the day of their birth the God that made them and the womb that bore them and the breasts that gave them suck this makes me afraid to sin against him Saith the fourth I think of the Joyes of Heaven methinks there I see meek Moses faithful Abraham patient Iob c. and all those children of blessedness that by faith and obedience do now inherit the promises And this doth wean my soul from sin These are all good Considerations But saith the last which is best of all when I am tempted to sinne I go up to Mount Calvary and there methinks I see a sweet Saviour hanging upon the Cross stretching out his Arms to Jew and Gentile as if he would grasp in all the world to salvation There methinks I see his bloody temples hands side and feet There I see him sweating and sighing bleeding and crying and dying under the weight of my sins Oh saith he this is such heart-conquering love that I know not how to sinne against it This is that kindly repentance which God hath promised to his people Zach. 10.10 Hos 14.8 That they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn for him as an onely Son When repenting Ephraim shall see this he shall say What have I to do any more with Idols If Christ hath given himselfe an offering for us why then should not we give up our selves an offering for him 4thly It is but reasonable service saith the Apostle as reasonable as an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth Rom. 12.1 but alas men are very delatory about this work The Covetous person saith Let him but obtain an Estate of so many thousand pounds then he will repent and turn to Christ The voluptuous would reserve one seven years longer to enjoy the pleasures of sinne and then he will offer himselfe to Christ Most men defer this to old age and death but consider with thy selfe Christian hath Christ made it his first work to dye for thee and wilt thou make it thy last work to come to him Hath he given himself to death for thee and wilt thou not give up thy selfe to life for him Do but consider the Advantages that thou wilt have by this Act Many are the expressions in Scripture which set forth the relation betwixt Christ and his Church But there is none wherein the Spirit of God more delights then that of marriage Now there are three things to name no more which a woman that is well married receives from her husband First There is an exemption from all her Debts If so be she was five thousand pounds in debt before and the Bayliffs come and arrest her she tels them that she is not responsible she is now under Covert Baron and that lis feminae non intenditur is a maxime in the Law Thus a believer pleads against his sins when Satan and Conscience come to arrest him It s true saith he I was Gods debtor but now my condition is changed truly I am not responsible I am under the coverture of the Lord Jesus Go sin Go Devil to him that is my spiritual husband to him that hath lead captivity captive and that is now set down at the right hand of God he will pay you every groat or else he will shew you those acquittances that he took out for my sin at his resurrection Blessed is the man saith David Psalm 32.1 to whom the Lord imputes no sin He doth not say to him that hath no sin for there is not such a man in the World but the man to whom the Lord imputes no sin Secondly A Wife partakes of all the honours and riches of her husband first the husband is the fountain of honour to the wife if the husband be a King she is a Queen a Marquess she is a Marchioness a Knight she is a Lady c. Thus what Christ is in point of honour his people are What was the native honour of Christ but to be the Son of God why so are they Beloved saith th' Apostle 1 Joh. 3.2 We are now the Sons of God though it doth not appear what we shall be c. Though we be not glorified Sons yet we are Sons as truly as he What honour had Christ by Office why he was a Priest a Prophet a King so are they Who hath washt us in his blood Rev. 1.5.6 and hath made us Kings and Priests unto his Father c. And that not in a metaphorical but a real sence for every good man is a King he hath got some victory over his corruptions Et fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit maenia he is a stronger King that conquereth himself then he that conquereth a City and he is a Priest he can pray unto God for himself family friends neighbours c. and God hears him Again he is instated in all the riches of Christ As where the husband hath a shilling there the wife can say is her six pence or groat for her benefit the riches of Christ I have not time to open to you temporal spiritual eternal They would require a large discourse onely take one place of Scripture which is the magna Charta of a Christian 1 Cor. 3.22.23 Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the World or life or death or things present or things to come all things are yours and you are Christs and Christs is Gods There was a difference amongst the Corinthians about their Preachers some was for Paul Paul say they was a most excellent Preacher that Preached in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.4 Acts 18.24 But sayes another sort we like Apollo best for he is a Rhetorical man and mighty in the Scriptures and he worked the best upon our affections but saith the third we are for Cephas he is an excellent Casuist and he resolves our doubts the best Why saith the Apostle will you like Children divide your own they are but your Chaplains Chaplains might the Corinthian say these are fit to be Chaplains to the greatest Emperours in the World why saith he the World is yours whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the World c. but what good will the World do us might the Corinthians say if we cannot live to enjoy it why saith he life is yours But what good will the World do us when we come to dye why saith he death is yours that is for your advantage but what will become of us after we are dead All things to come saith he are yours But might these Corinthians say blessed Apostle shew us the writings and the conveyances of this estate tell us how we hold it that we may not live upon fansies and build Castles in the aire why sayes he you-hold in Capite you hold of the Heir apparent of Heaven and Earth for you are Christs and Christ is Gods the Argumentation seems to run thus you know
Not only his body but his soul the greatest part of mans sin lay in his soul and therefore his greatest sufferings were in his soul or else what meant those Grumi those great drops of blood Why else so troubled so heavy unto death many Martyrs that have not had the thousand part of his strength have gone to the place of execution as to the bride chamber kissing the chain and stake and hugging death as it were about the neck with joy because their sufferings were only in the body when their souls were comforted the soul of Christs sufferings was in his soul Sixtly For sin First that he knew not Secondly that he hated Thirdly for sin in the indefinite that is all sin none excepted Hence it is that he was called a Winebibber a friend of Publicans a Traitor a Conjurer one that dealt with Divels 'T is true unjustly by man but justly by God because he had taken the sins of such miscreants upon him Mary Magdalen had seven Divels and yet saved by Christ Lastly If you look upon all those promises which the Father made to his Son viz. He shall see his seed prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand These I say deeply looked into prove more redundant to the advantage of the Church then of Christ himself as if the Deity could look besides it self as the highest end and was resolved to make man the treasury and the store house of all his loves which stupendious mercy the Angels are said to stoop down as the original bears it 1 Per. 1.19 wishly to look into You see we have here a large Field but my purpose is to point unto you only one plain proposition Doct. which you hear of every day viz. That the Lord Jesus Christ hath laid down his soul an offring for the sin of man or Christ died for the sins of his people That he died is plain or else why did the Earth tremble and why did the Sun hide his face as if he was ashamed to see what was done to the God of Nature and why did the graves open and the bodies of the dead arise and walke up and down the holy City That he died for sin is as plain for there is no death without sin Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death That he died for the sins of man is still as plain for he had no sin of his own 't is confest on all hands that he had done no violence neither was there deceit in his mouth Esay 53.9 That he died as an offering for sin is most apparent I might give you an hundred Scriptures but shall one for all And walk in love as Christ hath loved you Ephes 5.2 and hath given himself an offering a sweet smelling Savour As if the Apostle should say before Christ died all the World stunk in the nostrils of God such stinking and poyson us vapours did the sin of man send up to Heaven but after Christ died then was the Scene changed the World began then to smell like the Spring of the year of Hony-Suckles and Violets and Roses He gave himself an effering a sweet smelling Savour And indeed he was the substance of all those typical offerings and Sacrifices which were from the beginning of the World for they were either of things without life or things that had life he answereth them all Things inanimate were either dry or moist if dry as the shew bread then it was broken in pieces for an offering was ever the destruction of the thing offered Thus Christ was broken It pleased the Lord to bruise him saith the Text This is my body that was broken for you Things moist those were either wine Mar. 26.26 or oyle and they were poured out before the Lord thus it is said that he poured out his soul unto death Isa 12.53 If of things that had life then was the heart bloud taken from them for without shedding of blond there was no Remission Thus was Christ said to be a Lamb slain from the beginning of the World Heb. 9.22 Hence it is that John the Baptist upon the sight of him saith Rev. 13.8 Behold the Lamb of God Jo. 1.29 that taketh away the sins of the World The Lamb of God why not the Bullock the Goat or the Ram or the Calf of God seeing all these were Sacrificeable Creatures not onely because as some would have it a Lamb for innocency though that be true nor onely as others the substance of that typical anniversary Lamb the Pascal Lamb but because the Lamb was the daily standing Sacrifice of the Temple every morning and every evening through the year was there a Lamb Sacrificed at the Temple as the standing Propitiation for all Israel Thus much for the Doctrinal part We come now to the application Use 1 If it be so that Christ bath made his soul an Offering for sin then they do very ill that bring strange Offerings to the Lord. What else do the Papists when they tell us that a man may not onely merit for himself but supererogate for others and poor ignorant people amongst our selves who think to be saved by their good meaning by their good thinking and by their good serving of God as they say 't is true these are good things and to be incouraged but not trusted unto in point of justification We are all Isa 64.10 saith the Prophet as an unclean thing and our righteousnesses as filthy rags our best actions are rags but pieces of that perfection the Law requires there is no whole cloth in them they fail in their quantity again they are filthy rags polluted with original sin and so fall short in their quality and alas how are these things to be trusted to It was the Law when any brought his sacrifice unto God Deu. 15.19 21. vers He was to bring the firstling male of the flock but if it were halt or lame or blind or had any blemish he was not to offer it unto the Lord. What do these men do that trust to their own works but bring the halt and the lame and the blinde when there is a firstling male in the flock whose soul was made an offering for sin Use 2 Was Christ made an offering for sin surely then there is no small comfort for humbled sinners Hath the Lord affected thee with the sence of sin Christian look up to this offering It is with a man in the state of sin as with one looking through a Prospective Glass while he looks at the wrong end things that are great and nigh seem little and afar off but when he looks through the right end then things appear in their dimensions at the very end of the Glass Just thus it is while a man is in the state of sin though his sins be great yet they seem little and afar off is the danger Psal 10.5 vers Thy
God The first is that it was done with his own consent and therefore it is read by some Translations Si posuerit animam pro peccato If hee will lay down his soul an offering for sin Et volenti non fit injuria Secondly that hee should not be without some remuneration for this work for hee shall see his seed prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand If hee will lay down his soul c. May some man say was it a question did God the Father or did the Prophet that writ this doubt of this thing No beloved but it is usuall to express the great Acts of Christ the Mediatour by an If thus speaking of his death sayes he If I be lifted up I shall draw all men after me Of his ascension Jo. 12.32 If I go it is to prepare a place for you Jo. 14.3 Non contingentium eventus sed conditionem pacti certis simè implendi significat sayes one very well which manner of expression doth not signifie the contingency of the event but points out the nature of a covenant Thus much of the first The next thing which is the wages promised is in three things first he shall see his seed which is a Metaphor drawn from plants which being ripe do scatter their seed for the propagation of their kind thus from one grain of wheat sown doth arise up a whole eare which being sown again thence arises many more till a whole barne is filled with the increase of one corn Christ was that grain of wheat cast into the ground and dying hath brought forth a plentifull crop of Christians this expression therefore doth import the plenty of the Christian Church Now the Analogy holds in these particulars First as one corne brings forth many so from one Christ hath sprung up many Christians Secondly as the seed that comes up is specifically the same with that that was sown and is so like it both without and within that it cannot be distinguished from it so are Christians like unto Christ without and are therefore said to be conformed to his Image within saith the Apostle Little Children of whom I travel in birth till Christ be formed in you Thirdly as the seed sown though it be pure seed there arises up with it many weeds as Poppy May-weed Tinetare Cattailes c. Which on the one hand either starve or on the other burn up the seed So in the Church of Christ are there many weeds of prophane Persons on the one hand and Hereticks on the other which much injure the Church for where God hath his Church the Devill will have his Chappel Master saith he didst thou not sow good seed in thy Feild Mat. 13.27 whence then are the tares Why sayes he the evil one hath done it Fourthly Though the Seed be sown pure Seed cleared and winnowed or screened from all chaffe and rubbish yet it grows up with stalk eare spire and blade mufled as it were about with chaffe So though Christ was a pure Corn yet that Seed those Christians that spring from him grow up with stalk spire and blade that is with sinfull corruptions blades indeed that war against the soule which is invelloped and set round about with infirmities Heb. 12.1 Not to be too Postillous Lastly Seed is of a perpetuating nature As we see from the creation of the World to this day there is nothing of those vegitables lost which God created at first because every thing hath a Seed a string or shadow whereby it doth propagate its kind So is it with the Seed of Christ which never did not never shall fail totally from the beginning of the World to the end thereof and though the Archers have shot at this Joseph and sorely wounded him yet hath his bowe abode in strength Gen. 49. â—3 and thus Sanguis Martyrum est Semen Ecclesiae the blood of the Martyrs hath been the Seed of the Church Secondly He shall prolong his dayes Some men may say how is that possible that he that was Eternall with his Father should have his dayes prolonged This phrase therefore is spoken to Christ as Mediatour Isaiah 9.6 alluding to the Seed of Abraham under the Jewish Pedagogy which worshipped God under divers Shadows Ceremonies and carnal Ordinances for a time Now saith God if thou wilt dye Heb. 9.10 thou shalt pur an end to those shadows and shalt have a people to worship thee in Spirit and in truth to the end of the World and from thence to eternity Burnt offerings and sacrifice thou wouldst not have but a body thou hast prepared me Psal 40.6 Thirdly The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Which is the work of mans redemption shall certainly be accomplished the same thing for which it is said It pleased the Lord to bruise him c. This is that which is meant by that which Christ almost every where expresseth He was come to do not his own will but the will and pleasure of his Father And hence it is that he said He had not lost one that his Father had given him but the Son of Perdition And those last words of his when he gave up the Ghost Consummatum est it is finished 't is done Jo. 17.12 't is done These words thus opened you see the highest Mercy and the highest Justice kissing each other Justice in that man having finned man must suffer though it be the Son of God Rom. 3.25 That he might be just and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus Mercy every word in the Text is big withall as David said Thy mercy is over all thy works Psal 145.9 even as oyle that being put into milk or wine or water swims at the top so mercy seems here to have got above justice triumphing over it First It pleased the Lord c. It seems then there was no necessity in God to save man only it was his pleasure so that the redemption of man is resolved into the same accompt that his creation was Rev. 4.11 for thy pleasure they are and they were created Secondly It pleased the Lord. It seems then there was no prevised merit in man nothing in man to attract the affections of a God to him only it pleased the Lord. Thirdly to bruise not by one blow to crush him as Corn under the milstone but by a gradual death to bruise or pound him as Corn in a morter as a man of sorrows to be worne away by degrees by a living death or a dying life for so it is rendred Conterere eum in infirmitate Fourthly Him viz. that was the Son of God God has many Sons some by creation as the Angels some by adoption as the Saints but he hath but one Son by generation and this was he so God so loved the World Jo. 3.16 that he gave his only begotten Son c. Fiftly His soul
and for all kinde of Conveniences respecting the life of Man I never saw the like and where if the concernments of my Estate and Friends would admit I could desire to live and die in above any Country that ever I yet saw in the European world A Country in respect of the Sandy and Foreftical part affording such variety of pleasures of so dry pleasant and healthful an Ayr in respect of the other called the clay and its contiguity to the rich Vale Belvoir all sorts of grain and corn in respect of that famous River Trent abounding with variety of Fish and Fowl and the fertile Pastures upon her banks with all sorts of fatted Cattel a Country where the rates of all things carry that moderation as not so low to be contemned nor so high as to be refused A Country not only replenished with wood for the Chamber but that light and lasting culinary fire the pit-coal watred with the streams of Trent and other Rivers blessed with sweetness of Ayr and richness of earth as if all the Elements did conspire to make her people happy In the Southwest whereof sits the fair Town of Nottingham delicately like a Lady upon the Rocks in collem sub montibus the best of all scituations saith the Naturalist her chair being flanked with the Hils East West and North to keep off those churlish winds that might give her a cold in her Neck her beautiful Face only displaid to the warm Southerly Sun where she beholds from on high the flowery Meadows and the Trental streams with no small delight a Town scituate so near the River that she may have the conveniencies of Prospect Fish and Navigation and yet at such a distance as that she is exempted from the crude raw and Aguish vapours thereof the only inconveniences attending such sweet Streams over against whom after that silver streamed River Trent hath with marvellous celerity posted out of Staffordshire begins here to halt and demur upon her motion and by various Meanders and twining circuitions making one mile three as if she did greatly delight her self in the views and counterviews of that beautiful Country and the Metropolis thereof And thus we take our leave of that fair Country and Town of Nottingham which Drayton calls The Norths Imperial Eye and which indeed considering her lofty Elevation from whence she looks into all her Neighbouring Countries may rather be compared unto Wisdom in Prov. 3. stretching forth her hands unto them and saying Come unto me all ye simple ones and ye that lack understanding for at my right hand is length of days and upon my left hand riches and honour It was a witty and a close answer that was somtimes given by an accomplish'd Prelate of this Land to a foolish King thereof who upbraiding his height in Church and State with the meaness of his descent to wit that his Father was a Taylor made this reply That if his Majesty had exceeded his Father as much as he had done his he had bin the bravest Prince in Christendom The Solution is this That if our Countrymen did exceed other Countrymen in their works of Piety and Charity as far as our Country exceeds other Countries you would be the bravest men this day upon the Brittish earth But alas it is a sad an ancient observation of Divines That those Countries into whose bosom God hath poured the greatest of these blessings have been most unmindful of him Some think that God would have Abraham from Ur of the Caldees as if the delicacy pleasures temptations of that place were inconsistent with that height of Piety that God would have the Fathers of the Faithful trained up unto and certain I am that AÃ mah Zeboim c. and those other famous infamous God-forgetting Cities were upon a Plain which was like unto the Paradice of God I would not here be mis-interpreted as if I came to upbraid our Countrymen it is an ill Bird that defiles her own Nest but out of love in majorem cantelam for these things that are written were written for an example to you in that delicate Country that you might take heed Though truly Sirs let me be so far bold to tell you It is a wonderment to some to hear what other Countries have done at these their meetings and nothing is extant from ours neither is it to be doubted but that there is as great a materia of goodness in you as in any other of your Neighbors Is there not some honourable person or persons of our Country the fame of whose Learning Piety and Charitable Actions of all kinds is gone out through the Land And for ought I know the rest of you in your inferiour Orbs are like minded for generous Ayrs breed generous Dispositions but as Phisitians say That though blood be the life of the Body yet the strongest Constitutions do the soonest perish by the redundancy thereof So Gentlemen if these Meetings be longer continued and nothing done the fears are lest that your Charity should die of a Plurisie I mean for want of evacuation If it shall here be demanded What is that good desired I dare not be so sawcy as to prescribe to your Wisdoms prest I am much to speak and yet afraid to speak four and twenty miles have I come to serve you this slabby weather if I should now offend you how sad would my return be home again Extremo actu deficere turpissimum est I shall only add one instance and leave you to spell out the rest Are there not some of you of our Countrymen Citizens here I know there are to whom God hath given great Estates and little or no Issue that may as truly say if they would speak their Consciences of the River Trent as ever Jacob did of Jordan Cen. 32.10 Over this Brook came I with this Staff and behold the Lord hath made me two Bands And Jacob arose and built there an Altar unto the Lord. I have done the Lord give a blessing FINIS
both of the Father and the Son may be sealed to your souls by his holy Spirit Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you That ye may be united and carried together in the bonds and arms of that last-born 1 Cor. 13.13 but never dying Grace to your heavenly Country where her twin-sisters Faith and Hope shall cease but that of Love abide for ever Which is the hearty Prayer of him that is your most humble and faithful Servant and Countryman in the work of the Gospel M. I. PSALM 119.111 Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart THis Psalm is the most excellent Psalm of David excellent for the length of it consisting of so many Octonaries or parts as there are letters in the Hebrew Alphabet excellent for the matter of it all the parts of verses thereof conspiring with one consent to set out the dignity of the Law of God And indeed there seems to have been all divine frames upon Davids heart when he writ this Psalm Sometimes we find him in such raptures as if he was already set down in glory sometimes prostrate upon the earth in humble and penitential confessions of sin and deprecations against them sometimes wee finde him upon his legs looking backward and forward forward telling us what hee would do for time to come Having sworn I will perform it Psal 119.106 that I will keep thy righteous Judgments backward telling us what hee had done in times past to which this verse is to be referred Thy Testimonies have I taken c. These words contain Davids profession of that high esteem hee had of Gods testimonies and the reason thereof the profession in the former part of the verse Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever the reason in the latter part of the verse for they are the rejoycing of my heart The first of these which is Davids profession my purpose is to open to you as the doctrinal part the other in the application of our discourse The first which is Davids profession is one intire proposition in which wee have as in every proposition these two things considerable First the subject or matter treated of which is in the word Testimonies set forth by their relation unto God Thy Testimonies The second is the predicate or that which is spoken of that subject that is the word Heritage set forth by its duration An heritage for ever And first of the first This word Testimonies is that that is sometimes called The Word of the Lord The Way of the Lord Psal 139.9 The Will of the Lord sometimes Psal 143.10 Psal 119.1 The Law of the Lord The Commandements of the Lord sometimes The Fear of the Lord The Statutes of the Lord Psal 119.6 Psal 19.9 The Judgments of the Lord sometimes Psal 119.8 The Testimonies of the Lord. And it is observable Psal 119.13 that though there be an hundred threescore and sixteen verses in this Psalm yet there is not above two of them wherein one of these nine words is not named Some one may say Object What 's the reason that David should use so many words to express one and the same thing Frustrà fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora saith the Philosopher Truly Sirs I know not what better answer to give Answ than that it is the property of Love to give several Epithets to the object beloved thus when Christ was in love with his Spouse Thou art Cant. 5.2 saith hee my fair One my Love my Dove my undefiled Cant. 6.1 10. terrible as an Army with banners Thou art my fair One I but what if shee be fair if shee be not chast Thou art my undefiled but what if shee be fair and chast if shee be a scold a vexsome I but thou art my Dove without all gall without all bitterness but what if she be a Dove if she have never so much meekness if that arise only from flegmacy and baseness of temper that shee is sola socordia innocens no shee is full of spirit life and majesty shee is terrible as an Army with banners Thus as Christ delights himself with various titles to set forth the several excellencies of his Church so it is with David his heart is so in love with these Testimonies that hee knowes not what to call them Statutes Lawes Commandements Judgments c. Sometimes when hee considers of them in regard of the Author the great God from whence they came thus hee calls them The Word of the Lord The Way of the Lord The Will of the Lord when hee considers the divine soveraignty that they have over all Gods rational Creatures Angels and Men thus hee calls them The Law of the Lord the Commandements of the Lord when hee considers that great respect and reverence that a gracious heart yields unto them thus hee calls them The fear of the Lord when hee considers their stability and duration as those things which God hath ratified for ever thus they are called The Statutes of the Lord when hee considers that great decision and determination that they shall make at the last day concerning the quick and the dead thus hee calls them The Judgments of the Lord and last of all considering that testification that these make concerning God and man as I shall shew you by and by thus they are called The Testimonies of the Lord Thy Testimonies have I taken c. It is observable that David delights more in this word than in any of the rest and by these Testimonies is meant the Word of God at large but more strictly the Moral Law or the Law of the Ten Commandements You know when God gave the Law he writ it upon two Tables of stone and those two Tables are called Exod. 31.18 The Tables of the Testimony Then God took those Tables of stone and put them into an Ark Exod. 25.22 and that was called The Ark of the Testimony Then God took that Ark and put that Ark into a Tabernacle Num. 1.50 and that Tabernacle was called The Tabernacle of the Testimony so that this was so famous a Testimony that it calls every thing Testimony that toucheth it and gives a denomination to every thing that comes nigh unto it and it may be well called a Testimony Because it was delivered with a Witness when God came down upon Mount Sinai Exod 20.29 the mountain smoked and the earth trembled and there was great thundering and lightening and the sound of the trumpet and hundred of thousands of people that fled from it saying Let us not come near him lest wee die It may well be called the Testimonie Because as it testifies the perfection
and the holiness of Gods will for ever so also the Word of God witnesseth the several Attributes of God unto the world the book of Genesis is a Testimony of Gods power in making the world of nothing his Justice in drowning the world with water his mercy in saving Noah and his family c. The book of Exodus is a Testimony of that curious and stupendious providence that God exercised over his Church in bringing her out of Egypt through the red sea and that vast howling wilderness into the land of Canaan and so of the rest It is called Testimony in regard of that comfortable or dismal report it shall make for us or against us at the last day Whosoever shall not receive you Mark 6.11 nor hear my words shake off the dust off your feet for a Testimony against them and thus have wee dispatched the first thing propounded What is meant by Testimonies and why so called Wee now come to the second which is the predicate or what is said of these Testimonies that is they are An heritage for ever yet before wee come to that wee may a little take notice of the copulation of these two together in that word taken which some read chosen both the lections being emphatical enough to Davids purpose If the first I have taken thy Testimonies then thus as if David should have said I perceive the Lord hath a minde to give these blessed Testimonies to his Church the greatest gift that ever hee shall bestow except it be the Messiah to come and seeing that the Lord hath a heart to give for my part I am resolved to have a hand to take I have taken thy Testimonies or thus I have chosen thy Testimonies As if hee should say The Lord hath laid before mee two excellent things Here are my Crowns and Kingdoms on the one hand and his Testimonies on the other and if hee would put mee to my choice which I should chuse and which refuse incomparably have I chosen his Testimonies as an heritage for ever An Inheritance This is the highest expression almost that David could use to testifie his respect to these Testimonies hee had been a long time lifting and heaving at an expression but did never hit it till now In his younger time I suppose it was that hee compares it to hony Psal 19. and the hony-comb Sweeter are they also than the honey and the hony-comb hony is a fine thing but money is better money buy will hony and sugar and a hundred things more money answers all things now David goes a little higher and compares it to silver but silver may be drossie Psal 12.6 seven times purified in the fire I but there is a finer thing than silver and that is gold Psal 19.10 why faith hee It is much more to be desired than gold yea than fine gold I but yet there is a finer thing than Gold that is Diamonds Pearls and Rubies They are more precious than Rubies Prov. 3.15 but yet suppose a man hath silver and gold and rubies yet hee may not have all riches there are Cattel Camels Horses Sheep and Oxen these were the ancient riches of the world Psal 119.14 I have rejoyced in the way of thy Commandements above all riches But yet there is one sort of riches that is the sweetest of all riches that is spoil when a souldier overcomes his enemy and hath the pillage of the field or falls into a Garrison and takes the plunder thereof this is of all riches the sweetest for here is a double lust satisfied at once not only Covetousness but Revenge Psal 119.162 Thy Word have I rejoyced in more than in all spoil But yet Sirs suppose a man hath silver and gold and pearls and diamonds and all riches and all spoil Suppose a private man should arrive to an estate of twenty thirty forty fifty thousand pound Pray Sir saith hee can you help mee to a purchase I would fain have an Inheritance Alas these things may be taken from mee in a night I would fain turn my personal into a real estate have an Inheritance settled upon mee to descend to my posterity after mee now David is come to the heighth of what a mortal man could express Thy Testimonies have I taken as mine Inheritance for ever An Inheritance then is that summum totale that dimensum that lot that portion or proportion of estate a man enjoyes in this world whether it be bequeathed by gift or descend by succession this wee call an Inheritance now God who hath given the world to the children of men as an Inheritance hath reserved a special spiritual portion for his people in allusion to which it is called An Inheritance which is no less than heaven and glory and that it might be sure to them hee hath conveyed it all manner of wayes Hee hath decreed it for them In whom wee have obtained an inheritance being predestinated Ephes 1.11 Hee hath bequeathed it to them by will Fear not little Flock Luke 12.32 it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdom It descends to them by succession and therefore they are said to be born and to be begotten to it That hath begotten us to an inheritance incorruptible 1 Pet. 1.4 5. Hence it is that all the children of God are said to be the first-born there is no yonger brothers in heaven to every son hee alloweth the liberty and the priviledge of primogeniture to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born Heb. 12.22 I Object but some will say What is all this to our purpose wee know indeed that heaven is a glorious inheritance if David had said The kingdom of heaven O Lord the kingdom of thy Glory I have taken for an inheritance that might be easily understood but that hee should say Thy Testimonies are my inheritance that wee cannot understand It is true indeed Answ that heaven is the actual inheritance of Gods people but it is as true that the Word of God is their virtual inheritance these testimonies are the deeds that convey this inheritance and how ordinary is it amongst men to call such the inheritance If one of you come with a breviat to a Lawyer and hee be dissatisfied in any thing Pray Sir saith hee will you show mee the inheritance that is the main deeds that leads to the inheritance and we know that many times these old dusty moth-eaten papers are as much worth as a whole Country Now an inheritance doth but these two things It discovers the estate what quantity of acres the butting and bounding c. It doth convey make over and assure the said Land to such and such a person and to his Heirs after him Just thus doth the Word of God it discovers heaven and glory unto us it is the terrier of the celestial Canaan it holds out all that bliss happiness and glory that is treasured up there for