he hath not received The meaning is not then whosoever hath the improvement of Nature to him shall be given true Grace but whosoever hath true Grace given to him to him still it shall be given and he shall have more abundance God will heap favours on them i. e. The beginning of Grace is a pawn of more Grace and every former Grace shall be a pledg of future First God gives Grace therefore we have it whosoever hath then he adds more to it to him it shall be given 1. The words are a Reason why Christ said to the Apostles Vnto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven For or because whosoever hath to him shall be given I pray mark it I say It is a Reason not why natural men should have Grace given them but why the Disciples should have Grace given them 2. Having or not having is to be understood of Saving Grace Therefore speak I in Parable to them because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand Ver. 13. Here Christ gives the Reason clearly which he toucht in Ver. 11 But to them it is not given why he spake to the Scribes and Pharisees in Parables because hearing Christ before preach plainly the Kingdom of Heaven they would not understand nor believe nor obey him Hearing they would not hear And seeing his Holiness and his Miracles they would not believe nor receive him for the Messia Thus seeing they would not see And therefore they deserved that Christ should now preach in obscure and cloudy Parables to them We see then the cause of Christ's preaching in Parables was the obstinacy of some who were present and they were not meer simple men unlearnd men but the Scribes and Pharisees and Priests who follow Christ only to carp at and catch him 2 To deride him and he was not to give holy things to Dogs From these the mysteries of Heaven were justly vailed because in seeing and hearing they did not and would not see nor hear and understand Observe hence Obs Such minds as hearers bring to Christ such Sermons doth he preach to them Because they would not understand they shall not When they will not understand those things that are clear and manifest Christ involves his speeches in darkness because the Disciples do plainly and honestly receive what is given they are worthy i. e. counted worthy to whom more secret mysteries should be Communicated Obs As it is the mercy and gift of God that some hear and understand what they hear so it is the dreadful judgment of God that some in hearing hear not nor understand Having travel'd thus far in the Explanation of our Text we now arrive at the several Theses or Doctrines contained in it upon which we will lay the Structure of the following Discourse 1. Doct. The matters of the Kingdom of Heaven are Mysteries 2. It is a matchless aend blessed Priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 3. The Divine knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some not to others 4. Where there are beginnings of true Graece though never so weak God makes rich additions of more Of these we will treat in order as they lye before us 1. Doct. The matters of the Kingdom of Heaven are Mysteries 1. Jesus Christ is a great Mystery The Creator became a Creature He who made Man was made Man He was born of the Virgin-Mother and yet made his Mother He that was the Father of Eternity was born in time He never offended his Father and yet was the greatest offender in the world A sinner and no sinner For he knew no sin and yet was made sin for us He was David's Son and yet David called him Lord. Mat. 22. 42 43. 2. Justification by Jesus Christ is a great Mystery There is a Curse denounced against them that break the Law Gal. 3. 10. and yet the Saints are not cursed though they never kept the Law The Saints cannot be Justified by the Law and yet the Law Gal. 5. 23. cannot but Justifie them There 's nothing hinders Acceptance but Sin yet Sin doth 1 Tim. 1. 13. not hinder their Acceptance 3. Faith is a Mystery The Apostle saith Faith is the substance Heb. 11. 1. or subsistence of things hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen See and not see things not seen and yet Faith sees them Things to come and yet makes them present and gives them present Being It is a Mystery Christ was born some thousand years after Abraham and yet Abraham saw John 8. 56. his Day By Faith Moses saw him that is Invisible saith the Text Invisible and yet saw him It is a Mystery He saw him by Faith who could not be seen by Sense It is said of Abraham that against hope he believed in Rom. 4. 18. hope 4. Regeneration is a Mystery That a man should be born again and yet not enter into his Mothers Womb it is a Mystery How can a man be born when he is old saith Nicodemus John 3. 4. Can he enter the second time into his mothers Womb and be born So Conversion is a Mystery That a man should be the same and not the same the same man for soul and body and yet not the same in regard of supernatural Life and Being put into him It is a Mystery To see a mans Judgment and Affections turned backward He that was proud before now turned humble and he that was ambitious before now despise the vain World it is a strange Mystery The men of the World stand wondring at it as 1 Pet. 4. 4. the Israelites did at Saul Is Saul also among the Prophets And the Church admired at Paul Act. 9. 21. 5. Humility is a Mystery The Saints know themselves to be Kings and yet refuse not to be every mans Servant To lye lowest is the only way to rise highest Whosoever shall humble himself the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Matth. 18. 4. Matth 23. 12. August de Temp. heaven But whosoever doth exalt himself shall be abased Videte magreum miraculum c. saith Austin See here a great miracle God is on high and yet the higher thou liftest up thy self the further thou art from him and the lower thou humblest thy self the nearer thou art to him The Angels those great Courtiers and Princes of Heaven such is their humility they become Ministring spirits to the Saints surely the Angels humility is a Mystery Again That a man should use the World as if he did not 1 Cor. 7. 29. 30 31. use it weep as if he did not weep weep and not weep rejoyce as though he rejoyced not rejoyce and not rejoyce And they that buy as though they possessed not buy and not buy that they that have Wives he as though they had none married and yet unmarried it is a Mystery 6. Self-denial is a
of sins you shall be set at liberty I say all hypocrisie springs from some want of this Divine light The young man saw some worth in Christ but not enough and therefore forsook Christ A man may see the Lord Jesus in the letter of the Scripture which though it be necessary to the saving Knowledg of Christ yet to see the Lord Jesus no otherwise than in the letter by the strength of Fancy and Understanding this is no saving Knowledg of Jesus Christ Between the palpable ignorance of Christ without the Gospel and the saving Knowledg of Christ in the Gospel there is this middle Knowledg of Christ which is literal whereby a man doth see yet in seeing seeth not Now saving Illumination 1. It is a peculiar Illumination The greatest Scholar that ever lived never had one such thought or apprehension of the Lord and the things of the Lord as the Saints have To them the Lord reveals some things that the wisest in the world never knew 2. It is a glorious and shining Illumination 1. They behold a Glory in Christ's person the Lord reveals his hidden glory to them such as never entred into their hearts before or into the minds of other men which though others may talk and discourse of yet they cannot see it in that manner as they do It is therefore called a marvelous light In John 1. 14. They saw Christ vailed in our Humane Nature and darkned under the Cloud of a mean condition And yet they beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the John 1. 14. father The Jews saw the same Christ yet could not see the same Glory in him 2. They behold a glory in the holiness and graces of Jesus Christ his graces strike a Majesty of him in their hearts Oh that I were like him 3. They behold a glory in his Covenant and Promises Oh that all those promises might be made good to me this is all my desire 4. They behold a glory in all the Ordinances of Christ Oh Psal 63. 1. Vers 2. God! my soul thirsteth for thee To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary How amiable Psal 84. 1. Vers 10. are thy Tabernacles Oh Lord of hosts A day in thy court is better than a thousand Oh the fellowship of Saints Oh the lustre and beauty of his Sabbaths 5. They behold a glory in the Commands and Will of Christ Oh if once I could in every thing give content to his heart Such a soul had rather lose all than cross his Will in a small thing he seeth a glory in the least truth 6. They see a glory in all his Dispensations Have I but a little estate This is the allowance he provides for me I am less than the least of all thy mercies His glory therefore appears that I have a bit of bread to eat 7. They behold a glory in the Cross of Christ glory in all their sufferings I am not worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ Moses esteemed the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt We shall find a false heart ever fall short here 3. It is a soul-humbling Illumination One every way so fit and suitable to them according to all their wants and woes so far in Splendour and Majesty surpassing their unworthiness and yet laying his greatness flat at the feet of their necessities and miseries that when the soul doth see it it usually fills the head and heart and eyes with tears Oh that I have despised him so glorious Acts 2. 36 37. 4. It is an endearing and attractive Illumination Sinners may like Balaam see the glory of the Tents of Israel and the Star of Jacob but they esteem him not in all his glory Many reprobates under a lively Ministry may see some glory in Christ and in his Saints to think them the happy men yet not esteem of him in all his glory The damned in Hell see a glory in Christ else they would never grieve for the loss of him yet they cannot love him nor rejoyce in his glory But the light the Saints have of him makes Christ transcendent in their eyes and precious in their hearts they esteem him beyond ten thousand Worlds 3. But yet further The secret Gospel-hypocrites have not hearts effectually to use and improve the means unto salvation Salvation is the great end they would have but they come short in the use of means they draw not the Arrow to the head they drive not home enough in the use of means The closest hypocrites discover themselves in an ineffectual use of the means unto salvation Men out of the Church they perish because they have no remedy no saving means to help But why do those perish that are within the Church Is it because there is no remedy No but because they do not use the remedy Is it because they want means No but because they do not effectually improve the means Here they fall short herein they discover themselves Sirs There is a Spirit of sloath and slumber which the Lord ever leaves the best hypocrite unto The last Enemy God conquers in a man is his sloath Now this hangs upon the most refined hypocrite to the end he will Act but 't is remisly in order to salvation he 'l not act at all or will not act throughly In the Parable of the Talents one of the servants was cast Matth. 25. 24 25. away Why so because he had no Talent No but because he had no mind nor list to use his Talent he was idle and did not make his gain out of it to attain his end And therefore the Lord saith unto him Thou wicked and sloathful Vers 26. servant My Beloved all the Ordinances of God and all that time we have under them are Talents Now wherein do hypocrites fail There is a secret gain of Ordinances which hypocrites regard not Why have many souls set a great price upon Christ and yet have lost him and gone without him Because like indifferent chapmen they have had a desire to the Commodity but have been loth to be at the full cost for him The Lord sets before you the highest and most glorious end but 't is through many difficulties that we must arrive at it now there being a spirit of Security and sloth within and those dfficulties without a hypocrite sits down and rests under the shadow of his negligence and saith 'T is hard and because he cannot do so he hopes 't is but an infirmity and God will accept of his desires And here he perisheth The Israelites you know were bound for Canaan they aimed at it but when their spies had told them of the difficulties their spirits sunk within them only Caleb and Joshuah had upright hearts and followed the Lord fully These spiritual merchants do prize and earnestly desire the Treasures of Heaven here 's their end But to be at the cost to
sins Because the Pharisees were not Adulterers Extortioners nor such gross sinners as publicans therefore they were proud and despised salvation by Christ The Devil will not tempt some men to gross sins he seeth which way their vein goeth and will make use of their own righteousness to exalt them and then break their necks with it How strongly doth he tempt civil men by not tempting them By not tempting them to be drunkards and adulterers he tempts them to be Justitiaries not to see their need of Jesus Christ He makes them think themselves better than Saints because he tempts them not to do such gross sins as some Saints have done so he tempts thee to security and quietness in a sinful estate by not tempting thee with thy sins nor troubling thee with the fears of Hell Know my Beloved that God loves us as well when he doth us evil as when he doth us good in this world Satan will go about to perswade thee in afflictions as thou must look for them that God hates thee and cares not for thee if he loved thee he would not use thee thus as he doth Be not deceived make God thine and then be cheerful in every state It becomes a gracious man to rejoyce in afflictions in sickness in poverty in weakness in reproach in persecution Satan in all afflictions would befool thee and make thee believe any thing as if thou wert no body with God because thou art sick or poor and no body in the world it is his delight to fill thee with sorrow But I say it becomes a gracious man to rejoyce in afflictions Oh that you would or could digest this principle and believe Note it and act it namely outward evils are to be received in the same manner and with the same mind that good things are received with you receive health with joy and riches and peace with joy oh you should receive sickness and weakness and poverty in the same manner saith Paul We glory in tribulation Rom. 5. 3. And again As sorrowful yet alway rejoycing 2 Cor. 6. 10. The sorrow of the Saints should be like the joy of the wicked only in appearance Paul had only a shadow of sorrow as sorrowful but his joy was substantial and lasting always rejoycing though his outward estate cast up amounted but to this poor and having nothing yet he was always rejoycing Why so Because God is the same in all varieties God loves us as well when we are poor as when we are rich as well when himself smites as when he heals he is as good to us when we receive evil as when we receive good And therefore if God be the same surely we ought to be the same too and our faith the same Now thou mournest heretofore thou didst rejoyce now it may be thou art in want but thou hast had abundance and therefore thou art dejected and sad and canst scarce lead one comfortable day for disquiets and castings in thy thoughts We have a saying Faelicem fuisse miserrimum it is a miserable thing to have been happy But 't is vain a godly man is happy in the midst of all his misery he may say with Luther Let him be miserable that can be miserable I cannot He that hath not a God to lose nor a soul to lose cannot be miserable whatsoever he loses while Christ is safe a believer hath no reason to be unsatisfied And this will discover the truth of grace to you your joy in God When we have outward mercies we think we rejoyce in them only as pledges of Gods love when indeed we rejoyce more in the benefits themselves than in the benefactor The discovery is by our drooping and dejection under the Cross If it had been Gods favour only we had rejoyced in in our prosperity why then is the copy of our countenance changed for Gods favour is still the same to his in affliction as it is in prosperity haply greater So again observe thy self in a sickness thou wilt say oh I am hindred from doing God service by sickness as if thou desiredst health meerly to do God service this is thy hearts deceitfulness Satan would make thee believe that thou desirest health to do God service when it is out of love to health it self For 1. Every state that God puts us into is the best service to him When God puts us into sickness to serve him there is the best service A master takes that service best from a Servants hands which he commands him to do so if God commands thee to be sick and commands thee to serve him on a sick bed this is the best service thy master would have thee employed there 2. God may yea hath as much use of our lives in our troubles as in our comforts We may do much business for God on a sick bed we may do God as much work when we are bound hand and foot in a prison as when we are at liberty Passive obedience brings as much glory to God as active doth Afflictions are the highest services and employments of grace Oh! but my graces are weak 1. God will put weak grace to no more work than it can do 1 Cor. 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it He shall feed his flock like Isa 40. 11. a shepherd he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young 2. God will raise up little grace sometimes to act above its strength though the babe be but weak the nurse is strong so though grace be weak the spirit is strong And he said 2 Cor. 12. 9. unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness 3. God will not leave his works imperfect when he begins a work he compleats and carries it through He is a rock Deut. 32. 4. saith Moses his work is perfect What he said concerning the house of Eli I may apply hither when I begin I will also 1 Sam. 3. 12. make an end that is I will do it fully I will do it perfectly for the end of a work is its perfection 't is so in spirituals when he begins a work of grace he will make an end Bring my sons from Isa 43. 6 7. far and my daughters from the end of the earth even every one that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory I have formed him yea I have made him God doth his work exquisitely or as we say artificially yea those works that we look upon as full of confusion are full of order and those works in which we see no form or nothing but deformity even these will one day