatre but especially as acted in the life which has been the reason why some of the very Heathen have withdrawn their children from beholding the miscarriages of their servants lest seeing them they should be tainted with them It is a dangerous thing to converse in places of scandal and ill example and to be present in evil society Here sin is quickly learnt and 't is not easily un-learnt where it is so it is a very hard and difficult matter to escape the temptations of it and not before one's aware to be involved in it How can ye which are taught to do evil do the thing that is good that is taught by evil patterns and examples That 's the second Explication The third is by Practise and Vse which are taught so that is as 't is here in our own Translation Which are accustomed unto it Use it makes perfect and as in other things so also in sin which the more that any are exercised unto the more prompt and ready they are in it There is an Art even in wickedness it self although a bad one and therefore we read of some who are wise to do evil This as others is got much by practise those which are but young beginners they are Bunglers as it were at it and they go about it with some kind of awkness and difficulty and aversness unto it especially as their education at any time has been better and more Religious than others when such as these do first of all enter upon sinful courses they are not so expert and expedite in them as one would think they should be but do a little stop at them Swearing and Drinking and Gaming and such sins as these they do some what stick with those sometimes who have been better taught but now after a little while when they have been used and accustomed unto them they now grow experienced in them and are carried to them with a great deal of violence and importunity of affection They drink in iniquity as water and they draw on iniquity as with cart-ropes and they commit all uncleanness with greediness and they do evil with both hands earnestly they turn unto their course as the horse rusheth into the battel c. These are the phrases and expressions which the Scripture puts upon them Here in the Text it is said of them that being so accustomed to do evil they now cannot do good This for the Qualification of the Persons Which leads me now to the second thing considerable here in this passage namely the Invincible necessity which follows upon custom in sin those which are used unto it they know not how to free themselves from it Ye may as soon wash a Black-moor white or scrape off the spots of a Leopard which are expressions of Labour in vain as ye may reduce an habituated sinner To open this Invincible Necessity and Tyranny of accustomed sin so much the better unto us we may take notice of it in two particulars whereof it consists First in an impotency to good And secondly in a precipitancy unto evil Each of these are here implied though but one exprest Custom in sinning it is both obstructive and likewise provocative it hinders men and takes men off from good that they cannot do that and so it also furthers men and puts men on to evil that they can do nothing but that Each of these are the inconveniences of evil custom and accordingly to be considered by us First Impotency to good that is here exprest in the Text which it is said that such as these they
that this would teach us to see our own vanity and to set our thoughts a-work upon better things that so we may not only have God not opposing us but also setting in with us that he may speak to us not by way of contradiction but by way of encouragement and as one which approves what we do The way to have him to do thus is to set our thoughts and meditations in a right channel to be plotting for the eternity to be plotting for the good of the Church and projecting how to promote the common cause of God's people to study how to advance Religion and Godliness in the places wherein we live These are the things wherein we shall have the Lord himself joyn with us This is the First General It was an excellent Speech of Socrates an Heathen Philosopher c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With men honesty is folly and conscience is folly and plain dealing is folly and preaching is folly these are foolishness with men but they are not so with the Lord. God calls fool as one that can judge of folly God calls fool as one that will punish folly Thus does he call fools Why thus now are all c. Secondly They are fools because they do as fools do why I pray how do fools Ye may take it in these explications and all apply it to worldly earthly minded men First they peremptorily conclude upon that which is uncertain Secondly they absolutely neglect that which is necessary Thirdly they altogether prefer and provide for that which is superfluous In all these respects they are fools First I say they peremptorily conclude upon that which is uncertain they are fools in this There 's nothing a greater argument of a fool than to make sure of that which is questionable Folly it is for the most part full of vain and frivolous hope but Wisdom it is full of suspition and jealousy and expedition of miscarriage and is ready to think there are many things which may disappoint it Why now this for the most part is the case of worldly men they build upon a thousand uncertainties their lives and their goods and their houses and such poor things as these than which nothing can be more uncertain this they depend upon as infallible and not to be suspected Again on the other side the Scriptures and promises and the hopes of Heaven these they think to be the falsest and most unconstant things that can be They are such as they will give no trust or assurance unto but pass them over as matters very hazardous This is desperate folly to forsake the fountain of waters and to trust to broken pitchers for men to rely upon that whereunto there 's no trust to be given such as riches are and therefore we find them accordingly to be exprest to us in Scripture In Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings they fly away as an Eagle to Heaven Mark upon that which is not such kind of things are riches A man cannot say that they are because that they are still in a flowing and transient condition therefore we find them also to be call'd uncertain riches In 1 Tim. cap 6. ver 17. Charge them that are rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us all things richly to enjoy It 's a great piece of vanity and folly to trust in things which are uncertain It 's just as if a man should think to walk upon crackt ice which will be sure to give him the slip we would count him a fool which should do so whatsoever he should pretend Why thus are all the hopes and expectations and supportments of the worldly they are things of as brittle a nature wholly full out As Bildad has exprest it in Job Job 8.14 The hope of the hycocrite shall be cut off and his trust shall be a spiders web He shall lean upon his house but it shall not stand he shall hold it fast but it shall not endure Thus do all hypocrites they hold fast on that which endures not This is one piece of folly Secondly They absolutely neglect that which is necessary they are fools in this whom do we account to be a fool here in the world A man that cares not at all what becomes of himself nor of those which belong unto him lets his House and his Lands and his Estate go to rack and ruine and those which belong to his Family to perish for hunger him ye account to be a fool Why but these whom we now speak of they do worse than all this for they neglect their immortal Souls Heaven and Happiness and Glory and Eternal Life the favour and love of God the fellowship and communion of Saints the sweet comforts of the Spirit such high matters as these they are neglected and disregarded Our Saviour has combined necessity into a narrow room in Luke 10.42 he tells us it is but only one thing one thing is needful and this one is the only thing which worldly men neglect which makes it the greater folly If their happiness consists in many things at once and those of different natures perchance the multitude might distract them and confound them and put them beside But now when 't is confined but to one for them to be neglectful here it is the greatest madness that can be and yet this is that which they are generally guilty of This they must needs be whiles they give themselves with so much excess to other things This our Saviour has told us and clearly laid down unto us in Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon This is that which deceives men they think to serve both that they may both follow the World and follow Christ too But herein they are exceedingly mistaken for they will not stand together Indeed I do not deny but a man may ravel and pass through the world and make use of those comforts and refreshments which it pleases God to cast upon him in it But to pursue and follow after it to prosecute it with that eager violence and importunity which many do it cannot well be without neglect of better things This is that which they do who are carnally minded they neglect that which is necessary Thirdly They altogether prefer and provide for that which is superfluous If we compare salvation with health and friends and the comforts of this life these things they are superfluous in comparison for what 's a temporal life to that which is eternal and perpetual But if further we speak of these things as they are pursued by worldly men so thy are superfluous out of question they are simply and absolutely superfluous without more ado For such men as these we
speak of they provide not for the supplies of nature but rather for the supplies of lust nor yet for the superfluities of encouragement but rather for the superfluities of sin This is another piece of folly agreeable to them It 's a wonderful weakness in any when their care and endeavour and prosecution is too high above the thing for the Soul of man being a noble and excellent creature and of a sublime and heavenly nature the strength and intention of it should run out in things proportionable and which keep a correspondency with it self for a man to be serious and intent and earnest in re levi in a sleight and trivial business it 's an argument of a trivial mind it shews that the soul is not rais'd to that magnanimity whereunto it should be Why this is now the folly of all carnal minded persons they spend their labour in vain they trifle at business and they weary and turmoil themselves at play The Application of this to our selves may be to teach us to take heed of being any of this number whom God shall call fool For now that we have spoken concerning this Fool in the Gospel there is a great Question behind whether there be any more of them or no in the world For perhaps this is like him whom the Preacher speaks of in Ecclesiastes Eccles 4.8 There is one and there is not another Or it may be this is such a fool as Solomon was a wise man that there was never the like since him It may chance the whole kind of them was confined to this individual And what shall we say then Indeed this is the great business which we have such adoe to perswade men of and to bring their hearts to believe for they when they hear this story concerning this worldly rich man here in the Text are ready to speak more seriously than Job did of his friends wisdom no doubt but this is the fool and folly is dead with him But they have foolishness as well as he and are not inferiour to him yea who knows not such things as these This is the misery of all that Stulti plena sunt omnium we cannot stir out of doors but we continually meet with such mad men and fools as this men that neglect grace and happiness and salvation and communion with God and prefer trifles and bables and rattles before the eternal peace and welfare of their own precious and immortal souls I beseech ye suffer me to awaken you a little in this business and that from the consideration of that ignominy and reproach which lies upon it The name of a fool it is that which every one shuns and would by no means have cast upon him Though men do not care to be esteemed extraordinary wise yet they would not be counted fools this is a matte of the greatest and highest reproach Well if men would not be thought so let them be careful then not to be so And if we would not have the name let us take heed of that which may deserve it what 's that which deserves it I have told you all this while already This immoderate pursuit of the world and this carelesness and neglect of Heaven it is the greatest folly imaginable And remember still this which I intimated to you before that God himself reckons it folly which is the greatest prejudice of all Men they may commend it and men they may applaud it and men they may admire it as it is in Psal 49. v. 16. Men will praise thee when thou doest well to thy self That is when thou doest well to thy self in a carnal way no more but so then men will praise thee that is carnal and worldly men as thou thy self art Yea but what saies the Lord to all this This is a thing to be regarded It was the speech of our Saviour to the Pharisees in Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God And also it is the saying of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 10.18 It is not he that commendeth himself who is approved but he whom the Lord commendeth It is he alone which is approved Well men may haply please themselves with their own imaginations and conceits but when all 's done I believe he 'l be the grand fool which is a fool in God's account and that 's wisdom indeed which is wisdom in his esteem who is wisdom it self Religion 's beyond the censure of man's day Blessed be God that whatever the world counts of holiness it has yet approbation from him and whatever he thinks of earthliness it 's folly in his eyes It 's no matter what men reckon of us it 's no matter what we reckon of our selves let us approve our consciences to the Lord let us labour to be wise to salvation to apprehend the devices of Satan to faddom the depths and subtilties of our own sinful hearts Here is the mind which has wisdom Every wise man is ambitious still of the liking and of the good opinion of the wisest to be thought well of by them and should not we then especially study to be in favour and liking and acceptance with the only wise God Now alas what does he principally esteem of us for not for having so much wealth or learning or wit or birth or the like but having so much grace not for being rich to the world but for being rich to him and therefore should this be our principal endeavour This point as it should take upon all so especially upon men of learning and parts and a more noble and generous education There 's none should so contemn the world as those who have that about them which the world cannot bestow And there 's none should have more care of their souls than those whose souls are indued with a more excellent qualification Godliness it does well every where but especially in great parts and high places and ingenuous spirits because these have greater opportunities and may do a great deal more good or hurt with them and consequently receive either the greater condemnation or glory The wiser men are in a natural way the wiser they should be in a spiritual and the wiser men are for the world the wiser they should be for Heaven and their own everlasting happiness or else they do not sute and consist with themselves The Preacher in Ecclesiastes 10.1 speaking of wisdom and folly has this comparison That as dead Flies cause the ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour A little folly it 's a disparagement to a wise man because as it is best agreeable so it is most discerned and discovered and taken notice of And if a little folly be so disgraceful what is then a great deal what is the greatest of all
what is the only folly to speak of that is in the world which is as I have hitherto shewn the neglect of a man 's own soul Neglect of a man's soul may some say yea but who is guilty of that is any man such a fool to do so that lives within the Church that is in the sound and noise of the Ordinances That comes to the hearing of the Word and partakes of the outward means of Salvation and Grace How can he be said to neglect his own soul that is careful to make use of these It is true he cannot be said so that makes use of them so as he should and is conscionable in them But it is an easie matter any man to rest himself contented in the means and yet to have none of that comfort and benefit which he should draw from them Nay let me add and put in this to the rest by way of aggravation that none do more prejudice their souls many times than such as these I mean them which have blessed opportunities and take not the advantages of them nor improve them to the utmost that enjoy the Means of Salvation but do not use them as the means from whence Salvation should be had that hear but hear carelesly that pray but pray superficially that come to the Lord's Table but partake of it without preparation or discerning the Lord's body These they do procure to themselves the greater damnation and so consequently do incur the censure of the greatest folly which do not so befall any man that is out of the reach of any comfort against his will that would have it but cannot no we rather pity and bemoan him But a man that will voluntarily deprive himself of it when it 's ready at his hand or neglects to use it as he should it is he which most properly deserves the name of any other The second general Observable is the disgraceful Compellation Thou Fool 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was a round salutation fool at first word and especially to a man who was so well opinionated of himself Call an humble man fool and he thinks ye tell him no news he is ready himself to profess it before you can say it But this man here in the Text was one who applauded himself in his own projects and thought highly of that which he had done and yet the Lord calls him fool The Observation from hence may be this That wordly and carnal minded men which give themselves wholly to the earth and earthly meditations however they may think of themselves or however others may flatter them yet in truth in God's account and estimation they are no better than fools But God said unto him Thou Fool c. When we say that God saies it it is as much as if we said thus much that they are absolute fools indeed God's understanding it is the direct rule of Truth whatever he speaks he thinks and whatever he thinks it is so as he thinks it therefore God's appellatio non c. dicit ' Deus stulte quomodo homo dicit God calls not fool as man calls Austin makes it all one with reality Men may call fool in jest nay more they may call fool in passion and fury and unadvised anger there 's a great deal of rashness and ignorance and pride and prejudice in their calling fool because they are fools themselves And sometimes there is no great heed nor regard to be had unto it but for the great God himself to call fool he who is Wisdom and Truth I can tell ye 't is more than if all the men and Angels in the world had done it besides And it makes a man a fool eo nomine It was an excellent speech of Socrates an Heathen Philosopher which I cannot but name to the shame of many Christians It 's no matter how many call us but how one calls us Why thus now are all worldly men muck-worms and toilers in the earth they are fools in God's account and so ye shall find them set out divers times in Scripture We meet with one which has this name given him on purpose in 1 Sam. 25.25 Nabal is his name and folly is with him He was called fool 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Indeed his manner and his carriage imported as much And so indeed are all other worldly men of the stamp with him The Scripture calls them fools O ye fools when will ye learn wisdom I said unto the fools deal not so foolishly O ye fools and blind and such phrases as these are we meet with them almost in every page and line And I need not stand heaping up instances and quotations unto you they do so often every where occur This they are among others which might be named upon a twofold consideration First Because they think themselves otherwise Rom. 1.22 Professing themselves to be wise they became fools Every man is so much a fool as he thinks himself a wise man for it is a part of wisdom to be sensible of a man 's own folly and to see when a man is at the best that he is then but imperfect Why thus it is with worldly-minded men they think themselves wonderful wise and that none are so wise as they The rich man's wealth saies Solomon is his strong Tower It is that which he betakes himself to and repairs to in any distress and wherein he principally glories Thus ye may see it was here with this man in this present Scripture Soul thou hast goods laid up fo thee for many years eat drink and be merry as if he should have said Thou hast provided well for one and therefore now mayest be quiet there 's no more for thee to look after This is the humour of such people they pride themselves in their worldly projects As we have it signified unto us in Psal 49.18 Whiles he lived he blest himself speaking of the wicked rich man he blest himself that is in his own thoughts and apprehensions and estimations It 's a wonderful thing to consider what a great deal of vanity and folly there is in the minds of many men in this particular How they applaud themselves in the abundance of their wealth and how scornfully they account of all other people that want it They think all men fools which go not that pernicious way which they with so much vehemency pursue and walk in It cannot be thought and imagin'd but that they now and then express it what low and undervaluing thoughts many carnal wretches in the world have of grace and of the waies of godliness and what fools they think them to be which are earnest and forward in those waies The greatest fools in their opinion that are in the world Well but see what God thinks of them now for their labour as it is in Psal 49.13 This their way is their folly though their posterity approve their saying Those which came after them may commend them because
does it freely and willingly and of his own accord without any thing in us either to move him or mind him of it or to perswade him and engage him to it There 's nothing so free as Grace in the Collations and Distributions of it It is bestowed without any worth or Dignity in us at all to Promerit it This may appear if we shall consider but the Persons upon whom it is bestowed who are often times such as have nothing in them tending hereunto whether we take it as to worldly qualifications or else to moral It is very free in either Consideration As to worldly Qualifications first of all the Aposte Paul has here informed us how that not many wise men after the Flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise c. And Secondly as for moral Qualifications God sometimes makes choice of such as are the greatest Sinners where he passes by some other Persons of greater Civility Matthew the Publican Mary Magdalen the Harlot Saul the Persecutor the Barbarian Jaylor That Gods Spirit should blow upon these whiles it blew over others which were better what does this speak unto us but that it bloweth there where it listeth Into what can we possibly resolve it but into the will and good pleasure of God! Look what St. Paul says sometimes of the common gifts the same may we say also of the sanctifying But all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 And again Vnto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gist of Christ Whatever Grace any man partakes of he has it purely from the Spirit of God who of his own accord bestows it upon them And therefore it is said in 1 Cor. 2.12 We have received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God All we have it is of free grace and it is freely given and conferred upon us The consideration of this point may be thus far useful to us First as it may teach us where to acknowledge all that we receive If any have more Grace than others let them see here how they came by it not by Merit but by Gift not by any thing as deserving it in themselves but from the goodness of the Spirit of Godas bestowing it upon them and therefore not to attribute it to themselves but to Him who is the Author and Giver of it as St. Paul himself gives us an example in 2 Cor. 15.10 By the Grace of God I am that I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me Secondly We have here an account of the difference and variety of Christians both from one another and from themselves we see why one Christian abounds in Grace more than another and we see also why the same Christian is better at one time than he is at another Both are from this ground in the Text because the Spirit bloweth there where it listeth And every one to this purpose should rest satisfied in this equal dispensation God may do with his own as he pleases and he pleases thus to do with it that so hereby he may shew his own liberty and freedom in this particular We are able to move no farther in good than the Spirit of God helps us so to do As ye know it was in the Vision in Ezekiel as the Spirit moved the living Creatures which were in the wheels so the wheels went when that went they went and when that stood still they stood still with it Ezek. 1.2 Even so is it here in these motions of the Soul we are so far forth more lively in regard either of Grace or Comfort as the Spirit of God is pleased to breathe and to infuse either of them into us And without Him we are able to do nothing as may be worth any thing to us Therefore thirdly Let us also make this use of it To be depending upon him for it If we cannot do any thing without his blowing and his blowing be onely there where he pleases we see what cause we have to keep in good terms with him and to do nothing which may be displeasing to him for if we lose his favour we lose his influence and his assistance which is the effect of it it is where he lists and onely there where he blows And therefore make much of him and wait upon him take heed of grieving so good and so gracious a Spirit as this is and besides who is so useful to us and necessary for us And further Fourthly let it teach us also tenderness and compassion towards others who it may be do not partake of so much grace or comfort as our selves For it is God and his Spirit who makes this difference betwixt us it is not we our selves Let us take heed of insulting too much over others weaknesses forasmuch as it is that Grace that distinguishes us and makes that difference that is betwixt us And that 's the second thing also in this motion its freeness that it is not engaged The third and last is its Efficacy or unresistableness that it is not nor cannot be hindred Whereever the Spirit of God will blow there is no standing out against it it blows where it lists that is it obtains whatsoever it endeavours Who hath resisted his will Surely none at all to any purpose Indeed corrupt Nature sometimes opposes the motions of Gods Spirit and that even Conversion in it self reluctates and strives against it but all in vain where he sets to the work Look as it is not in the power of a Child to hinder his own first birth even so it is not in the power of a sinner to hinder his own new birth where God undertakes and sets himself to it because his Spirit it does effect whatsoever he pleases Who hath gathered the wind in his fist as Agur makes the question in Prov. 30.4 Surely it is not Man but God Look as no man can hinder the wind or stop the blowings and motions thereof so neither can any man hinder the Spirit and stop the motions and influences thereof that they should not prove effectual This is a comfortable point in all contrary blasts whatsoever Satan who is the evil Spirit he has his blowings too and he oftentimes blows very hard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostom speaks but yet he does not blow where he lists nor can his blowings prevail against this blowing which we have here before us in this present Text which carries all before it and shall overturn and overthrow whatsoever stands in opposition to it It is said of Antichrist the man of sin and who is a great instrument of Satan that the Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth and destroy
sure and his counsel it must needs stand and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Such Points and Doctrines as these do we meet withall in Scripture which all hang together and have a dependance one upon another and concur to the making good of this Conclusion which we have here now before us All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me The improvement which we may make of this Point to our selves is manifold and various First we see here against the Arminians that Election it is peremptory and irreversible there is no deseating or frustrating of it for whosoever is given shall come Christ shall lose none of those which are câ—nferr'd upon him but they shall be certainly and without all doubt brought home unto him Not onely Glory but Grace it is the fruit and effect of Gods Decree and accordingly shall be sure to obtain its effect in us Therefore we see how may which have for a long time gone on in sinful courses yet at last they have been wrought upon and reduced Why how has this come bout namely as the fruit of Gods good-will and purpose concerning them Thus Ephes 1.4 5. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will And Rom. 8.28 The called according to his purpose Secondly we have here also an account of the continuance still of the world and the procrastination of the day of Judgment which is namely for this reason that so those who are clected may have a time and season to be converted that all which the Father has given Christ may by this means come in unto him This is plainly signisied unto us by the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Not any that is not any of his Elect whom he hath appointed and set apart to salvation these he is not willing they should perish for want of space and time of repentance and conversion to God but that they should have a full and large opportunity in this particular afforded unto them that 's the meaning of it Thirdly We learn from hence likewise how to make our Calling and Election sure which the Apostle Peter does advise us unto and that is by making sure our closing with the conditions of the Gospel We may know whether we are given unto Christ by considering whether or no we are come to him forasmuch as all which are given to him they come If any of us shall hang off from him and resuse to close with him we cannot for the present conclude that we are in the number of his Elect Children which is known to us no otherwise than by the effects of our Conversion and turning to him and by these is known certainly Whosoever of us can find in his heart a willingness to accept of Christ we may be sure that we are given unto Christ and that we are in the number of those which shall hereafter be saved by Christ But against this which hath been said may be objected that which our Saviour himself has of Judas Joh. 17.12 Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of is them lost but the son of perdition The son of perdition is given to Christ and yet lost therefore all which are given to him do not come or at least come in good earnest but in such a sort as they may depart from him again which is as good as nothing What shall we say to his To this we answer That we must here distinguish of being given to Christ There is a giving to him to be a Member and there is a giving to him to be a Minister Those which are given to Christ in the first sense they shall certainly stick by him and cleave unto him and never depart but those which are given to him onely in the second sense they may be lost and fall away from him Now in the number of this last was Judas he was given to Christ for an Aposile one of his Family and external Society but as a Believer so he was not given He was not a vessel of Election but a son of perdition and being so he might very well be lost and so he was though given to Christ According to that of the Apostle John also in another place 1 Joh. 2.19 They went out from us speaking of seducers and false teachers which were externally joyned to the Church because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have no doubt continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us So much for that Point by taking the words in a way of Latitude All that are Elected shall be Converted Secondly They may be likewise taken in a way of Restriction All that the Father hath given me as excluding any other besides from this Condition There 's none can come to Christ but those which are given to Christ Take notice of this Thus expresly in Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him c. And 2 Cor. 3.5 Our sufficiency is of God And Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Would we know the true ground and reason of it why none can come to Christ but those whom God does give to come to him we may take it thus First because all others they are quite ignorant of him without the knowledge of Christ there 's no coming to Christ The fick man dares not go to that Physician whom he does not know Now Christ he is unknown to the world and none is able to reveal him to it but God alone Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the Son but the Father And because no man does so therefore either he must reveal him or none will come to him This is clear from the reply of Christ himself to Simon Peter there in that place Matth. 16.16 17. when Peter had made there a glorious confession of him Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven There is naturally a blindness in mens minds and understandings whence they know not Christ unless the Father reveal him And then secondly there 's a perversness also in their Wills and their Affections that though they know him yet they hang off from him Light is come into the world men loved darkness rather than light c. Joh. 3.19 To make men come to
This is the scope and drift of this Text. IN the Text it self there are three general Parts considerable First a seasonable Information Secondly a rational Illustration Thirdly an additional Encouragement The Information that 's in those words In my Father's house are many mansions The Illustration in those If it were not so I would have told you The Incouragement in those I go to prepare c. We begin with the first of these Parts viz. the Seasonable Information or discovery which is here made of the future Estate In my Father's house are many mansions which is nothing else as I may so call it but a Prophesie and description of Heaven wherein there are two Particulars considerable of us First the Title and Appellation which is put upon it Secondly the Conveniences or Accommodations which are belonging unto it The Title which is put upon it that is My Fathers house The Conveniencies belonging unto it that is there are many mansions First To speak a little of the Title or Appellation which is put upon it My Fathers house They are the words of Christ in reference to God whom he calls his Father and Heaven as belonging to Him Heaven it is the House of God and so it is here denominated as being so after a more peculiar manner The whole world is Gods house in some sort as wherein he manifests his wisdom and power But the Church is so more especially and that in the full latitude and extent of it whether the Church Militant or Triumphant The Militant Church as that wherein he manifests his Grace and the Triumphant as wherein he manifests his Glory As for the former of these Houses to wit the Church Militant here upon Earth that we have spoken to very lately upon another Scripture and shewn you how Judgment begins at this house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 The latter to wit the Church Triumphant which is above in Heaven this is that which we are now to speak of at this present time and is out of the reach of any Judgment as lighting upon it This is the House of God emphatically and so to be understood by us as intended here in this Text where it is so called and it is so upon a double account First as he is the Maker of it and Secondly as he is the Possessor of it First He is the Maker of it Heaven it is the House of God so Heb. 11.10 Whose builder and maker is God And Heb. 1.10 The heavens are the work of thy hands 2 Cor. 5.1 A building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Every house that is every earthly house is builded by some man says the Apostle Heb. 3.4 but he that hath built this heavenly house is God And so his house more especially But secondly as he is the Maker so he is the Owner and Possessor of it likewise And it is so his house also Every one that builds an house does not own it nor dwell in it But Heaven it is the place of God's abode not as confined to it whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain but as manifesting his special presence and glory in it Thus Psal 11.4 The Lord is in his holy Temple the Lords Throne is in Heaven And Psal 103.19 The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens c. Heaven it is the house of God but here it is exprest in the Text by the Relative Denomination My Fathers house namely with respect to Christ whose Father he is said to be not onely here but in divers other places The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ It is an ordinary expression in Scripture And likewise with respect to the Disciples and all other Believers whose Father God is also upon the account of his being the Father of Christ I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God Joh. 20.17 Because God is the Father of Christ who is the Son by nature he is Father consequently of all the Members of Christ who are his sons by Grace and spiritual Adoption And so he would have them here to understand it in this expression in the Text and we are also to understand it so with them In mine and your Fathers house there are many mansions This is that which every Christian and true Believer may say of Heaven as Christ does here before him It is my Fathers house And it is very sweet and comfortable to him so to think and consider with himself When Gods Children leave the world and depart and go out of these places here below they do but go home as it were to their Fathers their being here in the world is no more but a kind of sojourning and pilgrimage and they live but as it were in the house of strangers But when they go hence they go home to their nearest and chiefest Relations As that blessed Martyr of Christ Dr. Rowland Taylor when he was drawing near to the Town of Hadley in Suffolk where he had been Minister and was now going to be burnt in Queen Maries days for the profession of the Gospel being ask'd how he did answer'd Never better for now I know that I am almost at home I lack not above two styles to go over and I am even at my Fathers house Such apprehensions have Gods Children of Heaven that they look upon it as their proper home and from hence are the more easily perswaded to leave the world when they are called so to do even upon this consideration as it was also here with Christ himself And this is that also which contents them and satisfies them whiles they are here in the world with all the ill usage and harsh dealing which they meet withall here The Children of God whiles they abide here upon earth they meet with many a coarse entertainment from earthly and worldly persons whom they are strangers as it were unto and they are willing so much the rather to put it up because they know they shall be recompenced when they come home what-ever dealings they meet withall abroad they shall have them all made up unto them when they come home to their Fathers house But so much of the first particular observable in this first General viz. the Title or Appellation which is here put upon Heaven and that is My Fathers house the house of God who is the Father of Christ and in him of all Christians The second is the Conveniencies or Accommodations belonging hereunto and that is that in it there are many mansions whiles it is said that there are many mansions in Heaven there are three things which seem to be impli'd in this exprossion First Reception Secondly Duration Thirdly Variety There 's room and place of entertainment there 's continuance and time of abode and there 's likewise choice and store of it First There 's room and place of reception and entertainment there 's opportunity of dwelling and habitation God house is large
are true Believers How should this now raise our hearts and desires and affections after it and make us to long as it were for it We call some great house and habitation here in the world very usually by the name of the Place by way of Eminency and Emphatical Denomination But certainly there is no Place like this which is of Christs preparation this is a Place which must take place of all other Places besides and as in the thing it self so also in our estimation And further as Christ has thus graciously prepared it for us so we should also be careful to prepare our selves for it that so we may have the greater benefit and advantage by it and comfort and contentment in it This is very much founded upon our sutableness and agreeableness to it All forts of Persons are not fit for all forts of Places if we should put some kinds of people into some Places here upon Earth though never so glorious and magnificent they would not take such delight in them because not fitted nor suited to them even so may we say in a sense of Heaven it self if we could by an impossible supposition imagine a wicked man to be in Heaven he would not know what to do there nor how to carry or behave himself in it because not fitted or qualified for it Therefore says the Apostle to the Colossians Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us met to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 It is not onely giving thanks to the Father for the Inheritance but giving thanks to the Father for making us meet to be parakers of it An Inheritance without meetness is as good as no Inheritance at all This is that therefore we would labour in this case to be partakers of and that I say so much the rather as Christ takes care to fit the Inheritance for us as he is said here to do in this Text when he is said to prepare us a place This is done by geting our hearts to be changed and renewed in us and taken off from the ways of sin and by geting our hearts mortified in us and estranged and alienated from the world by getting heavenly minds and dispositions and affections in us answerable to that heavenly state and condition which is expected by us For nothing that is unclean or undefibed may enter into that holy place Coruption cannot inherit incoruption Those that look to rise with Christ and to be there where he now is they must seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God they must set their affections on things above and not on things on the earth Col. 3.1 2. And so now I have done with this whole Text in all the parts of it In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you c. SERMON XIX JOH 14.3 And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also I had almost let go this sweet Scripture which I had formerly entred upon before I was aware having diverted from it to another which I fell upon and finish'd the last day But since I looked upon it again and reviewed it in the connexions of it I have better resolved my self and concluded it necessary to joyn this Verse which I have now read the third Verse of t is Chapter to that other namely the second which was handled by me the day before It being somewhat Injurious to tell you of Christ's remove and going away from his Disciples and not withal to inform you of his return and coming again to them As likewise somewhat imperfect to acquaint you with his providing and preparing of a place for them and not withal to assure you of their entrance and sensible possession of that place which he had so prepared Now this is that which is the scope and drift and substance of these words which I have here now at this time read unto you THis Verse which we have now before us is a Narrative or Declaration to us of the consequences of Christ's Ascension and departure from his Church to his Father Consisting of two promises for their comfort made by him to them which may serve to make up to us the Parts of the Text. The one is the Antecedent or Intermediate promise And that is that he will come unto them And the other is the Subsequent or Ultimate promise And that is that he will receive them to himself Which is further amplified and illustrated from the blessed and happy end or effect of this Assumption in these words that where I am there ye may be also These ae the Branchs considerable We begin first of all with the former viz. The Antecedent or Immediate promise I will come to you again This is that wherein Christ does engage himself here to his Disciples that although for the present he did depart and go away from them yet he would at length return unto them There is a various coming of Christ which the Scripture does intimate to us First his coming in his Spirit in the Gifts and Graces and Comforts of the Holy Ghost conferr'd upon the Church This is tha which we find mentioned in the 18th verse of this present Chapter I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you Come unto you How namely in the Comforter who is the Holy Ghost whom I will send unto you When Christ withdrew his corporal presence he then was pleased to vouchsafe his spiritual By which he does still come and present himself to the hearts of all Believers Thus still in verse 22 of this Chapter He that loveth me I will love him and will manifest my self unto him And again verse 23. My Father will love him and we will come unto him and will make our abode with him Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open unto me I will come in unto him and sup with him and he with me Thus Christ comes in his Ordinances in the assemblies of his People and in the dispensations of his Ministers Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Matth. 18.20 Secondly There was his coming in his resurrection He came again to his Disciples so when he rose from the dead he appeared unto them and converst with them for forty days together And so likewise when he came and appeared to divers others besides as St. Paul records it of him That he was afterwards seen of above five hundred Brethren at once and at last of all of himself also 1 Cor. 15.6 7 8. This was a kind of coming of his and a coming as we may say again as of one in a swoon But this is not that coming nor coming again which is here meant in the Text. But
in me as he also there intimates unto him There is no person in whom we have so clear a representation of the Father as we have in Christ And so we come to know him by him alone as being alone his image But Secondly As by way of representation so also by way of explication There is none who can acquaint us with the Father but he alone as to matter of discovery and narration It is he in the place before cited that is said to have declared him And he hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son his Son precisely Heb. 1.2 Thus we come to him by him alone in matter of acquaintance Secondly Take it as to acceptance He that comes to God he must also have this As he must know him so he must be welcome to him And this also he is only by 〈◊〉 It is he that gives us favour in his eyes and makes us fit to have converse with him And thus by him only do we come to God as to matter of Conversion and Reconciliation Take us out of Christ and God and we are at absolute desiance there 's no coming near him Secondly It holds good also as to matter of Prayer and Invocation No man cometh unto the Father but by him that is as to the putting up of any suits or petitions to him He is the Great Master of Requests who alone offers up our Prayers to his Father and presents them at the Throne of Grace And so the Scripture again hints unto us Thus Eph. 2.18 Speaking of Jew and Gentile Through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father that is by the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication which is made and presented in his name And again Eph. 3.12 By whom we have holdness and access with confidence by the Faith of him By the Faith of him that is by Faith founded in him and his intercession for us So Heb. 4.14 16. Seeing we have a Great High-Priest c. Let us go boldly to the Throne of Grace c. And Heb. 10.22 Having an High-Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart c. Joh. 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it unto you Whatsoever Prayers are made to God otherwise than in this mediation they are frustrate and to no purpose Thirdly As to matter of Happiness and Salvation No man c. that is No man cometh to Heaven but only by me Whosoever makes account to be saved he must be saved by Christ or else he will never be saved at all There is not Salvation in any other For there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved as it is in Acts 4.12 Whiles it is said here only by Christ this is exclusive of every thing which may otherwise seem effectual to this purpose as First of all our own free will and the improvement of the abilities of nature It is not this which will bring us to the Father A man may do all that lies in the power of nature to attain to and yet if he be destitute of Christ will fall short of Salvation let him set his reason never so much on work in such a way as that is There 's nothing less than Faith will do it and this Faith pitch'd upon Christ Secondly Not the fairness of a civil life and moral conversation it is not that which will do it neither Civility it is a very comely ornament and such as makes men amiable in the eyes of men but it is no further acceptable to God nor available as to eternal Salvation than as it flows from the Spirit of Christ when we do common and ordinary actions out of spiritual principles Invenies homines bene viventes sed non Christianos says St. Austin You shall find some men living well but yet not Christians Bene currunt sed in via non currunt They run well but they do not run in the way Thirdly Not external priviledges as belonging to the Church of God The relation to such and such Parents and Godly Progenitors The enjoyment of the means of Grace and outward Ordinances To be Baptized and to receive the Communion and to be in fellowship with such and such Believers Take these things abstractly from Christ and they will never bring a man to God nor interest him in eternal Salvation A man may perish and go to Hell and be damn'd for all these There is nothing but an interest in Christ and with reference to him and dependance upon him which can ever make us capable of an heavenly condition The consideration of this Point may be thus far useful to us First to set us right in our judgments in this particular that we do not err and mistake in a Point of so great importance as this is Take heed of promising Salvation to any otherwise than by Christ whiles Christ himself here tells us that there 's no coming at all to the Father but by him It is a sad and serious intimation that of St. Austin's which can never enough be mentioned nor thought of as having some ground for it Qui cuiquam promittit salutem sine Christo nescio utrum ipse salutem habere possit in Christo He that promises to any man Salvation without Christ I question whether he himself may have Salvation by Christ And truly it is a dangerous business to admit and receive such opinions as these are not only as to the prejudice of others but also of a man's self who is accountable as for what he says so for what he thinks Secondly Seeing there is no coming unto God but only by Christ Oh be sure then to get into Christ as soon as may be and endeavour it all we can Let us never think we are sure of the one till we are sure of the other that we are sure of the Father till we are first sure of the Son For it is evident we are not Men may talk what they please of God and have high notions and speculations about him and as they think convince others of him But he that is a meer Deist is the next door to an Atheist And he that will have any other God than God in Christ he shall have no God at all At least it will be better for him in some sense that he had none for he shall have him but only to terrify and to torment him and to drive him away from him Deus absolutus as Luther sometime call'd it To look upon God absolutely in his own nature and without a Mediator it is the most terrible sight in the world and fullest of distraction and disquietness As no man can come to Christ except the Father draw him so no man can come to the Father except Christ bring him When it is said here by Christ No man cometh unto the Father but by me We must take it in its full latitude
which are more useful and necessary for us to be known by us which we should labour to know The naughtiness and deceitfulness of our own hearts the depths and decrees of Satan the will and pleasure of the Lord and what is acceptable to him To know God and to know our selves and to know the things that concern our everlasting peace and salvation But to know the times and seasons in this sense as we have explicated it it does not concern us to know them nor to labour or endeavour to know them and to be acquainted with them And that so much the rather upon this account that so we may the more vigorously apply our selves to those other things which I have now mentioned as are more needful to be known by us For this we may observe in daily experience that superfluities and impertinencies they do usually expel necessaries whiles mens time and days is employed in those things which are of less consequence they commonly omit and neglect those things that are of greater importance And so amongst the rest it it here in this particular which is one main reason as we may conceive why Satan does oftentimes put men and fasten them hereupon that so whiles their minds are taken up about enquiries after the time they may the more easily neglect the thing and the business which the time it self does especially refer to Therefore we should from hence be awakened from the prevention of this curiosity in us and what God would not have us to know And that may be one improvement Secondly As it meets with mens curiosity so it also meets with their presumption As with their curiosity in enquiring so especially with their presumption in resolving and concluding hereupon It is not for you to know it therefore it is not for you to determine it There are a great many persons sometimes who do not only make a search into this mystery but also now and then do absolutely and positively fix it and set it to such a particular time and year of the world As to some to four some to five hundred years after Christ some to the six-thousandth year of the World and some also to this present year of sixteen hundred sixty-six after Christ And there are divers that do fasten it here but all both in one and t'other speak by rote and have no solid ground making for them It was a Point which the Church of God was troubled withal by some kind of persons even in the Apostle Paul's time as we may see by what he writes to the Thessalonians in 2 Ep. 2. ver 2. Where he beseeches them that they would not be soon shaken in their minds either by word or by spirit or by letter as from him as if the day of Christ were at hand for it was not so Where we see how both some did then suggest it as also how the minds of Believers were troubled at it And he gives them a reason against it and that was because the man of sin that is Antichrist was not yet revealed as we may see in the following verses of the Chapter Now as there were reasons against that time so there are also as good reasons against this As then that the man of sin was not yet revealed so now that he is not yet destroyed There are divers passages and providences which are necessarily antecedent to Christ's coming which are not yet accomplish'd as the fall of Antichrist the calling of the Jews the fulness of the Gentiles and the Preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom in all places of the world These and the like considerations do make against the fixing of it to this particular time And therefore it should take us off as from all curious inquisitions so all peremptery determinations Because as it is here exhibited to us It is not for us to know the times and seasons c. But yet that we may still further understand our selves in this present business It will not be amiss for us to take in these further hints and animadversions with us First It is not for you to know but it is for you to believe not to know the time but yet to believe the thing to believe that this day will come though we know not when it will come There are abundance of people in the world who are so far from fastening upon any particular time for Christ's coming to judgment as that they are ready to think with themselves that there is no time for it at all that because he is not come yet that he will come never Thus the Apostle Peter foretells us of the scoffers that should be in the last days walking after their own lusts who should say where is now the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation 2 Pet. 3.3 4. And too many such scoffers as these there are in these days of ours who do not believe any such thing as this is nor are really perswaded of it but we must take heed of such a mind as that is It is not for you to know but 't is for you to believe Secondly It is not for you to know but it is for you to expect not to know justly when it will be but to wait the time for the being of it And because we do not know therefore to wait to be always upon our watch and in readiness against the coming of our Master Watch therefore because ye know not in what hour the Lord will come and ye know not the times and seasons of being called to a final account whether he will come at evening or at midnight or at morning Especially which is here very considerable as to any man's particular time and season for that cannot belong to any man whosoever he be That 's the end of the World to such a person which is the end of his particular life in it And therefore let the general day of Judgment be where it will be he may be sure the day of his particular judgment cannot be very far off And it concerns him to be always in a waiting and expectation of it As Job resolved for his part All the days of my appointed time says he will I wait till my change cometh Job 14.14 It is not for you to know when it will be but it is for you to live as if it should be out of hand This present year which is now upon us we should so order and dispose of as to our lives and conversations as if we did verily and assuredly know that Christ would this year come to judgment This Doctrine of the uncertainty of his coming is not to cherish our security but rather to provoke our affection It is to be supposed and taken for granted that he will come at last and therefore what manner of persons ought ye to be in all manner of conversation and godliness looking for and
Common-Wealth and indeed in any kind whatsoever is but a Candle lighted at his Torch It is a beam of that wisdom which is in God And that we may use it the more for him and acknowledg it the more thankfully from him it is indeed originally his thus Artaxerxes speaks to Ezra Ezr. 7.25 And thou Ezra after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand set Magistrates and Judges which may judg all the people in the Land The wisdom of thy God! To Joseph it is said The Spirit of God was in him in regard of his wisdom Gen. 41.38 39. And Daniel it is said of him that he was a man in whom the Spirit of the Holy Gods and wisdom like the wisdom of the Gods was found in him Dan. 5.11 Fourthly The wisdom of God is sometimes taken for the Scripture and word of God As Luke 11.49 therefore also to be said the wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall slay c. The wisdom of God that is the Scripture wherein this will of God is so declared Fifthly The wisdom of God is taken more restrainedly for the Doctrine of the Gospel and the great Mysteries which are contained in that Thus 1 Cor. 2.7 We speak the wisdom of God in a Mystery And Eph. 3.10 That to Principalities and Powers might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God That is that great plot and design of saving the World by the death of Christ wherein God shewed his infinite wisdom Lastly The wisdom of God is taken for the Creation of the World that wisdom which does shine forth in the Creature and the works of God in that respect And so 't is particularly to be understood here in this place When 't is said That the world knew not God in the wisdom of God the meaning is this that they did not so improve that advantage for theknowledg of God by the Creation as indeed it became them to do This work of the Creation is fitly called the wisdom of God because the wisdom of God does therein very much appear to all such persons as will take notice of it Thus Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead All the several Attributes and Excellencies and Perfections which are in God they do hereby discover themselves And amongst the rest his admirable wisdom this shews it self in the frame of Heaven and Earth Thus Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all And so Psal 136.5 To him that by wisdom made the Heavens And as the Heavens so the Earth and all things in it whether we look upon the House it self or the Furniture or the Inhabitants all are the effects of wisdom Hence it is that the Psalmist breaks so forth into the Admiration of them in another place Psal 8.1 c. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the earth And why Because he considered the Heavens the work of Gods fingers the Moon and the Stars which he had ordained c. As it follows in Verse 3. c. And again Psal 19.1 The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shews his handy-work c. Surely when we look upon the Creation and consider the usefulness of the Creatures in regard of their ends and the subordination of them one to another in regard of their dependence and the exquisiteness and curiousness of them in regard of their frame and constitution we cannot but be forced to acknowledge an incomprehensible wisdom which had an hand in the disposing of these things even no other than the wisdom of God And so much for the first term The second is what 's meant by the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And surely here as in the first term was understood the world for the frame of it so also in this second Term is understood the world for the Inhabitants of it the men that dwell in the world and have their abode here below upon earth by a Metonymie of the Subject for the Adjunct These are in this place the world and yet not all of these neither although I may say almost all And that 's the worst part of them By the world we are here to understand the wicked of the world Mundus impiorum The world of the ungodly as they are stiled 2 Pet. 2.5 There 's a world taken out of the world and that 's the world of the Elect which is commonly called the Church a people called out from the rest that live in the world But they are not those which are meant here in this place No but meer carnal and natural men considered in their unregenerate condition and that the best of them even their learnedest and greatest Philosophers That world which is opposed to the Church and shut out of the prayer of Christ when he says I pray not for the world these are the world which the Apostle Paul points here unto in sundry respects 1. Because they are most of the world in regard of their number 2. Most in the world in regard of their interest 3. Most in regard of their affections Now these are called the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First In regard of their Multitude because they are the greatest part of the World Denominatio sumitur a majori parte And so indeed it is here the greatest number of people in the World they are such as are void of true Religion and the knowledg of God the Church of Christ it is a little flock and the least society that is in the World There 's but a few to speak of of this number There 's but a little inclosure all the rest is wast and wild ground The waters where the whore sits are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations and Tongues as it is in Rev. 17.15 That is almost all the World if we divide the World into parts Christendom has the least share in it and for Christendom true and right Christians indeed have the least share in that also Universality is no note of the true Church This is one great Mistery and depth which we are unable to dive into that the greatest part of people in the world they are the least part of those which are good and which are acquainted with God the most of them they never heard of God at least to purpose and if they have yet have not closed with it the greater is Gods goodness to those with whom 't is otherwise But that 's one respect in which the wicked are called the world because they most fill the world Secondly Because they have most of the world they have their share and portion in the world and they are hereby described as Psal 17.14 Deliver me O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life whose
belly thou fillest with thy hidden treasure See here how these are described and joined together as one explaining the other The men of the world and those which have their portion in the world that is which have most of these outward things not but that the servants of God they have oftentimes an abundance of these outward things also God leaves himself not without witness unto them but gives them now and then a great share even in worldly comforts but with this exception and limitation First That it is not so generally and for the most part the greatest number are otherwise and destitute in this respect Secondly That where it is so yet it is not their lot and portion but they have some other and greater matters besides the world which belongs unto them whereas for other men it is their reward and that alone which they most trust to and therefore they are called the world Thirdly They are called the world as because they have most of the world and have the greatest share in that so the world is indeed in their hearts and has the greatest share in them It is that which they most love and desire and affect and make the matter either of their care or rejoicing If ye could but look into the hearts of carnal men and see what 's within them you should find little in them but the world and the things of the world the honours of the world and the pleasures of the world and profits of the world these are those which fill their souls and thoughts and contrivances about these are the things which most take them up and reside in them they do not only creep into their hearts as sometimes they do into the best that are even the derest Saints of God but they lodg and dwell in them they set open the door unto them and give them welcome and entertainment and that at all times and upon all occasions on the Lords-day and in the exercises of Piety such duties and actions of Religion as we are now about it is hard for those which are good and withal have great interests in the world to keep their hearts wholly free from them but for others which are not so they do not care whether they do or no. They are not only in their Fancies but in their Hearts and they are not only in their Minds but in their Affections These are the things which are their very form and essence which do constitute and make up their Being make them to be that which they are and distinguish them from that which they are not their affections to the world And hence they have very properly the name of the world put upon them which is the second term here to be explained what 's understood by the world The third is what 's meant by Wisdom The world by wisdom surely that 's the Wisdom of the world as the other was the wisdom of God Well but what now do ye call that here in this place We may reduce it to two Branches either first of all the wisdom of Parts and natural wit and sagacity or secondly the wisdom of study and industry and acquisite Learning and Philosophy their wisdom which consisted in knowledg of natural things Either of these make up humane wisdom and are such as the world before explained both may and did abound withal These persons which are here spoken of in the Text and especially the Greeks and other Gentiles they were very well seen in these they were men of excellent parts in point of Wit and they were men of excellent accomplishments in point of Art they were men of a deep reach and insight into the mysteries of Nature and yet for all that fell short of the God of Nature and that knowledg which they should have had of him and that occasionally from those very things which their skill extended and reacht unto They were wise in each forenamed respect and yet as it is here said of them they knew not God for all their wisdom The world by wisdom knew not God Nay but stay a little let us a little examine that and let this be the fourth and last term in order to be explained by us How namely we can make this good That the wise and learned men amongst the Heathen for of these he here chiefly speaks how can it be said of these that they knew not God forasmuch as this seems to cross and contradict some other passages of Scripture where 't is said expressly that they did know him as for instance in Rom. 1.19 we read there of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may be known of God is said to be manifest in for God had shewed it unto them And again v. 21. because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God c. therefore it should seem they knew him that 's supposed and taken for granted How is it here then said in this Text that they knew him not For this we must take it as I conceive in these following Explications First They knew him confusedly but not distinctly they knew him in the general but not in reference to the right person that there was a God they knew and they could not possibly but know it the light of Nature would not suffer them to be ignorant here but know it they must yea but who this God was is for the particular here that they knew not here they blunder'd and were quite in the dark The light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not as it is Joh. 1.5 therefore we see how they run out into strange kind of fancies making this and that Creature to be a God unto them and not pitching upon the true God indeed which it concerned them to know This is excellently declared to us by the Apostle in that admirable first Chapter to the Romans ver 21 22 c. They became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened Professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible 〈◊〉 and to birds and to four-footed beasts and creeping things Secondly They knew God imperfectly and according to some weak and slender apprehensions which they had of him in their minds but they knew him not in the latitude of those Excellencies which are to be found in him If they had some glimpse of the true God and did rightly pitch upon that yet they did not rightly conceive of him in their thoughts according to those Divine Attributes which are proper unto him his Goodness and Justice and Wisdom and Omnipresence and Omniscience and such as these in these they did not know him No but they thought God rather to be altogether such an one as themselves as it is Psal 50.21 Thirdly They knew God notionally and in the speculation they had some apprehensions of him in their understanding But they did not know
him practically and in the effects so as this knowledg had any influence upon their hearts for the ordering of their lives and conversations Thus they were ignorant of him did not know him so as to fear him to love him to honour him to obey him c. And this is indeed such an ignorance as oftentimes does very much prevail not only out of the Church but in it not only amongst Pagans and Heathens but also as we may take notice of it by the way sometimes even in profest Christians amongst whom 't is so much the more abominable There are a great many people in the world which have a great deal of knowledg and common illumination in whom that knowledg notwithstanding does not produce any gracious effect to the bettering of them like glow-worms which have light without heat and their heads are bigger than all the rest of them besides This is that which is most common and dangerous in great Wits as we shall see more afterwards and therefore requires so much the greater heed and care for the avoiding of it Take heed of resting in the partaking of any knowledg which does not put forth it self in some answerable activity and operation For as every Divine Truth in regard of the nature of it is ordained to some practise so indeed it is not known to purpose except it be put into practise These Gentiles because that when they knew God yet they glorified him not as God but in the midst of all their knowledg were many of them very base and wicked livers Adulterers and Fornicators and Drunkards and Idolaters and the like yea and the best of them which were free from those sins were unthankful and proud therefore they are said not to know God when in a sort and sense they did know him Quod curiositate invenerant superbiâ perdiderunt as Austin speaks what they found out by their wit they lost by their pride They knew God speculatively but they did not know him powerfully Fourthly and lastly They knew God Essentially as considered in his own nature but they knew him not Dispensatively representatively as exhibited in Christ Thus they knew not God neither indeed in the case they were could they know him They knew not God that is Immanuel God with us God manifest in the flesh God taking our nature upon him and becoming a Mediator for us Him they did not know This is clear out of divers places of Scripture and cannot be questioned Thus Joh. 1.10 speaking concerning Christ He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not And so 1 Cor. 2.8 Whom none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known him they would not have crucified the Lord of glory The world knew not Christ neither in his Persons nor yet in his Offices so they knew him not And being they knew not Him who was the Image of the Invisible God the brightness of his Glory and the express image of his Person as the Apostle calls him In this respect and upon this account it is said of them that they knew not God to know God and not to know him in Christ is as good as not to know him at all for what 's to know him so but to know him rather to our own confusion and amazement and greater horrour of soul it is to know him as an enemy and to know him as an angry Judg and to know him as a person at variance and difference with us as a consuming fire and one whom there 's no coming near this is a very uncomfortable knowledg of him but now to know him in the union of our nature and in his Majesty vailed with our flesh this is sweet and pleasing indeed this is the knowledg which is manifest in the Gospel but this the world at present knew not they knew not God in Christ And that 's the fourth and last term which lies here in the Text to be explained what is meant by their not knowing of God And thus much for the Explication of the Words I come now in the next place to the Proposition it self thus explained as it lyes in the Text That in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God Which affords us this observation as the Moral of all That the greatest Wits of the world having no more but the common light of nature and the advantage of humane Accomplishments are oftentimes exceedingly to seek in the spiritual and saving knowledg of God This is the Point which here lyes before us to be considered by us And I shall endeavour to make it good by a threefold consideration and that founded upon the words of the Text. First The insufficiency of the Medium Secondly The weakness of the Faculty And thirdly The perversness of the Subjects First The insufficiency of the Medium and that is the Glory of God shining forth in the Creatures which is here called the Wisdom of God This of it self is insufficient to the producing of such a kind of knowledg as this is Indeed it has in a sort some sufficiency in it as is here intimated and implied unto us forasmuch as the world is censured for not improving it and from hence they are said to be without excuse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.20 but yet it is not sufficient wholly and fully to such an end as we speak of this is most certain and unquestionable that every creature has some kind of footstep and impression of the Deity upon it Quaelibet Herba Deum as we use to speak There 's not the least spire of Grace but it signifies and presents a God to our thoughts much more the whole Body of the Creation This does exhibit and present God a great deal more fully But yet God as he is laid open in the Gospel and as he is made known in the Preaching of the Word this the Creature does not shew nor is able to do it this is a point which cannot be known but by the Scripture and written Word of God which those who were Pagans and Heathens were unacquainted withal To know God as a Saviour and as the Author of Eternal Happiness unto us this the Book of the Creatures does not discover or make known and therefore they knew not God first of all from the insufficiency of the Creation which is here denominated as I have shewn the wisdom of the Medium of God Secondly From the weakness of the Faculty the world by wisdom knew not God that is by its own wisdom and that wisdom which is within the compass of it self so it knew him not The wisdom of the world is insufficient alone of it self to bring any people to the saving knowledg of God this is clear out of sundry places of Scripture as for instance in Mat. 16.17 when Peter had acknowledged that Christ was the Son of the living God what says he unto him hereupon Blessed art
thou Simon Bar-jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven Flesh and blood is no revealer of Christ nor of the Mysteries which belong unto him And so 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receives not the things of the spirit for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And so in the place before cited 1 Cor. 2.8 Which none of the Princes of the world knew The Princes of the world who are they these are not as I conceive only those which are properly so call'd earthly Kings and Potentates and the like for but few of them had an hand in the actual crucifying of Christ but by the Princes of the world we are to understand rather the great Rabbies and Doctors of the world which were as it were Princes for learning and humane knowledg which did Dominari in Scholis The Scribes and Pharisees the Philosophers and Naturalists and the like these were Principes seculi hujus and which notwithstanding were wholly ignorant of Christ So that we see how men may much abound in worldly wisdom and yet fall short of Evangelical knowledg First Because this Mystery of the Gospel it is a thing which is meerly dependant upon the will and counsel of God himself that which has its sole ground work and foundation in the wisdom of God that cannot be discovered or discerned by the meer wit and wisdom of man now thus it is with the Doctrine of the Gospel and the way to Salvation by Christ it is a thing purely dependant upon Gods Wisdom and Decree for the accomplishment and revelation of it Hence it is said in Scripture to be the Wisdom of God in a mystery and the hidden Wisdom which God had before the world ordained to our glory 1 Cor. 2.7 Again it is said to be hid in God Eph. 3.9 that is in the secret of his own purpose and eternal counsel This makes it to be such as is beyond the reach not only of the wisest men in the world but likewise without particular revelation of the Angels themselves Secondly As it is hid in God so it is also hid by God and that of purpose oftentimes from those which are otherwise the wisest men in the world thus we have it in that acknowledgment of our Saviours Mat. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Even so O Father because it seemed good in thy sight God does think fitting sometimes in his infinite and unsearchable wisdom to conceal and hide from the great ones and Rabbies of the world those things as concerning Religion which yet he discovers to mean persons And so if we will we may apply the phrase in the Text in another sense than as yet we have taken it In the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God namely by taking this Wisdom of God Oeconomicè as well as Objectivè God did so order it dispense it in his Providence and unsearchable Wisdom that the world by all their wisdom should not attain to the right knowledg of him Thirdly The world by the strength of natural wisdom is not able to know God in Christ in regard of the disproportion betwixt the faculty and the object the knowledg of Christ being of a far different and contrary nature and condition hereunto We know that no faculty can act beyond its own sphere nor reach an object which is above it self As bodily eyes cannot see spiritual substances no more can wit and natural sagacity be able to reach the knowledg of God in Christ which is an object transcendent unto it The improvement of this Point to our selves is not as some would make it to be from hence to cast a reproach and disparagement upon Wit and Parts and humane learning simply considered it is not in the sense of the times at least of many foolish people in them to cry down Schools and Colledges and Universities and such places of Learning and Education as these are nor to diminish or take off from those which are eminent in such kind of perfections humane wisdom and wit and skill in Philosophy and sagacity they are singular gifts and endowments which proceed from God himself and God does highly honour those persons whom he does bestow them upon for which reason we are to honour them also and whosoever speaks against them they speak evil of the things which they know not as the Apostle speaks It may be requisite for us therefore to consider the right sense and meaning of these things that we may not mistake There 's a threefold disparagement especially if so be I may call it a disparagement which we do justly and most deservedly cast upon humane learning and the wisdom of the world First Comparative and Exclusive we do disparage it and diminish from it so Humane learning if we compare it with Divine and worldly wisdom with the wisdom from above here it is as good as nothing a very poor and mean business For a man to know all kind of things in the world and in the mean time to be ignorant of Christ and those things which concern his soul this knowledg will in effect profit him nothing and he is but a very Ignoramus There 's no comparison to be made betwixt them we see how the Apostle himself sets it when he speaks to this point Phil. 3.8 I count all things says he but dung and dross for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord c. Saint Paul was a very learned man and that in the Mysteries of humane learning a great and deep Scholar yet when he compared his knowledg here with the knowledg of Christ and the Gospel here he set it at a very low rate and so indeed it was to be set and is so still to be by all others whatsoever Thus far now we disparage humane wisdom as we do dross by setting it below Gold not absolutely but only by comparison And that 's the first Explication Secondly We do disparage Humane wisdom Vt fundamentum superbiae carnalis confidentiae as a ground or argument of pride and boasting and carnal confidence wit and learning and parts and the wisdom of the world they are very noble and excellent qualifications but yet they are such as none have cause to be proud of or lifted up with whosoever they are There 's no man who has any of these things in the greatest measure that can be who has any reason to swell in himself for the enjoyment of them If he considers either how he comes by them which is only by gift or if he considers how easily he may lose them and may have them taken away from him or if he considers how they are such gifts as may be bestowed even upon enemies and wicked men these are enough to
for our own use and improvement And first let us here take notice of the corrupt nature which is in man to be abased and humbled for it The world in the wisdom of God by wisdom knew not God what a perverse world was this now in the mean time that made no better use of those helps which were afforded unto it for its furtherance in knowledg Here were two special helps which though in some respects we have disparaged and diminished from them yet in other respects do remain intire and they are the wisdom of God on the one part and the wisdom of man on the other The wisdom of God in the Creatures for the Book and opportunity of teaching and the wisdom of man in the mind for the skill and opportunity of learning Both of these taken together they leave the world without excuse There are two special cases wherein we pity rather than blame such persons as are destitute of learning The one is when they want Books and the other is when they want parts those which have no very excellent pregnancy of parts or quickness of wit in themselves yet may know with the help of a good Library they make a shift to get some competent knowledg Again those which have no great store of Books yet if they have quick and nimble parts they are able to beat things out of themselves if they will set themselves to it and they carry as it were a Library about them in that respect But now where both these meet together surely here 's a very great advantage and opportunity indeed and it 's a sign of very great laziness and negligence to be a dunce here Why this is now the case with the world for the knowledg of God Here 's Books enough the Library of the Creature which is here called the wisdom of God And here 's parts enough even the wisdom of the world and yet the world for all this it knows not God What a stark and staring shame is this and how much to be abhorred But here we see the corruption of our nature which we have hence cause to abhor and bewail And that may be the first Application Secondly Seeing the world by wisdom knew not God let us then labour to find somewhat more in us than worldly wisdom let us not rest our selves in tha kind of knowledg which we may have and still be ignorant of God but labour and endeavour with our selves to reach to an higher pitch and perfection than consists barely in these inferior speculations what is it for us to have skill in every thing else if we have not skill in Religion an saving of our own souls What is it for us to make good others evidences for earth if we cannot make good our own evidences for Heaven I beseech ye let us seriously think of such matters a these are Humane wisdom and Divine they are not inconsistent as I have shewn in the nature of the things themselves but yet they are many times inconsistent in the subject in which they severally are and do not always meet together in one and the same person and that is because they are excellencies of a different nature As ye know in Professions which are independant upon each other there may be skill in the one where there is not skill in the other so also here Thirdly Let those who know God and have this worldly wisdom see what cause they have to bless God and to acknowledg his goodness to them those which are at once both men of parts and men of grace and piety also let them here knovv hovv they came by each and especially by the latte of them to vvit the knovvledg of God in Christ Flesh and blood has not taught it them It vvas not their vvit which made them that vvhich they are but the free grace and goodness of God unto them vvhich carried them into an higher strain of spirit And again for those who desire this wisdom let them learn hence to vail and cover the other and lay it down in order to the other where it makes any opposition and resistance yea where they have formerly too much stood upon it shew their remorse and repentance for this folly by another course as those in the Acts which were converted they renounced their curious arts witchcraft and sorcery and the like and brought their books and burnt them before all men Act. 19.19 Yet to conclude let me add one thing more and that 's this That though humane wit does not give Grace of it self yet it does sometimes forward the means of Grace and accordingly is to be improved by us As the Star occasionally led the wise men to Christ Mat. 2. Again though Parts make us not good at first yet when we are good they are good helps to make us better and more useful in the exercise of piety and so likewise are we conscionably to use them And thus now I have done with the first General Part in this Verse viz. The worlds neglect and miss-improvement of the opportunities of knowledg in these words The world by wisdom knew not God Now the second is the supply of this defect by a new kind of dispensation to them After that c. it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching c. But of this God willing we shall speak in the next Sermon SERMON XXVII 1 Cor. 1.21 It pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe There 's no greater hinderance and impediment to the receiving and entertaining of Christ and of the Gospel which is the Doctrine of Christ than a too high and over-weening conceit and opinion of mens own wisdom Those which have more Wit than Grace and especially if they be proud of that Wit they are commonly too wise to be instructed and so consequently too wise to be saved Therefore the Apostle Paul that he might deal more effectually with the Corinthians which had high thoughts in this particular and might bring them into a temper sit for the receiving of Evangelical Truths he does labour in the first place to qualifie these conceits in them to lay them low in themselves and the apprehensions of their own carnal excellencies and to discover unto them the power and efficacy of the means of Salvation which they were otherwise apt to contemn pulling down strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledg of God and bringing into captivity every thought unto the obedience of Christ as it is in 2 Cor. 10.4 5. This is his special work in a great part of this Epistle and the next And in particular in this parcel of it which I have now again at this time read unto you in ver 21. of this Chapter and so forward He nullifies the wisdom of the world on the one side and he advances the wisdom of God on the other which he opposes thereunto OUR business this day is in
is amplified to us from the entertainment which it has differently in the world on the one part as a Doctrine of offence Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness and on the other part as a Doctrine of Acceptance But unto those which are called c. But this I must leave to be handled in the next Sermon SERMON XXX 1 Cor. 1.23 But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness It is a part of the faithfulness of an Embassador and Commissioner here in world who is intrusted with any business of state and transaction of special importance to abte nothing of his Errand nor of the message which is committed unto him but whether it please or displease to deliver it with all integrity and boldness And surely it is no less likewise the duty of those also which are the messengers of the Churches as the Scripture sometimes calls them and Embassadors of God for Christ They are to express the like faithfulness and sincerity in their employment namely to exhibit their Message and that Doctrine which they are intrusted withal howsoever the world stands affected or disposed unto it And this is tha which we may here observe to be done by the Apostle Paul he had to deal with two sorts of people in the course an dispensation of his Ministry and such as both of them were very much prejudiced against that truth which was to be delivered by him but yet for all that he is not hindered or restrained in the delivering The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified This was that passage in this Scripture which we fell upon in our last exercise where after divers preparatory points which we raised from the words we insisted upon this main Principle That Christ crucified is the main object and matter of our Preaching WE have here in these words set down to us the different entertainment which this Preaching of the Apostles met withal in different persons and that is twofold First It was a Doctrine of offence and secondly it was a Doctrine of success It was a Doctrine of offence on two parts Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Gentiles foolishness And it was a Doctrine of success on two parts more But unto them c. We 'l begin first of all with the former as it is exhibited in vers 23. so far forth as it is a Doctrine of offence But before we come to speak distinctly and particulary concerning this we 'l observe somewhat from the Text in general and that 's this That the same Doctrine and Preaching of the Word has not always and in all sorts of persons the same effect This is clear from the connexion before us Here were Jews and Greeks which had both of them Christ crucified preached unto them yet the entertainment of this Doctrine in both was different and various This is agreeable to that which the Scripture does declare unto us 2 Cor. 2.15 We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish to the one we are the savour of death unto death and to the other the savour of life unto life So a different savour in each Thus when Christ himself preacht some said He was a good man and others that he deceived the people And when Paul preached at Athens Act. 17.32 34. some clave to him and believed others mockt at him and put him off till another time And Act. ult 24. some believed the things which were spoken and others believed not Now there 's a various account which may be given hereof unto us from whence it proceeds First from the consideration of the Teacher and of him that delivers the Doctrine there 's a great matter in that The different spirit and carriage of the Preacher has a great influence upon the success of the Doctrine which otherwise may be one and the same Look says St. Chrysostome as it is in matter of musick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in an Harp or Lute there 's a great deal of difference according to the hand which is imployed about it Even so it is in the Divine Oracles and the dispensation of the Word of God there is a great of difference for the improvement and benefit which comes by it according to the condition of the person which has the handling and ordering of it and the difference we may conceive here to lye in sundry particulars First In his Gifts and Ministerial Abilities there 's a singular dexterity and skilfulness which belongs to Ministers in their several ways for the conveyance of their Doctrines into the minds and hearts of their hearers and to make those Truths which they treat of to be their own It 's one thing to deliver comfortable Truths and it is another thing to be a comfortable Teacher and it is one thing to speak words of reproof and it is another thing to be a skilful reprover There 's a right application of the Plaister or a right making of the wound which every one has not skill in them to do Thus Eccles 12.9 Because the Preacher was wise he taught the people knowledg c. Wise what 's that that is not only wise for his own particular in reference to his own understanding but wise for the good of the people in reference to their benefit and profit This Wisdom here it is not only an immanent wisdom but a transient not only which rests in the Teacher but from him is conveyed to the Hearer Now because Solomon was thus therefore he taught the people knowledg and he taught them successfully and he sought out acceptable words c. So it follows the words of the wise are like Goads and like Nails fasten'd by the Masters of the Assembly and given by one Pastor Look as it is in other matters it is not enough only to put a Nail into a piece of building but there must be a fastening it and striking it home to the head even so is it here as concerning the Ministry It is not only enough to propound such Truths but there must be a skilful inforcing of them and that according to the condition of the Hearers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2 Tim. 2.15 Now according to a different skill and ability to this purpose is there oftentimes a different benefit and success for those things which are Preached Again As this difference lies much in a Ministers Gifts so also in a Ministers Spirit and manner of undertaking the work when men go about any thing in the strength of their own wit or in a dependance upon their own parts and industry it is not oftentimes so successful But when men look up to God for his assistance and rely upon him for his concurrence this is most likely to take effect in what they do The way for any Preacher to make any Truth
regard of the world of no great descent so likewise for his conversation in the world it was after a poor and mean fashion Foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests but the son of man knew not where to lay his head This was another thing which made them to forsake him and to withdraw from him Those which are worldly-minded themselves they look at nothing else in others but worldly accomplishments Thirdly His Company and Converse that was another thing which rendred him offensive that he had society with Publicans and Sinners whereas indeed he had it for no other end but only for their good not as delighting in their sinfulness but rather as taking occasion to take them off from it But lastly and especially which is that that is here mentioned in the Text he was offensive in regard of his Death Christ crucified was an offence unto them that he who was called the Saviour of the World should suffer death from the hands of men this they looked upon as a contemptible business and they now began to scorn that Doctrine which brought such tidings unto them This we see made good in the mockings which they cast upon him on the Cross it self If thou be the Son of God save thy self c. And thus we see how Christ was a stumbling-block or scandal in point of Cavil or Exception Secondly He was so likewise in point of Temptation he was a scandal or stumbling-block to the Jews as he was an occasion of sin unto them and this he was as Christ crucified also an occasion not as given by him but as made and taken by them First as being themselves instrumental in the very act of his Crucifying for so some of the Jews had been Their wicked hands as the Apostle Peter plainly and roundly tells them had crucified him and put him to death And was he not then truly a stumbling-block and a scandal unto them in this regard what greater sin could there be than the crucifying of the Lord of Glory and the putting of the Son of God to an open shame why this now some of them did and so fell into a grievous sin But then secondly that was not all that they were active themselves in crucifying him but further in that being crucified they took occasion from hence to abhor him and so much the more to withdraw from him so that now he is indeed a stone of stumbling to them and they stumble at this chief corner-stone as the Scripture speaks This is the great misery and wretchedness of wicked men that they are so far from being the better as that they are the worse for the Mysteries of Salvation and their hearts are now so much the more hardened as these things are tendered and exhibited unto them As the Apostle observes of the Law it was an occasion of sin unto him Rom. 7.10 Thus he was a scandal also in point of Temptation Thirdly A scandal also in point of Destruction Christ crucified and the preaching of him was to the Jews an occasion of ruin and plunged them so much the deeper as it fell out in condemnation And that because they rejected this means of Salvation which was now offered unto them this the Apostle himself signifies unto us in Rom. 9.31 32 33. Israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness Wherefore Because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone as it is written Behold I lay c. And so the Apostle Peter again 1 Pet. 2.7 8. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to them which are disobedient This was Christ crucified to the Jews He was through their own sin and corruption instead of a Saviour a Destroyer and instead of a means of recovery an occasion of great mischief and ruin Now what 's the Moral of all this to us For I suppose the Spirit of God intends somewhat more than the bare history and narration and what is written before in this kind it is written for our learning There is somewhat which we may take notice of as profitable for our own instruction from this of the Jews and that 's this That the means of Grace and Salvation are to corrupt and perverse hearts the occasions of greater ruin and destruction Christ who by Gods appointment was a precious and chief corner-stone is to the Jews a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence They break their shinns at this stone and are bruised by it This is a truth in sundry Particulars wherein it is made good take it in what you will almost and so you shall find it This very Doctrine it self of Christ crucified It is such as by many persons is wrested to their own perdition and destruction For what do divers sorts of people conclude from hence why that therefore they may live as they list and give no account of their carriage Christ died and therefore they think that hereby themslves are discharged upon what terms and conditions they please This is the Cross of Christ a stumbling to them they are ruined and undone by it and occasionally more involved in condemnation And so as for the Death of Christ so also for the Remembrance of this death which is exhibited to us in the Sacrament of the Lords-Supper which we are now to approach to Those which are yet in their sins even this is also a stumbling-block to them He that eats and drinks unworthily he eats and drinks damnation to himself not discerning the Lords-body as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 11.29 The word in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies judgment and it respects either temporal or eternal it being in a sense true of both First Temporal judgment forasmuch as in the profaning of this Ordinance he provokes God to inflict many temporal evils upon him For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep as it is vers 30. Profanation of the Ordinances is an occasion of many corporal diseases But then se condly also spiritual and eternal there are such evils as these which are oftentimes consequent hereupon and I join them both together as relating one to the other First Spiritual and that even here in this present life in a judgment upon the soul and spirit Careless and unworthy Communicants they do much prejudice themselves here both in reference to Grace and Comfort for Grace instead of improving in this they improve more in sin and their corruptions encrease more upon them than they did before When a man comes conscionably to this Ordinance and receives it so as he should do it is a means through the Blessing of God for the weakening of corruption in him and for the strengthening of the Graces of Gods Spirit but when he comes carelesly and hand over head it proves the contrary to him Let a man have any Grace
not only a pinching upon their judgments so as to believe a thing improbable but likewise a pinching upon their affections to resign and give up themselves to such a Saviour as this was Thirdly It was foolishness to them in regard of the power and efficacy of this Mystery And that work which by way of Analogy was required of them in answer hereunto which was to crucifie their own lusts and affections as this Doctrine does indeed teach us to do Thus in all these respects was Christ crucified foolishness to the Greeks The use of this Point to our selves comes to this First as it shews us what a dangerous and perillous thing it is to have Wit without Grace it is but as we use to call it Armata iniquitas it is but wickedness set up in arms And it makes men but so much the more to contemn Religion and the means of Salvation As the greatest Clerks are not always the wisest men so the wisest men are not always the best Christians and as many which are famous for learning yet they are not always famous for Prudence and Discretion and Practical Wisdom but do many times exceedingly fail and miscarry here so many which are famous for Wisdom and Prudence in a way of the world yet are not always wise to Salvation as I have formerly shewn unto you These Greeks as wise as they were in worldly matters yet they were not so in the things of God but rather the contrary Nay further they were here by this means occasionally set further off from it Christ crucified is foolishness to them and their wit makes them to despise that means which should save their souls Well let us therefore for our parts take heed of being any way guilty in this respect and let me again renew that counsel which I have before founded upon this Scripture to pray to God to sanctifie our Reason and Understanding and Parts unto us There are many sad Wits in the World which if they can break a jest upon Scripture if they can cavil at the Truths of God if they can deride and scoff at the Ministry and Preaching of the Word they think themselves safe But how much better were it not to have been born than to die in such a temper as this is how much better a great deal were it to have been born an Idiot or natural fool than to have wit and parts and learning and wisdom upon those terms and conditions so as to count the Gospel it self foolishness Secondly Let us hence also learn to admire the Wisdom and Power of God who by that means which the world accunts foolishness is pleased to compass the Salvation of the World And thus now I have done with the entertainment of the Gospel in the first sense as a Doctrine of offence and that in two Particulars Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness Now it follows as a Doctrine of success in as many more in Vers 24. But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God But of this God willing in the next Sermon SERMON XXXI 1 Cor. 1.24 But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God It is the Duty of every Minister and Preacher of the Word of God not only to study his Sermon but likewise to study his Auditory and not only to regard the Doctrine and Matter which is delivered by himself but likewise the success of his Doctrine and the efficacy or miscarriage of it in the hearts of his Hearers that so he may accordingly know the better how to dispose his pains and labour for time to come and supply those things which are defective And this is that which we may here observe and take notice of in the Apostle Paul he does not content himself with this to Preach Christ crucified and so to pitch upon sound Doctrine and Instruction But he observes the effect of this Doctrine and the various entertainment of his Preaching by those persons which it was tendred unto Whereof this is the result and the account that to some it is a Doctrine of offence and reprobation to others of success and acceptance The former of these we have already dispatcht in the 23 verse of this Chapter we come now with Gods assistance to the latter in the 24 verse here before us But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks c. IN this Verse we have declared unto us the Entertainment of the Doctrine of Christ crucified as a Doctrine of success and such as took effect upon the hearts of those to whom it was brought But unto them which are called c. where again as in the former we shall observe somewhat in General and thence proceed to the particular Points which lye here before us for the general therefore first this That God will have always some or other in the world which shall imbrace and bear witness to his Truth Thus here in the Text the Preaching of Christ crucified to the Jews that is to a great many amongst them it was no better than a stumbling-block and to the Gentiles that is to a great number of them it was no better than foolishness But to those which were called that is to a certain remnant in either it was the power and wisdom of God himself There were some which still gave entertainment unto it Some Criticks have been of opinion as if the Apostle here in this place did allude to a Paronomasia in the Hebrew Language and that as thus The Cross to the Jews is Micshal which signifies a stumbling-block and to the Greeks is Micsal which signifies foolishness But to the Called and Believers amongst both it is Sekel which signifies Vnderstanding I do not insist much upon the urging of this notion but come rather to the thing it self Where I say we may observe thus much That God will always so ordain it in his Providence that some or other shall entertain his Word and Gospel where it is dispensed and preached unto them Thus we shall find it to have been where-ever the Apostles themselves came there was a certain number which imbraced their Ministry and gave heed and regard to the Doctrine which was delivered by them This God will have to be upon divers Considerations First For the accomplishment of the number of his own Elect Gods Providence is subservient to his Decree and that which he does in the world it is very sutable to his eternal purpose concerning the final condition of mens persons in the world to come Now because that where God sends his Word he has usually some or other to be converted and brought home to himself therefore as sutable hereunto does he work their hearts to the receiving of the Word which is the means for the effecting this conversion As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Act. 13.15 Secondly God
will also have it for the honour of his own Truth and the Doctrine it self which is delivered If the Gospel should be Preached to a people and none give any entertainment this would reflect upon the Gospel it self which from hence would be disparaged by it But now that God may have the Gospel and have it known to be that which it is therefore some shall receive and imbrace it Thirdly For the Encouragement of the labours of his own Servants and Ministers which are imployed in Preaching the Gospel If Paul and the rest of the Apostles which Preached Christ crucified to the world should have had no entertainment in the world of that which they Preached this would have proved a very great disheartning and discouragement to them now therefore in respect to this does God in Providence give them some success though their Doctrine was a stumbling-block to some and though it was foolishness to others yet to the rest it was Gods power and wisdom This Observation should accordingly be improved by those which are Ministers to quicken them in their work and to carry them on in those places wherein God sets them without discouragement forasmuch as there where God calls them he will more or less be assistant to them and concur with them so far forth as is requisite to the blessing of their labours with success This is that which God has promised by his Prophet Isa 55.10 As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven so shall my word that goeth out of my mouth not return unto me vain c. And therefore let us not be discouraged Rom. 11.4 And that 's one Observation Secondly Observe this that a Minister for the success of his Doctrine is especially to consider how it takes with those which are most Godly and Religious thus does the Apostle Paul here he does not so much trouble himself to think how it was accepted of others those Jews and Greeks which at present were unconverted a stumbling and foolishness to them but how it was to them which were called this was that which most of all stuck by him and wherein he most comforted himself above all the rest Thus again Gal. 2.2 he considered how his Gospel took with them which were of reputation and of reputation not so much for the world as in reference to Religion And so therefore in vers 9. he reckoned this as an encouragement to him that James Cephas and John who were pillars own'd and acknowledged him The ground hereof is this First because such as these they have best skill and judgment in the work every one studies rather to approve himself in any business which he undertakes to workmen rather than to bunglers and to those which have some knowledg of the work than to those which are ignorant of it Now thus it is with those which are godly and Religious and effectually called they have best skill in that which is spoken of and delivered in Preaching Others may somewhat judg of other things but these can best judg of the Truths and Doctrines which are propounded unto them and so their judgment is most to be regarded such as these they come to a Sermon with those affections which it becomes them to do which many others do not Take now a natural man and he can tell you of some other matters it may be some pleasing story or witty sentence or passage of Rhetorick and the like but now come to the marrow of the business and those things which touch the conscience and serve to frame and establish the heart here he is oftentimes much to seek and is able to say little to the purpose But now a man which has the work of Grace in his heart he has a gracious savour and relish of Divine Truths fastened upon his spirit from whence he is able the better to judg of the Proposal and delivery of them The spiritual man judges all things Secondly Such as these they come to the Word freest from prejudice and carnal affection Take a Godly and Religious man and he comes to the hearing of the Word of God with an humble and obedient disposition as one that is ready to submit to the efficacy and power of the Ordinance in every particular whereas another he comes to it with his exceptions and reservations so far forth as it complies with his humour and does not stir him in his bosom-lusts and does not trouble him and take him off from his corruptions so far forth he likes it pretty well but now let it come neer him in these and here he kicks and rebels against it and cannot endure it A Drunkard will never like that Preacher that presses sobriety nor an Adulterer him that Preaches for chastity Thirdly Those which are Godly and Religious and effectually called are most to be regarded for their entertainment of the work because they are most intended in the work it self It is for their sakes chiefly and especially that God sends his Ministers amongst them as to bring home those which are straying so to confirm and strengthen those which are yet at home and already in the fold Now those whom God himself does most look at they should be looked at chiefly by us This condemns the contrary disposition and practise of many in this particular who more consider how their Doctrine takes and is accepted of those which are great and wise and mighty in the world than how it takes with those which are good and pious and experienced in Religion not but that it is possible for those which are the one to be the other too I do not deny that there are divers which are both great and good too wise in matters of the world and wise also to God But this is that which I stand upon that we should not so much in this present business in hand look at the one as the other And it is that which should principally affect us when our words are acceptable to those which are good Thus St. Paul We preach Christ crucified to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block and to the Greeks indeed foolishness But unto them which are called that is to the godly Christ the power of God c. And so much for the Points Preparatory and in General We come now to the words more closely in themselves But unto them which are called c. where we have these two Parts chiefly considerable First the success of the Gospel considered simply in it self Christ the power of God c. Secondly the Parties to whom it is thus laid down two manner of ways First in their Personal Qualification To them which are called Secondly in their National qualification Both Jews and Greeks To these it is thus effectual and successful We begin first of all with the Parties and that first of all in their Personal Qualifications To them which are called By called here we are to understand as I have in part intimated already those which are
called effectually for we must know that there 's a double Call outward in the exhibition of the means and inward in the drawing of the heart to be wrought upon by the means Now it is not the former only but the latter which the Apostle here speaks of Those that are called that is such as have answered the Call of God in his invitation of them to himself and have actually closed with him That which we may chiefly take notice of from this passage in the Text is briefly thus much That there is a number and generation of such persons as these in the world there is such a party in the world as is indeed called out of the world and that is that which we call the Church which has its Denomination from calling out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the notation of the word implies I shall not need to heap up many Testimonies for the warranting of this Expression ye have it every-where almost in Scripture in sundry places besides this Rom. 1.6 The called of Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 1.2 To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints Jude's Epist ver 1. Preserved in Jesus Christ and called c. For the further opening of it to you there are these three things especially considerable of us in it First the Author of it who it is that calls Secondly the subjects of it who they are which are called Thirdly the Terms of it from whence and to what this call is First For the Author of it who it is that calls that is no other than God himself Thus in ver 9. of this present Chapter God is faithful by whom ye were called c. And 2 Thes 2.14 Whereunto he called you by our Gospel speaking of God And 2 Pet. 1.3 Through the knowledg of him that hath called us he speaks of God still It is God and he alone that is the Author of our effectual calling He who calleth things which are not and makes them to be that which they are No man cometh to me says Christ except the Father who hath sent me draw him Joh. 6.44 Calling it is set forth to us in Scripture by the terms of Creation and Resurrection Now as these are such actions as are proper to God alone so is that also which is signified by them Thus 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness c. Psal 51.10 Create in me a clean heart c. Therefore let us learn to give him the praise and glory of all and shew forth the vertues of him that hath called us as the Apostle Peter advises And let us look upon his Call as the spring and fountain of all the good which comes from us Nemo dicat ideo me vocavit quia colui Deum quomodo coluisses st vocat us non fuisses says Austin Let no man say that therefore God has called me because I served him How couldst thou have served him except thou hadst first been called by him this calling of Gods it finds every man out of the way till he pleases to reduce him either wickedly or at least vainly imployed either in the ways of absolute sin or at the best of no more than meer civil and moral conversation and this every one that examines it shall find it to have been so indeed for his own particular God says unto us whiles we are in our blood live And 't is he and none else to speak of that says thus unto us Men they may call us ministerially in the Preaching and Dispensation of the Gospel but it is God that calls us effectually by the inward working and operation of his Spirit And that as might be set out to us at large in sundry modifications First Freely of his own accord none moving or perswading him hereunto And secondly sweetly in the preservation of the natural liberty of the will in the exercise of it And thirdly yet strongly in an irresistible drawing of the heart to the imbracing of his heavenly motions Thus our Call it is from God and in this manner he is the worker of it And thus for the Author Secondly For the Subjects of this calling who they are which are called this we have from God to be only the Elect whom he hath predestinated them he hath called them he hath called and them alone Rom. 8.30 And so they are the called according to his purpose v. 28. There 's a threefold distinction which is made betwixt man and man The first is in Gods eternal counsel before the world begun The second is in his effectual calling here in this world And the third is at the last day when he shall separate the sheep from the goats The second follows from the first as the third follows from the second as those only shall be set at his right hand which are effectually called by his Grace so those only are called effectually by his Grace which are appointed to life by his Decree Predestination is the ground of Vocation Those which he hath called he hath chosen This now accordingly takes it off from any personal Qualification in our selves as to be the original and cause hereof unto us yea we may observe in the course of Gods Providence how God rather goes a contrary way with us he is so far from calling us therefore because we have some eminency in us especially in reference to the world as that he calls rather those which are most defective in such things as these are This the Apostle expresly notes unto us in this very Chapter in hand ver 26. Brethren ye see your calling how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wife c. There are of such as those which are called too the Apostle does not exclude them out of this priviledg but he hints thus much unto us That they are not the greatest number or at least that God does not call men therefore and upon this ground because they are so qualified he does not look upon men in order to their temporal condition but in order to their eternal predestination And this for the subjects of this calling who they are for the general they are the elect The third is the terms from whence and to which This the Scripture sets forth unto us in sundry expressions as first from darkness to light Col. 1.12 13 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of Saints in light Every man by nature is in the dark in a blind and uncomfortable condition having his understanding darkned through ignorance as the Apostle speaks Now this calling it brings him into the light and restores sight to the blind Take a man after conversion and he sees things in another manner than before conversion he saw them and therefore it is called a commanding
of light out of darkness c. 2 Cor. 4.6 Again secondly From the power of Satan to God Thus Act. 26.18 We have both these expressions joyned together To open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Men before their effectual calling they are under the power and thraldom of Satan and led captive by him at his will whithersoever he pleases But now conversion it is a recovery out of this snare as it is called 2 Tim. 2.26 This it strikes off the Fetters and Bolts and Chains which a sinner was held with as it was with him possest in the Gospel Thirdly From the world to the fellowship of Christ and the Saints 1 Cor. 1.9 By whom ye are called into the fellowship of his son A man by his effectual calling is made member of another Society and Corporation than he was of before and he has a spirit given him answerable to that Society to converse withall a natural man he is unfit for holy communion conversion it does mightily raise him up hereunto Lastly From a state of Hell and Wrath and Death to a state of Life and peace and salvation Thus as we are said in some places of Scripture to be called to grace so in others to be called to glory and such terms as these are as not to be called to uncleanness but unto holiness 1 Thes 4.7 so not to be called to wrath but to obtain salvation 1 Thess 5.9 And again 2 Thes 2.14 He hath called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ These are the terms from whence and to which And this sets forth unto us the excellency and dignity of our calling considered in it self when we are called to be Christians and Believers we do not change for the worse but for the better we are advanced and promoted and set up to a more noble condition than we were in before and accordingly does the Scripture here put such denominations upon it of an high calling Phil. 3.14 Of an holy calling 2 Rom. 1.9 Of an heavenly calling Heb. 3.1 And so much of the parties here spoken of in their personal qualifications Them which are called I come now to them in the second place in their natural qualification both Jews and Greeks this must be taken in connexion with the former and in reference to it the Apostle had in the verse before laid a disparagement upon such of these people as concerning their rejection and ill entertainment of the Gospel affirming it to be to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness Now that he might not be here mistaken as condemning these whole Nations at large he here limits and qualifies this censure But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks c. Before we come to the main point observe here first of all a profitable instruction in general and that in reference to practise which is briefly this That in the laying of censures at any time upon a generality and community of persons whether Nations or Societies of men we must take heed whiles we find fault with some that we do not indefinitely condemn all This was St. Paul's care here whiles he censured Jews and Greeks he would exempt some of them from this censure and so he does also in other places As to the Corinthians when he writes unto them and makes mention of strange kind of sinners Such were some of you 1 Cor. 6.11 He does not say all but some So 1 Cor. 4.18 Now some are puffed up as though I would not come unto you And to the Thessalonians 2 Thes 3.11 We hear that there are some among you which are disorderly c. He restrains and confines his censure to some and so our blessed Saviour to his Hearers There are some of you that believe not John 6.64 And so again more expresly John 13.18 I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen c. This restriction and limitation is requisite First To prevent discouragement in the condemned that so we may not grieve and trouble the minds of those which are innocent and guiltless When those which are good and holy shall conceive themselves to be wrapt and involved in the same censure with those that are otherwise this is a great discouragement to them and a grieving of their spirits which we should be especially tender of Not break the bruised Reed c. Secondly To prevent scandal in the standers by and that others may not be offended at them for it when those who are strangers to the persons shall hear all at large to be condemned this may be an occasion sometimes to make them think ill of those which are blameless thereby to bescandaliz'd Thirdly To prevent injustice in our selves and that we may not give wrong judgment He that justifies the wicked and he that condemns the just both of them are an abomination to the Lord says Solomon Prov. 17.15 Now this latter we must here take heed of which we fall into by indefinite censure This does therefore meet with the reshness or malice or what you will of many persons in this particular ye shall have some people so to condemn an whole company as that they except and spare none at all in it If some are it may be many of them faulty why in this case condemn all without any exception or limitation They are all so without difference This is the practise of envy and folly In the Ministry fall upon the whole Tribe for the miscarriage of some In the Magistracy upon the whole state-Government because some are amiss in it in any Calling or undertaking whatsoever fly in the face of the whole profession for the fault of some which are irregular in it This is contrary both to Religion and Reason a senseless and a malicious business The Apostle Paul in this present Scripture gives us a better example But with them which are called both Jews and Greeks c. As who should say Though I condemn some and most yet I do not censure all and this may be observed in General But to speak more particularly to the Words To them which are called both Jews and Greeks We see here that God has his Numbers and Lot and Portion more or less in all People and Nations without any difference Jew and Gentile both may be called and so are In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek Col. 3.11 That is there is no difference of either as concerning the priviledges of Salvation they have each of them an interest in them This is that which the Apostle Peter takes notice of in his discourse to Cornelius Acts 10.34 Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him This may be made good unto us from these considerations First Both Jew and Gentiles they are the subjects
of Gods election he hath chosen a certain number of each I shewed you before how our effectual calling is founded upon our predestination Now there is a number of each which are elected therefore there must be a number of each which are called forasmuch as those which are appointed to the end they must of necessity partake oF the means which tend to that end Now for Jews and Gentiles they are both elected and chosen and therefore both also effectually called For the Jews they are said as touching the Election to be beloved for the Fathers sake Rom. 11.28 And for the Gentiles 1 Thes 1 Knowing Brethren Beloved your election of God Thus Jews and Greeks are both elected Accordingly God is said to be the God not only of the one but of the other Rom. 3.29 c. Is he the God of the Jews only Is he not also of the Gentiles Yes of the Gentiles also Seeing it is one God c. Secondly Christ died for both for one as well as for t'other therefore there are those which shall be saved of both That Christ died for both 't is clear as out of that place in John 21.51 52 where it is said that Caiaphas who was the high priest for that year prophesied that Jesus should dye for that nation And not for that nation only but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad And so 1 John 2.1 2 We have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole That is not only for the Jews but the Gentiles And hence we are all both one and the other said to partake of the same mystical body 1 Cor. 12.13 By one spirit we are all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit They have both alike interest in Christ Thirdly They have both alike interest in the Gospel and means of salvation this was cleared by Peters going to Cornelius Acts 11.17 18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance and the condition which is given in charge to the Apostles runs thus Go unto all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature and go teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 They partake in the means and therefore consequently in the thing it self The consideration of this present point is thus far useful unto us as it teaches us two things First To pray for the calling and conversion of the Jews And Secondly to pray for the accomplishment and fulness of the Gentiles First For the calling of the Jews which is a mystery revealed unto us as that which in time shall be Rom. 11.16 c. We have here further a good ground to expect it from that which is done already being there were some which were called from the beginning in the days of the Apostles there shall be more of them at last wrought upon and converted And St Pauls argument holds good to this purpose If the first fruit be holy the lump is also holy and if the root be holy so are the branches The conversion of so many Jews in the first plantation of the Gospel was a pledg and fore-runner of many more to be brought into the same number Secondly It also holds for our expectation of the fulness of the Gentiles we see there are yet many Gentiles which are still kept out of the pales of the Church which never heard of Christ nor as yet have partaked of the means of Salvation well but let us not from hence be discouraged and put out of hope we have some cause to look for it and expect it from those which are brought in already also The calling of these Greeks gives us ground to hope and expect that there will be divers others in time likewise converted The performance whereof is that which the Jews also stay for according to that of the Apostle in Rom. 11.25 That blindness is in part happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved And so much for the words in that sense To them which are called both Jews and Greeks But then again a little further These words may be here taken not only in an Historical sense but in a Moral not only as spoken particularly of these two Nations the Jews and the Greeks but likewise as spoken of such persons as were noted either for simplicity or wisdom as those Nations do point out unto us so that the Jews represent the one and the Greeks the other The Jews being notorious for their stupidity and the Greeks famous for their learning as I have formerly shewn unto you And so there 's this in it That God has his lot and portion amongst learned and unlearned both there 's no exception in point of conversion of either of these two we have instances of either of these in Scripture of the learned in Paul himself and many others whom we read of in Scripture converted to the faith and of the unlearned in many of meaner parts which did partake of the rich priviledges of Salvation The ground hereof still is this The good pleasure and will of God who is no respecter of persons but bestows his grace there where he pleases without any account given to any Therefore let those which are unlearned not here excuse themselves and say they are no Scholars c. though they be not Scholars yet they may be Christians and though they be not book-learned yet for all that they may be learned to Salvation And so it becomes them to labour to be and to endeavour thereafter because there are called of the Jews Again for those which are learned let them not rest themselves in their humane learning and that wisdom which they get here in the world but labour further to be taught from God and to have the knowledg of his ways in Christ because there are called also of the Greeks But so much of the first Part in the Text viz. the Persons here mentioned To them which are called c. Now the second is the success of this Preaching it self Christ the Power of God and the wisdom of God where we may observe how as the Apostle crost these Jews and Greeks in what they desired so also he did in a sort comply with them Here 's the opposition and the accommodation both in this Text the Jews require a sign and they have brought unto them a stumbling-block the Greeks seek after wisdom and they have preached unto them foolishness there 's the opposition and contradiction Again the Jews require a sign and they have brought unto them the power of God the Greeks seek after wisdom and they have Preached unto them the wisdom of God There 's the accommodation and agreement Now the latter of these
interest in any outward and worldly blessing is belonging unto them It is true that they cannot absolutely and peremptorily conclude upon it no more than upon any other outward comfort of the same nature with it for all things fall alike unto all here in this life to the good and to the bad to the just and to the unjust c. as the Preacher speaks but yet they may more certainly expect it than any other besides may and they have a promise made of it to them so far forth as is requisite for them and may most consist with the glory of God which all things are to be subservient unto Job 5.26 Among other Blessings of the same condition with it this is reckoned as one pertaining to those which are faithful That they shall come to their grave in peace like a shock of corn in its season This was that kind of death which the Apostle here was delivered from in this danger which he speaks of in Asia as we may see if we look into the story where we shall find that he was ready to be pull'd in pieces in the tumult which was there made and therefore his friends intreated him that he would not adventure himself upon the Theatre namely to the rage and fury of his Enemies which were there met in a cobustion together This is a part of the aggravation of the miseries and calamities of War The difference betwixt a fever and a sword betwixt dying by the hand of an enemy and dying by the stroke of a disease The end and conclusion is all one and the same only there 's some difference in the conveyance when as the soul does not so much take its leave as it is rather driven out of its lodging This is that which nature shrinks at even there where grace has learn't in some degree to submit unto it And that 's the first aggravation which is implyed in this expression so great a Death namely from the nature and kind of it a violent death not a natural The second is from the Quality and manner of it a painful death not a gentle and easie Death it is unpleasing in it self considered as a meer dissolution and separation of two loving friends and companions the soul and body from each other but when to this we shall add pain and torture this makes it to be so much the more This was that which many of the Godly Martyrs suffer'd and indur'd They were stoned they were sawn asunder they were killed they were slain with the sword Heb. 11.35 Deaths full of torment and pain and so great there are likewise such kind of Deaths in a natural way also Sone and Gout c. I need not name them some are afflicted with them and if we be delivered from them we have cause to bless God for it for delivering us from such great Deaths or Diseases as those as namely are painful and tormenting which makes up the second Aggravation Thirdly Take in another from the coming and proceeding of it A sudden death and not an expected This is another aggravation of Temporal Death which the Apostle seems here to allude to in his danger in Asia It was such as he did not look for and in that regard it was great indeed to speak properly Death is not altogether sudden to the Children of God because they are still more or less in the expectation of it and in some sort prepared for it but yet comparatively some is suddener than other and that which is so has the aggravation of a great death in it We find David cry in Psal 39. ult Oh spare me a little before I go hence c. that I may recover my self A Christian though he be able to give some good account of himself whensoever God shall call him as desiring always to live in such a constant frame and temper of spirit as from whence he may be fit to leave the world yet he desires to have some time to make his accounts up and to have them in a more perfect readiness than at all times else he has in which regard it is lawful for him with a submission to the good will of God to desire to be kept and preserved from a sudden stroke that so he may the better be able to reflect and recollect himself to consider what he is and what he has been and what he has done and whither he is going c. which in these sudden surprisals he is not so well able to do Fourthly From the time and season of it when it is an hastened death not a mature one in Eccles 7.17 it is there the counsel and advice of the Preacher Be not overmuch wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldst thou dye before thy time And Psal 55.23 It is said of bloody and deceitful men that they shall not live out half their days For men to dye before their time and not to live out half their days it is reckoned in the Catalogue and account of great Deaths Now death may be said to be untimely in a twofold Consideration Either First of all in a way of Nature Or else secondly in a way of Providence First In a way of Nature When one dyes in infancy or youth or such time as he is not come to full age and it is a mercy to escape this God gives us great occasion of thankfulness when he sets us to run out our time here in the world when he cracks not the hour-glass before all the sand be spent or when the glass is but newly turn'd up as sometimes he does This is an untimely death in a way of Nature Secondly There 's an untimely Death also in a way of Providence When a man is at any time taken out of the world ere he has done his work and before he has accomplish't that business which in all likelihood he was to perform which is the very life of life it self Thus had this Death in the Text been a great Death to St. Paul because it had taken him off from that service which he was to have done for the Church and so consequently it was a great deliverance to be freed from it that he might now glory as afterwards he did before his departure that he had sought a good fight that he had finished his course c. 2 Tim. 4.7 Fifthly The greatness of Death has an aggravation of it from its latitude and extent When it is a death involving and including such and such persons in it As first for the number of the persons the death of many the death of a great many that 's a great death that 's a great death which does devour multitudes and swarms at once Thus had this death been in Asia not only Paul himself but his companions more had been taken away besides him in this violence he here speaks of And this is another thing which would have made it to have been so great a death
reason for That the whole business of Religion should be signified by this expression of the Truth and that upon these following Considerations First By reason of the analogy and correspondency and near agreement which is betwixt Truth it self and Holiness betwixt the Doctrine of Religion and the practise of it for such there is all the Articles of Faith they have a respect to the framing of the heart and to the ordering of the life and conversation they serve not only to inform the judgment but likewise to better the whole man Therefore the mystery of Faith is called the mystery of Godliness And every Divine Truth it has some grace whereunto it refers in the use and improvement of it As the Incarnation of Christ to humility and self-abasement The Passion of Christ to Mortification and crucifying of lusts The Resurrection to spiritual quickening and raising us up to newness of life The Ascension to Heavenly-mindedness and the affecting of things above And so of the rest Now because it does so therefore is the one well denominated from the other The life of Religion from the Doctrine of it as closing and complying with it and as sutable and agreeable to it as indeed it is Christian conversation it is consonant to Christian knowledg Secondly Religion is called the Truth not only as agreeing with it but likewise as issuing from it and produced by it for so also it is All which are regenerate and born again they are begotten and born of Truth as the conveyance hereof unto them Jam. 1.18 of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures And 1 Cor. 4.15 For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel And 1 Pet. 1.23 Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever Still the Word and Truth of God is made the instrument of our spiritual birth and regeneration whence Believers are also said to be of the Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 3.19 Thirdly It is called the Truth Emphatically in opposition to all false and formal worship and service of God which is abroad in the world There are other Religions abroad but there 's no truth of Religion but in Christianity and the service of God in the Gospel this is to worship God so as he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth Joh. 4.24 If so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus there 's no truth to be found any-where but in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Oecumenius upon the place he calls Godliness Truth ungodliness being a spurious business For these and the like reason is Christianity exprest by the Truth as most significant of it This therefore still teaches us to hold and imbrace the Truth and to keep close unto it For so much Truth so much Religion and so much Truth of Religion Look how far we keep close to our Principles so far forth shall we regulate our practise and have ourlives in all probability to be that which they should be an erroneous judgment will have either a scandalous or an hypocritical life annext unto it and following upon it either profaneness or at the best formality is the consequent of unsoundness in Religion that 's out of all question that so we may take heed of it and have a care to keep our judgments clear and right in us and not tainted and defiled with any stain in this particular especially as to the substantial part of Religion and the worship of God and the main scope and drift of the Gospel let us be sure to have our minds clear here and not swerving or departing from the Truth for it so we cannot possibly serve God a right We may it may be abound in outward duties and do somewhat which belongs to the outward man but the obedience of the first Commandment which is the more inward and immediate part of Gods Worship when as upon the knowledg of God we love him and fear him and rejoice in him and trust in him and set him up in our souls and spirits This we cannot do whiles we have not right opinions of him nor do not abide in his Truth We may be moral and civil and do some duties of the second Table upon such kind of Principles but we cannot be spiritual and gracious and sanctified and religious indeed and do that which we do in Religion with reference and respect to God whiles we have not the right notion and apprehension of Religion in us Religion it is a matter of Truth and so it is here exprest unto us by the Apostle when he means that he says this And so much briefly for the phrase and expression Now to come further to the Thing it self and to take it now in its proper meaning and the spiritual drift of the Holy Ghost in this place We can do nothing against the Truth that is We can do nothing against Religion and the progress of Christianity in the world This as Christians and especially as Christian Ministers we cannot do We can do nothing whereby Piety and Godliness may suffer any wrong by us or any prejudice and disadvantage from us they are such as are contrary to the bent and scope and principles of any who themselves are religious or have any spark of Godliness in them There are two ways especially whereby any thing is done against Religion the one is in a way of Discouragement and the other is in a way of Disparagement In a way of discouragement and disheartening of those which are good and in a way of disparagement and scandal towards those which are evil Now those which are good Christians will be shy of doing any thing against Religion in either respects First In a way of discouragement so as to dishearten those which are good they will be shy and wary of this and so they ought to be Whatever is done in this case against Christians it is done against Christ And whatever is done against the professors of the Truth is against the Truth it self We must not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking-flax nor discourage the beginnings of goodness in any in whom they seem to appear but nourish them and cherish them and promote them all we can The contrary hereunto is that which is discernable in too many persons who many times by their overliness and harshness and rigidness which is exprest by them do drive away those from Religion and the profession of it who make fair proffers towards it and it may be have made some progress in it this is none of the spirit of Christ Secondly In a way of Disparagement and scandal as there are many which prejudice Religion so likewise such as profess but live not up to it such as bring an ill report upon Christianity and the ways of
for it so much also for that the Explication of the Apostles Constancy in this Expression in two particulars both in point of Doctrine and Censure Now to draw up this whole Discourse of the Apostle into a brief sum and conclusion We may not rest our selves only in these expressions barely propounded as if his intent had been no more but this to shew his Power and Authority over Angels or others as to the Anathematizing of them no but there 's a further drift in them than all this which we may reduce to Three Heads There 's a threefold respect of all which hath been hitherto spoken First The inflexibility of the Gospel Secondly The Duty of the hearers of it Thirdly The misery of false teachers First We have here set before us the inflexibility and unvariableness of the Gospel and Doctrine of Christ that it is a thing which does not change with times or persons or conditions but is still one and the same otherwise the Apostle could not have been thus absolute and peremptory about it What was Religion formerly it is Religion still and what is now Religion it was Religion many years ago in the Generations which are past and will be and must be likewise to the end of the world We speak now in regard of the things themselves in their own nature Indeed mens opinions alter and vary about them but the points themselves are still the same we can have no new Gospel nor new Jesus nor new Spirit of God as the Apostle seems to imply in the Scripture before alledged All these things are unalterable and inviolable and indispensable there 's no changing nor bartering of them Look as the principles of nature are immutable so likewise the principles of grace That the Principles of Nature are so is very clear Reason is the same in all men and in all nations and in all ages and the same common principles of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we call them they are scattered and disperst and communicated to the whole world This it holds also by a proportion as to the Principles of Religion and Christianity Though so many have not these Principles in them as have the Principles of Nature yet so many as have them they have them as immutably and unchangeably one as the other and ye may as soon rase out these as ye may rase out them The Ground hereof is this Because these things are laid in the Nature of God himself who alters not as God himself is unchangeable so is his Truth which issues and proceeds from himself And such a kind of thing is the Gospel it is an Extract and Emanation from God it was hid in him and it does spring out and flow forth from him And so the Apostle in another place seems to derive it 2 Cor. 1.18 c. As God is true our word toward you was not yea and nay For the Son of God Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us was not yea and nay but in him was yea for all the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us From hence will now follow That therefore our faith does not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God as it is 1 Cor. 2.5 Christianity and the Doctrine of Religion is not as any man living will determine but as God himself has done it to our hands and we must fetch it out of his written word where his will is revealed unto us and which is still one and the same yesterday and to day and for ever Therefore those that are every day in a new opinion and change their Religion with the fashions we see here what to think of them even as of those that do not know or understand what Religion is or what belongs unto it which is a constant and certain business a thing imbred and connatural where it pleases God to vouchsafe to bestow it and such as is not easily rooted out yea indeed at all out of that heart in which it is wrought Look as no man that has common sense and reason in him will be beaten out of such and such Principles If an Angel from Heaven should say that black were white or white black or contradict any thing which comes within the verge of sense we would not believe him so neither will a Christian in these things which belong to Christianity therein there is as great certainty yea greater than in the principles of nature That 's then the first result or conclusion which does follow from this Text viz. The inflexibility of the Gospel The second is the Duty of the Hearers of it and that particularly in reference to the Dispensers which is this not to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons This is clear also from the words wherein we are discharged not only from the Apostles themselves but also of the Angels from Heaven It 's no matter who 's the Preacher but what 's the Sermon not who it is that speaks this or that but what it is which is said by him Indeed for the most part we do rather look after the former than we do after the latter If men who are of esteem with us do deliver at any time such and such points unto us we receive them let them be what they will be swallow them without chewing let them go down without any sticking or straining or stopping at all at them but this is not safe for us to do if we will be ruled by the Apostle himself who to this purpose restrains us and in case of notorious Error and Contradiction to the Doctrine of Scripture Though we or an Angel from Heaven should Preach it he will not allow it that 's the second Corolary Thirdly Here 's the danger of all Seducers and false teachers which is this that they lye under a curse and are exposed to a most severe Anathema and that uttered not in passion or fury or lightness or by a private person such an one as had nothing to do with it but by Authority and by the Apostle of Christ This has somewhat more in it than the world is commonly aware of It is a dangerous thing to be under the pressure and weight of an Apostolical or Ministerial Imprecation and the rather as we do not presently see the sad effects and consequences of it This is that which falls heavily upon those persons which do corrupt the Doctrine of Christ and abound with their novel opinions and innovations in matters of Religion they are here by the Ministry of St. Paul long ago pronounced to be accursed Neither does this Curse light only upon the Preachers and Authors and Devisers of these Errors but in part also breaks upon the receivers which we may take in with it and add unto it Those that admit of such points as those are whenas they have been formerly taught better they may not
here a duty which is to be performed and put in practice by all other sinners besides and that is to labour to work themselves to such a shame as this is That which is here spoken of these Romans it is not spoken of them only in a way of simple Narration as signifying how they were affected but also in a way of tacite commendation as praising them for being affected in that manner and so it does implicitly exhibit a duty to us that we should labour to be so our selves Next to the shunning and avoiding of sin is to be ashamed and grieved for committing it Now this does justly come home to the Consciences of abundance in the world there are many which are perfrictae frontis of a bold and hardened forehead which have no shame nor relenting in them at all which can sin one sin after another in the highest and hainousest manner that can be and yet never be once wrought upon for it or ashamed of it the unjust knows no shame as it is Zephan 3.5 The Heathen could say he was lost that had no shame The Prophet Jeremy has set forth such as these in their colours to us Jer. 6.15 Were they ashamed says he when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush c. This is the exact temper and disposition even of many in these days and in this land in which we live which are past all shame whatsoever they have no shame at all in them never more of the occasion and never less of the affection And I speak not only of that spiritual shame and holy blushing which belongs to Religion and is within the compass of Christianity it self which is taken from religious Grounds and spiritual Arguments and Considerations but I speak now of that natural shame which God has planted in all men by Creation an is not lost but in the height of wickedness and abomination it self This is that which many Monsters in this age are devoid and destitute of both men and women I should be exceeding sorry if I should have need to say much of it here in this place only I cannot but by the way take notice of it that I may testifie and bear witness against it as that which I look upon as one of the saddest symptoms of Gods wrath and indignation against us and if it be not timely prevented by those whom it concerns to reform it will not only be reckoned by God as the sin of some particular persons but also of the whole Nation it self which will be charged with it That impudence and boldness and undauntedness in sinful courses which many people are come unto which are so far from being ashamed of sin as that they rather boast of it and as the Apostle speaks glory in their shame This is the humour of too many in the world that which should most humble them and abase them and cast them down and lay them low in the sight of God and men and themselves is that which commonly most exalts them and swells them and puffs them with pride so far are they from this temper of the Romans of being ashamed And so now ye have the second particular for the Expression of sins inconvenience taken from the dishonourableness of it Whereof ye are now ashamed The third and last is taken from its perniciousness For the end of those things is death This is that which hits the nail on the head and brings all here indeed and 't is that which is very considerable forasmuch as the end is all in all and such an end as this which is here spoken of so more especially if the other two evils had been spared yet this alone were enough to deter us though there were some gain and honour in sin as we have shewed there is none yet whiles there 's death in it that 's enough against it and that there is The end of those things is death This Death here is to be taken by us in the latitude namely in each kind of it whether natural or else spiritual and eternal First For natural death which we call the death of the body that 's the end of sin and that which sin procures though not that which the sinner intends By sin death came into the world as the Apostle speaks Rom. 5.12 This is so in a double Explication First In the nature of the thing and as the effect immediately flowing from the cause And secondly by the just judgment of God who in his Providence does so order and dispose it and himself does inflict death for it First It is so in God's Pvovidence and Judgment How many do we read of in Scripture whom God himself has in an extraordinary manner stricken dead for their sins Er and Onan and Nadab and Abihu and such as these the end of of their ways was death and that in a more eminent manner There are some more gross and notorious sinners which God has not patience to suffer them and let them alone here in this world but to prevent Atheism and contempt of his Majesty will be presently avenged upon them Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days says the Prophet David Psal 55.23 and Eccles 7.17 Be not overmuch wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldst thou dye before thy time Intimating and implying thus much that such courses and ways as those do provoke God many times so to do Again secondly In the nature of the thing it self and as the effect immediately issuing from the cause Sin it ends in death so as we see by daily and common experience How many are there which by their passion intemperance lasciviousness uncleanness and such courses as these are hasten their own end and not only hazard their souls but likewise expose their lives and so in that regard are no better than self-murtherers It is true they do not always think so nor as I said intend it but yet it is that which follows upon it and in the event is consequent there unto there 's many which might have lived longer if they had lived better and had had a comfortable old age in conclusion if they had not had a dissolute youth going before The end of those things is death if we take it but for natural death the death of the body But secondly It is true also and especially of spiritual death the death of the soul and eternal death the death of soul and body for ever in Hell This is that death which is the wages of sin more particularly for spiritual death Sin it defaces God's Image in us it alienates us from the life of God And whatever Grace is already wrought in us if it does not kill it actually yet it tends to the killing of it and destroys it all it can it takes away a Christians vigor that liveliness and loveliness which should be in him and makes him little better than a
's the incorruptible seed as the Scripture calls it which hath this Vim plasticam in it Jam. 1.18 By the word of truth he begat us of his own will 1 Cor. 4.15 I have begotten you through the Gospel And 1 Pet. 1.23 Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God c. Now this it may be considered of us two manner of ways First simply as it lyes in it self Secondly Relatively in its connexion with that which went before According to the former consideration of it so it shews us what is especially required in Christians according to the latter so what especially in Ministers First To look upon it absolutely and simply as it lyes in it self Till Christ be formed in you And here again it does carry a double sense with it either first as it does imply an essential perfection or secondly as it does imply a gradual Take it as an essential perfection so Till Christ be formed in you that is till ye be true Christians supposing them as yet unconverted and in a state of nature Take it as a gradual perfection so Till Christ be formed in you that is till ye be eminent and compleat Christians supposing them new begun to be converted though as yet in a state of imperfection First Take it as a perfection essential Till christ be formed in you i.e. till ye be true Christians and really brought home to God By which expression we see wherein the work of true Conversion and Regeneration does indeed consist and that is in having the image of Christ stampt upon us and in his being part for part fashioned in us There 's tow things at once in it and both of them worthy our observation First It is not any forming which will serve the turn but the forming of Christ by laying an Emphasis upon the Person Secondly It is not Christ in any ways conferred upon us neither but Christ so far forth as he is form'd by laying an Emphasis upon the Conveyance First I say it is not any forming which will serve the turn but the forming of Christ this was that which the Apostle lookt at in them above any thing else and which was most of all to be lookt after by themselves There are other formings and fashionings sometimes which the world has an eye uoto it is called a conforming to the world Rom. 12.2 opposite to this transforming but such as do not make men more acceptable in the fight of God I 'le name some of them to you by way of illustration As first Bodily proportion the shape and lineaments of the outward man to have these formed in them this is a great matter with the world and that which many look upon as the greatest ornament and accomplishment to them Corporal beauty But this is such which though considered in it self be a good natural blessing yet it makes not any to be of the greater account with God himself where Christ is not formed the greatest beauty is no better than deformity and ugliness it self Secondly Natural Parts and Abilities of mind they are also much regarded by the world and go very far especially where the profession of Religion is joined with them they will carry a very great shew and appearance even of Grace it self although being very far distant and different from it But all these come short of the true mark It is not what wit any have but what goodness and spiritual favour The greatest Wits unsanctified do the greatest mischief And let mens judgments and natural understandings be never so ripe and pregnant in them yet if they be not moulded by the spirit of Christ and fashioned to him they will prove but very defective yea very destructive Thirdly Civil and Moral Accomplishments they are short here likewise and are here signified as insufficient whiles there 's mention made of the forming of christ There Galatians they were some of them very much for the Jewish Rites and Observations and did place great perfection in them thereby derogating and diminishing and detracting from the honour of the Gospel but Paul was not satisfied with them in this particular nor would not have them satisfied in them themselves he desires Christ and none but he might be formed in them The Reason hereof is this Because it is he alone in whom God is well pleased with us as having fully satisfied his Justice for us He hath made us accepted in his Beloved Ephes 1.6 So much therefore as we have of Christ in us so much amiableness and loveliness there is in us and so far forth is God delighted in us It is Christ not Adam it is Christ not Moses it is Christ not Plato or Aristotle or Seneca or any of those people Therefore let this be that which we all especially endeavour after to have as much of Christ as we can whatever we have else and to think that no perfections without him will be sufficient for us whether of wit or wealth or beauty or honour or any worldly accomplishment whatsoever Christ is much out of esteem in the world now in these days but there 's a day a coming which will advance him to us That 's one thing we may take notice of the Emphasis laid upon the Person it is nothing which will serve the turn but Christ The second is as laid upon the Conveyance It is not Christ under any Dispensation but as formed in us It is not Christ as he is barely known or preacht or profest or any such but as fashioned and formed This is that as I said wherein the true and proper nature of conversion and regeneration does consist in having the Image of Christ stampt upon us and himself part for part fashioned in us Look as in nature the child has part for part answerable to its Parents so in Grace has a Believer to Christ from whence he is said to be formed in him Of his fulness we all receive grace for grace Joh. 1.16 As we have born the image of the first Adam so we must bear also the image of the second 1 Cor. 15.49 Every natural man he has the former form'd in him and so must every spiritual man have the latter For this reason is the work of Regeneration set forth in those in whom it is by the expression of a man the new man and the inward man and the new creature and the like because that Grace it does convey it self quite throughout in every part so that as we are wholly defiled with sin so we are wholly also renewed by the spirit and as Adam has tainted us wholly so has Christ wholly repaired us To open this phrase a little more particularly and distinctly to us Of Christs being formed in us We may take notice of these things in it as pertinent unto it First Here 's the substantiality of Grace that it is a real and substantial thing in us it is not a meer fancy or notion
Whiles the Spirit of God joyns these two together every man and his own work he does intimate and imply thus much That every man hath some work or other of his own which doth belong unto him and so he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it does exclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there 's no man whoever it be that is sent into the world to do nothing but he has some task and work and imployment which does lye upon him and that in his own particular person which so lyes upon him as upon no body else for him to free him or to excuse him from it every man in the world must work and every mans work must be his own which he pretends unto The contrary is that which is too much to be observed in the lives of many people who are very defective in this particular as doing nothing whereby they may be serviceable either to God or Man live out of all kind of callings and opportunities of doing good There are many that sometimes boast of their Relations and of the good works which have been done by others that have been allied unto them or lived before them but can shew no good which they have done themselves and there are others who do now and then assume the glory of other mens works to themselves who boast of other mens labours and of things made ready to their hand as the Apostle elsewhere expresses it in 2 Cor. 10. 15 16. Such as these do not prove their own works because they do not prove their works to be their own which they have stolen or borrowed from others That 's the first intimation as it is a Caution against idleness or unfruitfulness The second is as it is a Caution against arroganey or affectation his own work that is that work which of due and right does appertain unto him and which he is interested in to perform This is another thing which is intimated in this expression The presumptuous undertaking of any thing which is out of our reach and which we are not called to meddle withal that is properly our own work which is within the compass of our own calling and that station and place and rank which God has set us in here in the world which accordingly is to be proved by us that it is so with us that which is work in it self is not presently work for every man because it is not his own indeed there are some works which are so the works of one man as that they are the works of every man else namely the works of our general calling Prayer and reading and hearing and Communicating and the like the Duties of Piety and Religion These are all mens works and they may claim an interest in them they do belong to all sorts of Christians of what rank and condition soever but there are others which are more peculiar and appropriate and so to be acknowledged by us whether Magistrates or Ministers or private Christians they have their works so proper to themselves as they are not to be incroached upon by others Magistrates they are to do their works and Ministers they are to do theirs and those which are neither they are not to take upon them trhe imployment of either because it pertain not unto them as was now said in a particular case to Vzziab Whenever men do otherwise they do then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stretch themselves beyond their measure in 2 Cor. 10.14 And they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk disorderly as the Apostle elsewhere expresses it 2 thes 3.11 And there are many sad evils and inconveniences are consequent upon it as experience daily shews And that 's also the second Intimation as it is a Caution against arrogancy or affectation Thirdly It is a Caution against curiosity and intermedling with other mens affairs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus it likewise suits very well with the scope of the Text as we may see by the words that follow For every man shall bear his own burthen Because every man shall bear his own burthen therefore let every man prove his own work that is especially look to himself in a charitable and modest carriage and behaviour towards other men This is not so to be taken as if hereby we were absolutely excluded from all regard and observation of our brethren or others among whom we converse for that we are not we are in other places of Scripture required to try the spirits to prove all things to mark those that live amongst us c. And more particularly those who have the care and government of others committed unto them they are to do it more especially Magistrates and Ministers and Parents and Masters of Families and the like they are to prove the works of those that do belong unto them yea and all sorts of Christians they are in their places to watch over one another to exhort rebuke admonish and counsel each other Therefore this expression here is not to be taken exclusively but rather emphatically or if in some sense exclusively yet not in the exclusion of all just and due examination of the actions of other men but of a busie and pragmatical search and inquiry into them whiles in the mean time we neglect our own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle Peter phrases it 1 Pet. 4.15 The being a busie-body in other mens matters which hath no end of edisication at all in it nor is grounded upon any charitable affection but does only proceed from curiosity and such-like distempers This is that only which seems here to be forbidden and prohibited in this Expression There are many who are sometimes very forward to ask and equire after others who in the mean time are altogether strangers at home and in their own hearts and that do but little reflect upon the actions which come from themselves and there are others that sometimes take a pride and delight in the censuring of the works of other men there 's Libido pruritus maledicendi a certain lust and itch of evil speaking which is belonging to the works of the flesh and a part of them Now this is that which the Apostle Paul does take care about and provide against here in this place he would have every man in se descendere secum habitare to enter and retire into himself and to dwell at home in his own soul and to be acquainted with his own ways and to do his own business This is to prove his own work which is the property of a good Christian And so much may be spoken of the first Particular in this first General and that is the object his own work The second is the Act which is conversant about this Object Let him prove When we speak of proving we must know that in the common acception of the word it is taken three manner of ways First In a way of Examination Secondly In
there are two things denoted in it First The Original and descent of so great a blessing as this is the blessing of peace as every other good and perfect gift besides it comes from above it is such as is shoured down from Heaven and descends from the Father of lights as the Apostle James speaks in Jam. 1.17 It isnot a thing which grows out of our selves and our own hearts which incline rather to all that is opposite and contrary hereunto neither can man bestow it upon us but it is the gift of God alone He creates peace peace Isa 57.19 and John 14.27 Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you says our blessed Saviour to his Disciples when he was taking his leave of them Secondly Here 's also denoted in this phrase the fulness of the blessing it shall be upon them so as to cover them and fill them and rest and abie in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to rule and triumph in their hearts as we find that phrase used Col. 3.15 This was that which is here promised to all such as live like Christians they shall have peace in a large and plentiful measure confer'd on them This is matter of exceeding great comfort and encouragement to all the true servants of God and to those whose hearts are perfect with him In the world it falls out sometimes that the more exact any are in their lives the more trouble and opposition they meet with and those which are naught and mischievous will be sure to create difficulties to them Look by how much the more that any are careful to walk by this Rule the more spight and hatred shall befal them But here is that which may satisfie all such persons as a promise from truth it self that his peace and mercy shall be upon them yea and so much the more for that disturbance which they find anywhere else Mark the perfect and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace says David Psal 37.37 Let us therefore all make much of this this perfection and integrity we speak of in order hereunto and as we desire to have peaceable consciences so let us be careful still to have sincere consciences Let us walk by rule and this rule which we have here mentioned unto us This will bring a man peace at last when all the world must be left by him with all the comforts and pleasures which are in it Oh the sabbath and sweet tranquillity of spirit which a gracious heart that is careful first to know God in Christ and then to keep communion with him finds in it self How free from those distractions and annoyances which another person is incumbred withal How peaceable in life yea how comfortable in death it self Whereas on the other side for the wicked there is no peace unto them saith my God But they are like the raging sea casting forthmire and dirt as the Prophet speaks there in that place Isa 57.20 That 's the first Emphasis of this phrase Peace be upon them c. as it carries in it the notion of a Promise or Divine Intimation The second is the notion of a Prayer or Apostolical Benediction Let peace and mercy be upon them This we find frequently in the Epistles to those whom the Apostle writes to we have it in the beginning of this Gal. 13. Grace be to you and peace And here also he closes with it But here with a little more restriction to the particular occasion and the matter in hand which he treats of and that is walking by this rule The Apostle solemnly pronounces a blessing of peace upon them This is not lightly to be past over by us for as there 's weight in an Apostolical curse and an Anathema sent forth by him as we have sometimes shewen from another place in this Epistle so is there weight also in an Apostolical Benediction and a word of blessing proceeding from him as it does here to all circumspect Christians They are blest by the Apostle of Christ in the name of Christ and this blessing it shall inseparably cleave and stick unto them and they shall find and feel the sweetness and comfort of it and what is tender'd in the promise it is here also further sealed and confirm'd in this pronunciation whereby God in the mouth and pen of his servant does further ingage himself to make it good to all such persons as are vers'd in it Let the Pope and Papist spurt their curse but God blesses which is all in all and more to be regarded by them And this for the inlargement of it reaches not only to the times wherein the Apostle wrote this Epistle but to all times and ages whatsoever in following generations For which purpose we may here also by the way take notice of the expression in the future as it runs in the Original Text which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not which do walk but which shall By which expression as I conceive there are two things pointed out unto us the one respecting the Duty and the other respecting the Blessing and the reward and recompence of it that which respects the Duty is perseverance and continuance in good walking as a necessary qualification that which respects the reward is the continuance of this Blessing to the performance in a succession of times First As respecting the Duty it is perseverance and continuance in this walking And here two things more First What ought to be And secondly What will be that which ought to be is this that those who have begun a good walk they ought still to proceed in it and to go on as they walk thus at present so they must do further for time to come For this reason it is exprest in the future not which do walk but which shall because those which do so still must Perseverance it is the duty of a Christian which he is call'd unto having began he is ingaged to continue This hint it was but very requisite and proper to the Galatians because they had been especially guilty in this particular they had begun in the spirit and ended in the slesh Gal. 3.3 They had run well but were now hindred or driven back so that they did not obey the truth Gal. 5.7 Now therefore for these such an intimation was but seasonable unto them and 't is so as well to all others besides It is that which God expects from us whosoever we are if we have once taken up the ways of Religion to prosecute them and to proceed in them with all stedfastness and constancy of mind and to keep close to this rule And the reason of it is this because we have all incouragement that may be so to do There is so much satisfaction in Godliness and the ways of Christianity and true Religion as that there are none whoever enter upon the but they
they have not oly a recompence and reward set before them for the nature of the thing it self but moreover a full reward for the accomplishment and perfection of it which it is call'd here as the description of an heavenly Condition First of all Denominatively Secondly It is call'd so emphatically as implying that there is a reward which is not full belonging to those which are inconstant and declining in Religion Take such kind of persons as do some good things here in this world God is not behind-hand with them but gives them even here in this world some reward answerable thereunto but yet if they go not on and continue he does not finish and complete it to them it is but imperfect There is the best still behind which they shall never have This is then the scope and drift of the Apostles speech to perswade us to fulness of holiness that so consequently we may have fulness of happiness attendant upon it and to perswade us to a fulness of work that we may have a fulness of wages which accordingly should have an efficacy upon us every one when he comes for his wages would be glad to receive all and would not have any thing to be kept back from him Now as he would so it concerns him to have a care of his work that that also be complete Be ye stedfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord that so your labour may not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 that is that ye may receive a full reward And thus much of the words as they refer to Christians and Believers themselves Now further secondly As they refer to the Apostles and other Ministers That we may receive a full reward This reward was not Temporal and from them which he di not so much look at but from God a reward in Heaven The Apostle did hereby imply that these Christians if they were careless would be apt to deprive him of this and so they would though not of his reward simply which Ministers shall be sure to have if they do their indeavour howsoever people carry themselves but yet a full reward that they may be deprived of What is that namely of joy and rejoycing Ministers when people miscarry under their hands they will miss of this though not of their glory And this the Apostle signifies there in that place Heb. 13.17 That we may do with joy and not with grief they may do it with safety but not with joy with safety as to their own souls which shall be saved notwithstanding but not with joy as to their work which in the mean time shall be burn't This latter clause then helps to the Explication of the former The Apostle had said That we lose not the things which we have wrought as if Ministers upon their peoples heedlesness and miscarriage lost their labour and reward Now thus he shews here in what sense it is to be taken namely not to the loss of it simply and absolutely but as to the fulness of it that we may receive a full reward that is a reward not only of salvation but also of comfort and glorying and exaltation I might also further note this That the profiting and perseverance of the people is a full reward to the Minister And so now I have done also with the second Branch of the second General laid down in the Affirmative as an Argument for these people's Caution taken not only from themselves but from their Teachers That we may receive a full reward SERMON XLV 2 Joh. 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God he that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son There are two things especially which do belong to the Work of the Ministry as Parts and Branches of it Conversion and Confirmation The infusion of Christian Principles into the mins of those who for the present are destitute of them and the settling and strengthning of those Principles in their minds in which already they are wrought And this latter no less useful and beneficial and necessary than the former It being as great a commendation to maintain that which ispurchas'd as to purchase tat which as yet is not obtain'd Therefore the Apostle John in this Scripture which we have here before us does apply himself vigorously to this business in an Epistle which he directs to an Honourable Matron with her Family whom he stiles the Elect Lady and her Children He had as it is probable formerly been an instrument through the blessing of God of their Conversion to the Faith of Christ. And now in regard especially of the danger which they were in from Seducers he does as carefully indeavour their establishment and confirmation in the same Faith This he does in the proposal of a double Consideration to them which might have influence upon them in the Verse which we have now in hand First The great Misery of all such as swerv'd from this Faith laid down in the Negative Proposition Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God Secondly The great Happiness of all such as continue in this Faith laid down in the Affirmative He that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son THE Text it self consists of two General Parts a Negative and an Affimative The Negative that we have in those words Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God The Affirmative that we have in those He that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ the same hath both the Father and the Son We begin with the first viz. The Negative Whosoever transgresseth and abideth c. Which is a Censure of all such persons as do withdraw from the Doctrine of Christ And these are here exhibited to us under a double Notion the one of simple neglect in the refusal or denial of this Doctrine and the other of unworthy Reaction in Apostacy or departing from it The former we have signified to us in the word transgresseth the latter in the word abideth not Where again the Doctrine of Christ may admit of a double Explication and be taken two manner of ways Either first Actively and Enunciatively the Doctrine of Christ i. e. the Doctrine which Christ teacheth in the General Notion of it Or secondly Passively and Objectively the Doctrine of Christ i. e. the Doctrine which refers to Christ as the proper subject and matter of that Doctrine in the specifical notion of it which is more particularly the Doctrine of the Gospel and of reconciliation wrought by Christ. According to the first sense of the phrase so here is a peremptory Censure of all unsound and heterodox Doctrine the maintainers of it in any substantial point ormatter whatsoever which does belong to Religion according to that of the Apostle Paul in 1 Tim. 6.3 c. If any man teach otherwise and consent
Now that which Christ submitted to for us was the worst and most grievous of any other Now the greater was the suffering by so much greater also was the love Thirdly In the full and perfect Application of this his death unto us It is said That he washed us in his own blood He did not sprinkle us only but bath us He did not only bestow some few drops of it upon us but he did drench us and souse us and immerse us over head and ears in it he did give us a plentiful share and interest in it And lastly There 's an Emphasis also in the word of propriety in that it is said His own blood The Priests under the old Law in the discharge and execution of their office they sprinkled the people with blood and did in a sense and after a sort wash them from their sins in it But that blood it was not their own but the blood of beasts yea but Christ he hath of himself purged us from our sins in his own blood as it is here intimated to us And this is a further inlargement of his love towards us The Use of all to our selves is to inlarge our hearts in all thankfulness and acknowledgment to Christ for his goodness which we should be very much quickened unto Oh it is that which we can never sufficiently prize or be affected withal and therefore we should be often and frequent in the thoughts and meditation of it He hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Oh what an high favour was this and what could he have done more for us It was the highest expression of love that possibly might be And we should be exceedingly ravisnt with it It is a great piece of dulness and deadness in us when it is otherwise with us For it has the perfection of all love in it And we should make it a ground of Incouragement in the expectation of all things else from Christ which are requisite and necessary for us He that has not stuck at this great expression of love which is here mentioned in the Text will be sure not to stick at any thing which is inferiour to it and he that has given us the greater will not stick to give us the less And so the Apostle himself teaches us to reason Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Again we may also carry it higher as to the expectation of higher things from him and as reason from the greater to the less so likewise from the less to the greater and in particular as to the expectation of Heaven and Glory to come If he has received us he will also actually save us as the Apostle reasons Rom. 5.10 For he that has done the one he will do the other likewise upon it He that hath loved us and washed us in his blood will also love us and set us in his throne and will fully perfect and accomplish the work of Salvation for us And so I have done also with the second General part of the Text which is the Description of Christ from the particular discovery of his Affection Who hath washed us c. The third and last is from the effect and result of it in these words And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father Wherein there 's a twofold Dignity which Believers do partake of from and with Christ the one is the Dignity of Kings and the other is the Dignity of Priests All true Believers they have a share in each of these Offices First In his Kingly Office all true Believers are Kings This is to be taken not in a Temporal sense but in a Spiritual and so the Scripture still expresses it Thus Luk. 12.32 Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the kingdom and Luk. 22.29 I appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me This it consists of two Parts which are belonging unto it the one is the state of Grace and the other the state of Glory First For the state of Grace All true Christians they are Kings in this particular namely so far forth as they have power over their spiritual Enemies and all those things which might hinder their salvation A true Believer he has power over his own lusts and the corruptions of his own heart in some kind of measure and degree and so in that respect is a King Take men that are slaves to their lusts and they are the greatest slaves and vassals that are But now a Christian he is free from this slavery through the Grace of Christ which is communicated to him And so as he has power over Sin so in some measure over Satan also the King of the bottomless pit as he is call'd the Prince of the world A good Christian by the help of Christ's Spirit hath some power over him also and at last shall be inabled to trample him under his feet in Rom. 16.20 And then for the World also A good Christian he has power over this also so far forth as all things are order'd and disposed to his good All things are yours c. There 's no Providence whatsoever but he is still getting good out of it if it be prosperity it makes him more cheerful in God's service and if it be adversity it draws him so much the nearer to God All things work together for good to them that love God whether in themselves they be good or evil Take even Death it self which is sometimes called the King of Terrours A true Believer through the Grace and help of Christ is in a sort a King over this as having the sting of it taken out of it to him and of an enemy made a friend unto him as being the passage to Glory Thus is he a King in reference to the state of Grace And then in reference to the state of Glory also so far forth as he is an heir of Heaven and shall reign with Christ for ever and ever Thus he is a King in regard of right and title even here in this life though he be not in actual possession Therefore we should learn so to carry and demean our selves as suitable to this condition we should abhor to conform to the world and the lusts and vanities thereof as considering to what we are appointed we should endeavour to have a frame of spirit suitable to such a noble estate as this is wherein we are And this for the first piece of Dignity which is here mentioned and that is of Kings The second Dignity is of Priests And hath made us Priests c. These were another sort of persons who in times past were anointed and Christians are spiritually thus also in sundry respects First In regard of the Prayers which are continually put up by them both for themselves and others
taken for granted Now further We ought to avoid it and to take heed of it to take heed lest we let them slip This is that which the Apostles Exhortation and Admonition does extend it self to and that as we may draw it out as to a threefold Inlargement First That they slip not out of our memories that we do not forget them Secondly That they slip not out of our hearts that we do not despise them Thirdly That they slip not out of our practise that we do not prove disobedient to them or decline and depart from them In all these respects are we to take heed of letting them slip First Not out of our memories we are to look to that that we be not forgetful hearers Jam. 1.25 We can remember stories and toys and fables such things as those are what a shame is it for us to forget the Points and Doctrines of Religion which are of so much worth and excellency in themselves and so much benefit also to us Secondly Not out of our hearts and affections let them not slip thence let not these grow cold towards them or lose the savour and impression of them but let us be careful that they be strongly rooted and fastned in us there as it is said of the good ground Luk. 8.15 that they are such as in an honest and good heart having heard the word c. Thirdly Not out of our lives and conversations that we depart not from the practise of it Thus Jam. 1.25 forgetting is opposed to doing he that practises not the wor he forgets it let him remember it never so much in the notion or speculation of it There 's a memory of the heart as well as a memory of the head and a forgetfulness and slipperiness of the life and conversation as well as of the mind and understanding therefore here let not slip neither And take notice of one word more which is at any time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there 's much in that also as to the continuance and duration of it there are some which perhaps they do not let slip these things presently neither out of their memories nor hearts nor lives yea but within a little while they do all Now the Apostle here takes care of this Lest at any time we should let them slip not only whiles we are hearing them but hereafter for time to come And thus much of the first Metaphor here signified as it may be taken from a leaking vessel which lets slip the liquor put into it The second is from water which is spilt on the ground and cannot be gathered up and here as the other had reference to the Doctrine so has this likewise to the persons lest we our selves should fail or flow away that is perish eternally According to this sense we find the word used in that place 2 Sam. 14.14 For we must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again And so it notes unto us the punishment which is consequent to careless Christians which do not mind and heed Religion and the Doctrines and Instructions of it so as to practise and keep them They do not only lose the points and truths but themselves with them And neglecting these opportunities of Grace which are here afforded unto them in the Preaching and Ministry of the Gospel do perish irrecoverably there being hereafter no recollecting or gathering up of them That 's the second Metaphor here included for the opening of this passage to us so much for that and likewise of the whole Verse it self FINIS An Alphabetical Table of the chief Matters contained in the Fifty Sermons of the Old Testament The second Alphabetical Table following is of the chief Matters contained in the Fifty Sermons on the New Testament A Angels Why called Angels of God 4 Their ascending and descending what 4 5 8 Why they have a special regard to Christ 5 Have a double Ministry 5 Why willing to attend the Church 5 Not only one but many attend every Christian 5 Why they appear not so frequently as formerly 5 How they assist a Christian 6 8 Afflictions Lawful to pray against them but how 39 40 41 Why compared unto fire and Iron furnace 47 244 Gods ends in them 48 187 247 186 Why God delivers out of them Comfort under them See comfort 52 On the godly why called chastenings 185 Afflistions improved 187 Dangerous not to improve them 351 Aged Advice to aged persons 67 374 Mercies of former should be acknowledged in after ages 105 Awaking How taken 201 What to awake with God 202 Why we should awake with God 204 205 206 Helps to awaking with God 206 Awakening considerations for presumptuous sinners 231 See Sinner 129 Apostacy The odiousness of it 357 Whence it springs 371 Adultery A horrid sin 378 B Bless How God blesses his people 32 Bones How taken in Scripture 65 Birth The mercies attending our natural births 107 Lawful to celebrate birth-days but how 108 Breast The blessings of the Breast 108 Blasphemy What it is 119 A distinction concerning it 119 Brethren Three sorts of them 194 For Vnity amongst them seeVnity Touching discord amongst them see Discord Behold Carries a threefold Emphsis 198 Branch and Root How taken 273 Bowels How taken 359 365 C Christ How resembled by Jacob's Ladder 2 How inferior to God the Father 6 With what eyes we should behold him 7 Why resembled to the Sun 151 Why called the son of man 400 Church Doubly considered 4 Why God will deliver it 49 How to endeavour its continuance 51 Why its deliverances should be had in perpetual remembrance 52 105 When God will deliver it 125 Comfort to the Church in General 127 Care In God What 17 Why God cares for his Church 18 21 How to improve Gods care 22 Charity Motives to it towards the poor 37 189 Christians The Hypocritical or almost Christian see hypocrite 371 In three cases especially God renews their strength 309 Comfort to weak Christians 310 A touchstone of true Christianity why called Gods Inheritance 311 See Inheritance Compared to Eagles in several respects how God keeps them 311 See Temptation Special comforts 55 62 93 130 154 210 246 254 257 Should not mingle with others corruptions Why 369 Why they mourn under desertion 96 Why called the sons of men 149 Why God continues them in the world 189 190 How the awe is still with God 202 206 VVhy in the 17. Pro. 3. compared to Silver and Gold 243 In what respects wise 259 Care Arguments against carking cares 109 241 Cake Not turn'd what it signifies 370 Conversion Touching knowing the time of it 112 Its Act 293 VVhether a man can convert himself or no 295 Cup. What it signifies in Scripture 128 129 Conference Christian conference a profitable and excellent duty 175 195 218 Communion Or converse with God wherein it consists 203 Commit Touching committing our works to God see Works Crying What it