work then they die to receive their wages And this certainly is very comfortable to all the children of God especially Ministers that God will give them their liberties and lives till they have done their work No man can stop Gods way and power no more than they can hinder the Sunne in running its race Why should death then be grievous to thee when God hath no more for thee to do here when thou canst be no more usefull to promote his glory Fourthly Death is the godly mans Because the meditation and thoughts of it are sanctified to him He liveth as one that expecteth it daily And although every one knoweth he must die yet we cannot have the sanctified knowledge of it without Gods grace Teach me to number my dayes saith the Psalmist Psal 90. that we may apply our hearts to wisdome And Paul I die daily Thus the Scripture bids us not put confidence in future things what we will do or whither we will go because our life is a vapour Jam 4 13. Oh it 's great proficiency in Christianity to live as a mortal dying man Alas such an one will provide for eternity not account any thing in this world can make him truly happy his heart is weaned from all worldly comforts and delights Thus that there is such a thing as death it is a great argument to the godly man to live with all heavenly and holy affections Fifthly Death is the godly mans Because he only knoweth how to dâ—e well as we told you Life was his Because he onely could tell how to live So death is his because he only knoweth how to die Simeon saith Lukâ— 2.29 Now Lord let thy servant depart in peace when he had taken Christ in his arms and seen his salvation Thus they only by faith lay hold on Christ they only have oil to their lamps they only are prepared to give up their accounts Oh it 's an art of arts to die well Few are so prepared and disposed that at what hour soever the Master shall come he shall find them doing his will It 's true many wicked men are not afraid to die they flatter themselves and can bid death welcome but it is their ignorance their boldnesse makes them thus they know not what it is do die upon what terms to appear before God and therefore do suddenly drop into hell Sixthly The godly man hath death as an advantage if you respect the time and season of his death His death is not only mercy but the time of his death is mercy The term of every mans life is appointed by God To him belong the issues of death Psal 68.20 Now God in great wisdom and mercy hath determined the time of thy death And although we cannot alwayes see how it is a mercy to die at such and such a time yet it is so The righteous is gathered from the evil to come Isa 57.1 as jewels when the house is on fire as cattel are driven into a refuge before the storm beginneth Hezekiah must not live to see all that publique ruine which was coming on Israel Thus though they die in their younger years it 's a mercy Hence the death of righteous men is accounted a sad prognostique of future calamities Lastly Even the violent death of Martyrdome which cometh by the cruel and bloudy oppression of implacable enemies that is theirs It 's a mercy a gain and honour The Apostles rejoyced that they were accounted worthy to lose what they had for Christs sake To you it 's given not only to believe but to suffer Phil. 1 19. If any man suffer as a Christian blessed is he for the spirit of glory shall rest upon him 1 Pet. 4.14 It 's the greatest honour that can be put upon thee Though it be matter of scorn and reproach with the world yet God and the holy Angels approve such As Christ is said to be exalted and glorified by dying so it is with his children Vse of unspeakable Consolation to the godly in their temptations and fears about death Oh that is terrible to thee thou knowest not what to do But why so If thou art one of the members of Christ who by faith art ingraffed in him this should be matter of joy Then and never till then doest thou beginne to be happy then thy bridegroom cometh to meet thee then the gates of Heaven are set open to give thee glorious entertainment if yet these things do not raise thee it 's because thou art not heavenly thou doest not by faith live on Scripture arguments Vse 2. Of Terrour to wicked men who must die and yet to die is onely losse to them They lose their wealth their friends their greatnesse all the mirth they had and then beginneth thy eternal woe Oh the very name of death and mortality should strike terrour into thee for this is the beginning of hell it putteth an end to all the comforts of this life Or things present or things to come We are now come to the last Enumeration of those several things which belong to the Churches treasure and that is all kind of events distributed according to their time either things present or future By present things some understand those gifts in the Church which were extraordinary of healing and such like cures and by future things the gift of revelation concerning things to come But this is too much restrained We rather take the largest sense and by present things understand all those events which for the present do befall us And by future whatsoever may in time come upon us So that this Text is a soveraign cordial to the godly whatsoever fals out they are sure to be gainers by Nothing comes amisse they are in a sure Ark while others float on the waters Observe That whatsoever fals out for the present to a godly man it is for his good Every day is in travel and brings forth some new thing or other Now as often as there is any new event so often is there a new mercy Our Saviour Matth. 6.34 saith Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof implying thereby that every day hath a womb as it were and it brings forth some affliction some evil or other and it is sufficient to the day we need not trouble our selves afore-hand Qui dolet antequam necesse est dolet plusquam necesse est yet the evil of the day is the good of the day to the believer A godly man may say he never had an ill day since his regeneration As we reade of a devout man who being wished a good day he said He never had an ill one in all his life And being asked How that could be He answered Every morning he laboured to conform his will to Gods will that what pleased God should please him and by this means every day was a good day to him Now the things which fall out may be divided into two contrary heads and you shall find both of
perseverance in the state of grace that they shall never totally and finally fall off from the favour of God For this is the greatest thing that might be feared not the losse of riches honours or our estates but the losse of grace is to be feared Oh if left to my self I may prove a Prodigal become destitute of all holinesse There is nothing should more make the godly afraid than this Hence they are commanded to have a godly trembling about it He that standeth let him take heed that he doe not fall 1 Corinth 10.12 Works out your salvation with fear and trembling Philip. 2.12 Blessed is he that feareth alwayes Prov. 28.14 Now though there be such a godly fear required yet the godly at the same time are to be perswaded that what grace God hath begunne he will perfect and therefore this fear is promised as a means to preserve them Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me So that we have many glorious promises for our continuance and stedfastnesse in the way of God that neither the subtil devices of false prophets shall be able to deceive them nor open and violent persecutions shall take them out of Christs arms for they must be stronger than Christ that can do this Lastly Death which is surely to come upon every one even about that the godly need not be troubled You heard it was their gain it was the time of their redemption it was Jacobs Chariot Now although it be so yet the most godly have trembling thoughts about it Christ himself as he was a man had a natural fear of death and many of Gods children are tempted about it lest they should have no comfort be filled with despair or not able with readinesse and willingnesse to resigne themselves into Gods hands But the Scripture doth excellently fortifie against this The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 And 1 Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting And Psal 4.15 see what an expression there is The Lord will strengthen him on the bed of languishing and the Lord will make all his bed in his sicknesse All his bed Do not then fear to be left comfortlesse at that hour This must come and it will come blessed unto thee And as for the things to come in the world to come they are so theirs that they are prepared onely for them Here riches and honours the good have them and the bad have them but there onely the godly do possesse the good things of that life Now what tongue of men or Angels is able to speak of them The Scripture cals it Life eternal life Glory and immortality The Kingdome of Heaven A Crown that never withereth nay whatsoever may be said of it comes short because it may be said Then we rightly esteem of it when we account it inestimable Now this everlasting glory is so sure though to come that they are said to have it already He hath already passed from death to life 1 John 3.14 He is already set down with Christ in heavenly places Ephes 2.6 And Heb. 1. They have faith which is the substance and evidence of things not seen So that were the godly for the present to lie under all imaginable misery yet that which is to come would make amends for all Thus Paul We account these light afflictions not comparable to that eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 It 's no matter what is for the present so that what is to come be so glorious Now let us passe from the Mount of Blessing to that of Cursing Let us see how it is with the wicked man in respect of what is to come And First How rich and pleasant and full their condition is for the present yet they may expect fulnesse of wrath to come upon them every day Jam. 5.1 Go to now ye rich men howl and weep for the miseries that are to come upon you God storeth up vengeance he hath a treasure of it and the ungodly may tremble every hour lest it fall upon them Therefore thou that art now jolly and confident fear what is to come what the next day may bring upon thee Sodome had a fair morning but fire and brimstone quickly fell upon them In Deut. 28. we have the curses of a wicked man described That in the morning he should wish for evening and he should be in continual fear of what may come upon them Even as Cain went up and down fearing every one would kill him So that all the curses in the Word all the wrath of God may justly be feared by thee every day thou arisest or walkest abroad Secondly Although they have the good things of this life yet they are rather to tremble then to be confident thereby For the Parable of Dives and Lazarus instructeth us of Gods proceedings herein Luke 16. Abraham told Dives He had received the good things of this life and therefore was to have the evil things of the life to come As Ishmael had part of the earthly possessions of this world but nothing of Canaan or the promise Thy misery and confusion hereafter will be the greater by how much the rather thou hast been accustomed to ease and pleasures and the longer God keeps off his wrath the more heavy and weighty will it be when it shall come Vse 1. Of Instruction He only is happy who shall be so in the world to come Judge not of a mans blessednesse by this moment our lives are shadows that passe away what shalt thou be to all eternity Say that to thy soul Oh prophane Atheist that crieth Give me the present and let others take the future Thou doest not believe the great things coming therefore thou thinkest and speakest so Oh what a vast difference will there be between thy laughing here and thy roaring in hell thy pleasures here and thy torments there Oh that this eternity coming that this world to come should not be more in your minds and hearts Vse 2. Of Consolation to the godly who may say Soul take thy spiritual ease If they may not who may lay themselves down and sleep if not such for whatsoever fals out it shall be well with them They have a promise for the future and therefore it 's their weaknesse and unbelief if they torment themselves saying what if this be and that be How shall I do if such things come upon me What shall not such promises as I have named quiet thee Mayest thou not trust God upon his Word Vse 3. Of Terrour to the wicked Do not with Agag rise up comfortably and walk delicately saying The worst is past No God reserveth his bitter gall to come All the grief pain and misery thou hast had in this life is nothing to those dregs thou must drink up hereafter Break off thy sins quickly by repentance think what will those cost me hereafter How do the damned in hell think of those wicked wayes
place unlesse the Lord will Those that cannot adde a cubit unto their own stature do yet think by their own strength to work out their salvation Oh know thou hast laid no sure foundation unlesse all thy strength and power be fetched from Christ Thou art too weak a child to go unlesse he hold thee Christ is the rock we must be built upon Fourthly The last part of this foundation is A renewed and sanctified Nature And this is of great consequence Nicodemus though so great a Master in Israel and exact in the external obedience of the Law yet being ignorant of this did fundamentally erre in all his obedience Therefore of all points you see our Saviour chiefly insists on this Vnlesse a man be borne again John 3. This was a very strange paradox to him and it 's no lesse to thousands of people who goe on in a formall customary road they regard the worke done the action it self but never the Regeneration of the nature from whence it is to flow Whereas this is all in all Make the Tree good and then the fruit will be good said Christ Mat. 12 33 The Spring and Fountain must first be clean ere the streames be The root sweet ere the fruit be Why then art thou pleasing thy selfe with the actions thou doest when thou art in the old polluted defiled nature Can men gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles Let thy external actions be never so religious so glorious they are but like fine flowers on the dunghill or on a dead corpse there must be the inward uncleannesse the inward filthinesse cured first Oh that men had ears to hear this Oh that God would give you understanding in this thing For till the Old man be put off and the New man put on you are still in your sinnes all that you do is fit fuell for Hell none can deliver you from it till there be a change Thus unlesse Ministers and people beginne here though they should build of gold and precious stone the foundation is but of hay and stubble and that is worst of all And certainly if the Apostle make it so hard a thing to be saved though a man doe lay a good foundation if he build hay and stubble on it How impossible will that mans salvation be whose foundation is hay and stubble Mark then and consider these things in your whole conversation Let every good action have these four foundation stones under it The Scripture to direct justification to accept through Christs merit Christ to inable through his Spirit and a renewed nature to sanctifie For as it was with the Temple and the gold in the Temple The gold did not sanctifie the Temple but the Temple the gold So it is here our actions our duties doe not sanctifies us do not justifie us but these priviledges sanctifie and justifie our actions Now let us consider Why we are to be carefull about laying this Foundation First Because it 's very dangerous and it 's very easie to miscarry in this matter As Austin said about the Trinity That in any matter Nec faciliùs nec periculosiùs erratur Thus it is here Not more dangerously because eternal life and death is more immediately concerned herein The welfare of thy immortal soul should be more unto thee than all the world and that is in thy actions If the foundation be not well laid thou art undone for ever In matters of mens estates or of their bodily life how carefull are they to go upon a sure foundation Only they wilfully venture their ruine in the matters of their soule Thou wouldst be unwilling to live in an house whose foundation was rotten thou wouldst feare the falling of it about thy eares every hour Oh but what feare and trembleing should seize upon thee lest all the good thou hast promised thy selfe in thy soules way should fall to the ground for want of a sure foundation Consider then Am I in the right Timor facit consiliativum Fear would make thee jealous and suspicious As we erre dangerously so here Secondly We mistake easily We see the greatest part of Christians never attend to these things And withall the difference between true and false foundations is spiritually to be discerned Now the blinde man doth easily swallow any flie The hypocrites foundation and the true godly mans are very much alike and without much prayer humiliation and consideration we cannot practically discerne the difference Oh then say I do the outward works of Religion I am carefull to discharge them But how easie may I build all upon a false foundation The Parable our Saviour propounded of a wise builder and a foolish one should alwayes stick upon you Matth. 7. Did he speak it in vain you are all builders And every one is either building a Jerusalem or a Babel Apelles was so carefull in drawing his lines because he would pingere aeternitati as he said All thy actions do build either to an eternity of misery or an eternity of happiness Be then in an holy trembling every prayer every word every action hath influence to eternal life or eternal torment Thirdly Therefore we must look to our foundation because of the great confusion that will be at last on those who have failed therein Thus it was with the foolish builder when the tempests arose his house fell and the fall was great It was terrible and dreadfull He did not think so he looked for a comfortable and quiet possession but it proved otherwise So it is here Thou hast lived thus many yeares thou hast gone on in a customary way of religious duties thou hast performed them over and over again but hast never looked to a foundation Oh the confusion that will fill thy face when at the Day of Judgement God shall say for all those duties I know you not When you shall see all these to be a broken Reed to trust unto Oh if men would but consider afore-hand what the agonies and perplexities are that will then fall upon them they would consider and search and never give over till all be sure What confusion was upon the foolish Virgins How did they bewail their condition running up and down if there might be any hope But all is too late Fourthly Therefore lay a good foundation For if this be wanting thou doest nothing but sinne in all thou doest Not onely those plain gross acts of sin but all thy civil natural and religious actions as coming from thee are altogether sinnes To the unclean all things are unclean Titus 1.13 Who can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane The bad Tree brings forth only bad fruit Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. Oh then How terrible is thy estate who hast not laid this foundation Thou art damning thy self all day long Thy eating thy drinking thy waking yea thy praying thy hearing as they come from thee are sinnes continually As the Tâ—â—d cannot vent honey but
mans salvation as well as ungodlinesse in practice An unsound mind as well as unsound life may undo a man Austin once made a Question and knew not well how to resolve it viz. Which was worst an Heretique living with an unblameable life or an Orthodox man with a vicious and corrupt life Non audeo dicere saith I dare not determine it Though Austin could not determine it yet Salvian a religious and zealous Ancient he seemeth to preferre an Heretique if unblameable in his life before a wicked liver Now the truth is in some respects one is worse than another only herein there can be lesse said to excuse a prophane wicked Christian than an Heretique because moral duties such as not to lie swear or to be drunk or unclean are more easily known than many points in Religion especially those which are of a sublime consideration But yet if we speak in the general they both do endanger a mans salvation Thus the Apostle Peter saith That ignorant men wrâ—st the Scripture to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 So that you see a man may destroy his soul not only by a prophane life but by a presumptuous abusing and wresting of the Scripture from the true sense And the Apostle James speaketh of it as a great matter To convert one that erreth from the truth he hath saved a soul and covered a multitude of sins Jam. 5.20 To open this Doctrine consider That the understanding of a man hath sâ—veral kinds of corruption whâ—ch do more or lesse endanger a mans salvation First There is ignorance in a mans understanding whereby he doth not know or believe the truth and this indangers a mans salvation This is eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.2 Therefore not 〈…〉 these is eternal death God would have all men to be saved and to come to thâ— kâ—â—wledge of the truth 2 Tim. 3 7. Thus as the true knowledg of God and Christ is the way to salvation This is the starre to lead to Christ so ignorance of these things is the way to damnation Hence wicked men are often said Not to know God and yet how universal is this sinne Few have any knowledge or understanding in the matters of Religion They have Eagles eyes to worldly things but very blinde Owles they are in heavenly things A second Corruption of the understanding is Errour Ignorance is in the first act of the understanding which they call simple and bare apprehension but Error is in the second Act which they call Judgement So that to erre is to mis-judge in matters of Religion as those that denied the Resurrection are said to erre because they did not know the Scriptures Mat. 22.29 Indeed sometimes the wicked wayes of a mans life are called errours They have alwayes erred in their hearts saith the Scripture of the Israelites in reference to their ungodly actions Heb. 3.10 because every sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an errour or missing of the mark so that in this sence we may say thy ungodly actions are errours Thou dost well to complain of errours in doctrine but why dost thou not complain of thy errours in thy life Omnis peccans est ignorans every sinner as so is ignorant and erroneous but we speak not of this but of those errours in judgement whereby it judgeth false things true or true false And there is no man in the world but he hath some errour in his mind As there is not in any constitution Temperamentum ad pondus an exact temperament So neither in any mans understanding an exact and right judging of all things in matters of Religion We know in paâ—t saith the Apostle 1 Cor 13. Yea we are ignorant of farre more things than we know Thirdly There is a further corruption of the mind and that is heresie Which word though in the first rise of it was innocent in its signification and is so used twice or thrice in the Acts of the Apostles as some affirm yet in the Epâ—stles it is alwayes used in an ill sense and by ecclesiastical use it 's different from errour two wayes 1. Errour is in matters of lesse consâ—quence that are not of necessity but heresie they make to be of things fundamentall therefore the Apostle speaks of some Who shall bring in damnable Heresies 2 Pet 2.1 2. They make it differ in the affection of the person He that is an Heretique hath pertinacy and obstinacy An Heretique after the first and second admonition reject Tit. 3.10 But errours are with willingnesse to learn and to be informed as Austin Errare possum haereticus esse nolo Thus Ecclesiastical custome hath used the word Heresie though I cannot say the Scripture doth make that the adequate notion of the word Thus you see in these three wayes the minds of men may be corrupted and through every one of them more or lesse a man may be brought to the very brink of hell This is a truth little thought of yea some have thought Heresie to be innocency yea there are some who have maintained a man may be saved in any Religion or in any sect which if so then there could be no damnable Heresies Let us consider the Grounds of the Doctrine And First Therefore errours as well as ungodlinesse in life will damne Because they are a sinfull corruption of the best and noble faculty in a man The understanding is wounded with sinne as well as the will and affections insomuch that if it were possible for a man to have a right will and well ordered affections yet the sinfulnesse of his understanding is enough to damn him Grant then that ignorance errours or heresies are sinnes and you say enough to make any godly man afraid of them Therefore think of this you who make it no matter to hold this or that opinion in Religion If not to know the truth be a sinne know that is an infinite evil that will divide between God and thee and then it 's a sinne of the best and most noble part the understanding and reason whereby we are differenced from beasts A disease in the eye is a dangerous thing because so choice a part and if our eyes be so dear to us as that it 's a Proverb How dear should your minds and understandings be Nature hath provided a covering for them and hair to defend them and thus we should be carefull to keep our minds from all infections Secondly It must needs be damnable Because it 's opposite to saving grace and that is a true faith and knowledge of God in his Word Now this is a Rule We judge of the illnesse of every privation by the excellency of the habit it is contrary unto Now ignorance and errour they are contrary to a sound faith to a true knowledge and deprive the soul of those divine truths which are so instrumental to all holinesse Therefore to say to
rejected Tit. 3.10 Those then are nearest to perdition who after Admonition and Information do still continue refractory Lastly Of all those who defile the Temple and are marked out for perdition Antichrist it is and his party that are the great defilers of Gods Temple He is alled The man of Perdition 2 Thes 2.3 both actively and passively Actively because he is a means to destroy so many thousand souls and passively because he is appointed by God to remarkable destruction Take heed therefore thou art not found in the number of that Antichristian society which is marked out by God for destruction Come out of Babylon least you be partakers of her plague Rev. 18.4 If you ask why God should be thus provoked by corruptions in truth or worship the Reason is plain Because his Glory is more immediately interrested in these things Practical godlinesse and obedience are acceptable but his truth and his worship are that which immediately relate to him Herein his jealousie is said to be drawn out Vse of Admonition Pray and take heed you fall not from your stedfastnesse and be led aside with the errours of the wicked You see here is no dallyance no wantonnesse allowed in this matter God will destroy Art thou not afraid of Gods wrath of Gods vengeance If it were but the anger of a man or the persecution of a man it might be endured but God who is a consuming fire he will never bear this He will not endure this This Text would be like a flaming sword to keep men from false and erroneous waies if duly considered This is that which undoeth us people are either very sottish and stupid not regarding any thing of Religion at all or if they do they do not with that sobriety that humility that fear and trembling addresse themselves to know Gods truths as they ought to do There is a prophane proud unmortified frame of heart upon us and then then no wonder we defile his Temple Him shall God destroy This is the punishment threatned to the Temple-defilers and though but two words God destroy yet both have their weight There are many evils and calamities that yet are not a destruction that is the utmost of all paenall evils and then it 's a destruction from God whose wrath is like himself Incomprehensible It 's not man but God shall destroy Now what this destruction is we have told you not an annihilation of soul and body as Socinians would have it not a Physical destruction but moral viz. depriving the wicked man of all happinesse and comfort We have handled this relatively already as it is the Portion of the Temple-defilers I shall now consider it absolutely Eternal wrath and damnation is described here under the name of destruction which is the reward of every wicked impenitent man whether his sinnes be intellectual or bodily And the Doctrine I shall raise is That Eeternal Damnation is the Destruction of a man It 's the undoing of a man for ever This Doctrine or Truth hath a sting in it and because men are generally so bruitish and feared in their evil waies I do the rather pitch upon it because truths that are of a more sublime nature do not so easily penetrate Let us then improve this Eternal Damnation is the Destruction of a man It 's the eternal undoing of a man To clear this consider First That it is the Scriptures way to represent Hell and Damnation under all those evils that are most terrible to sense as on the contrary Heaven is described by such nams as do usually delight most men Hence it 's called a Kingdom and a Crown of Glory and a City paved with precious stones These are condescending expressions to us who are apt to apprehend nothing great and admirable but what is so to sense and were not our natural corruption so greatly prevailing over us such Scripture baites would soon take us As it is thus for Heaven so for the contrary Hell and eternal damnation is described by all such terrible Objects that the very naming of them should fill us with great horrour and do not think these are vain scare-crows no these expressions do no more represent to the full the torment and pain of the damned indeed then a painted fire doth a reall burning fire Whatsoever the Scripture saith of this destruction of wicked men doth not arise up in the least manner to the torment indeed Therefore that the meditation and preaching of this subject may be profitable set Faith on work believe there is such a state of destruction coming upon impenitent men that all the undoing we can have in this life is nothing to that eternal undoing Let Faith warm and heat thy heart with this and it will work wonderfully to thy reformation If to die be a thing of terrour what is eternal death What is eternal destruction If skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life how much rather for this eternal life Secondly This destruction consists in two things The good it 's privative of And The evil it 's positive of Schoolmen call it the punishment of losse and the punishment of sense The Scripture brings in God inflicting both in that terrible sentence at the Day of Judgment Depart from me into eternal fire Mat. 25.41 Depart from me there is the privation of all good Into eternal fire there is the position of all evil and misery Divines have disputed which is the greatest evil of these two but Chrysostome answers The privation of Gods face is farre worse then all the torments in Hell That Depart from me is more terrible then eternal fire Certainly seeing such a destruction is coming how much doth it concern all to watch and pray about it Descendamus in infernum viventes ne descendamus morientes said Bernard Let us descend into Hell while alive by meditation lest we really descend thither when we die But singularia sunt quae pungunt Let us therefore consider What losse it is First that this destruction doth consist in And First It 's the losse of God in whom only is all happinesse Depart from me At his right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 To be with God and to enjoy him is that happinesse which eye hath not seen nor can the heart of a man conceive For such as God himself is such is the enjoying of him He is the bonum in quae omnia bona bonum quo nihil melius cogitari potest The Jehova The beings of all created comforts that are scattered up and down and parcelled in creatures with their several imperfections are united and conjoyned in him in transcendent perfection only To represent what God is and the enjoyment of him would be to empty the Ocean with a shell Then do we best esteem of him when we judge him inestimable Now our destruction lyeth in being deprived of all that good which God would have been to us Oh
Discipline amongst themselves if any of their company did commit any grosse sinne they did cast him out of their company and provided a coffin for him intimating hereby they looked upon him as a dead man This heavenly spiritual life whereby a man doth all things by supernatural and holy principles to holy and godly ends deserveth the name of life Hence Ephes 4.18 it 's called The life of God either because of the conformity and likenesse of it to Gods life or because God is the Authour and worker of this life in his children Tell us not then that such a man liveth richly and happily having a great Estate a glorious Seat large Revenues he liveth that liveth this spiritual life and without it as the Apostle saith of those wanton widows They are dead while alive 1 Tim. 5.6 Oh now thou wouldst weep over thy husband thy child if they were corporally dead why doest thou not much more for their spiritual death We reade of the Aegyptians what an outcry they made for the death of one in every family But how many families are there that have none but dead persons in them Alas thou must needs be dead for thou seest not with thy eyes the beauty of spiritual things Thou hearest not with thy ears the lively word of God neither canst thou walk with thy feet in the way to Heaven Thirdly The godly man onely liveth Because he only hath the true blessednesse and comfort of this life He onely hath true joy and peace of conscience and this not onely the Scripture cals life viz. a prosperous happy estate as when they said Live ô King but the Heathens also Vivamus mî amica vixit dum vixit bene vita non est vivere sed valere There are some men who live this life and yet Job saith they long for death Their life is a burden and a torment to them when it 's day they wish it were night and when it 's night they wish it were day This God threatens as a curse to every one that shall not keep the Law Now the godly man he onely liveth so as to have true joy real happinesse because his sinnes are pardoned God is only his portion and delight At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore said Dâ—vid Psal 16.11 And although the godly may sometimes through their own sinne or for their exercise be deprived of this joyfull and blessed life yet that is for their good as Lazarus's death was that his Sisters faith and Gods glory may be the more magnified And besides as Christs body so their souls shall not alwayes be kept under the cords of this death This is therefore by accident The promise to godlinesse is joy and gladnesse of heart They are called upon to doe it they are commanded to it Lay this then downe for a sure Rule That thou doest not live thou hast not a prosperous joyfull and happy heart till thus sanctified Fourthly The godly only live or life is theirs Because they only know how to improve the dayes of their life for God They make the right uâ—e of their life and time here which is to provide for eternity to glorifie God and save their souls When Paul could say I have fought a good fight I have finished my course 2 Tim. 4 7. This was an argument he lived Our Saviour spake many Parables to shew how we should improve our Talents and be alwayes gaining till our Master come whereas if thou spendest thy time on thy losts and pleasures of sinne if thou art idle and negligent thou hast not lived Idlenesse is the burial of a man alive We do not account our time of sleep so properly part of our life because we do nothing then And this is a full proof that only godly men live because they only make honey while the Summer shines they onely husband their time while it's day calling upon God They onely accomplish that work and errand for which God sent them into the world Remember this he liveth that is active for God in his generation that moveth continually for the good of his soul Let it not be said of thee as Seneca of one who kept close in his house Hic situs est Bascia as if he were buried there Fifthly Life is onely the godly mans Because he hath an interest in eternal life John 5.24 He hath passed from death unto life He shall never die that liveth this life Now alas this temporary natural life doth not deserve the name of a life The very Heathens thought so and the Scripture cals it but a shadow not a substance What are a few evil dayes here and full of misery Shall we judge it a life No surely eternal life deserveth only that name where there is no fear of a change where no power or violence can overcome where mortality is swallowed up in immortality This is the life that the Scripture inviteth all unto Did Dives live though he boasted good things were stored up for him No This night thou fool thy soul shall be taken away Wilt thou call this a life to have a few pleasures of sinne for a season and then to go into eternal torments Do not the damned in hell wish they had never been born that this natural life had never been bestowed upon them Do not thou then matter this moment but set thy heart upon eternity Is not this life a vapour a bubble but the life to come that must make me happy When God promised several outward mercies to Abraham O saith Abraham that Ishmael might live before thee All these outward things are nothing if he live not this spiritual and eternal life Sixthly The godly man only liveth Because he taketh his life from God and referreth it to his glory Whether we live we live to the Lord said Paul Rom. 14.8 They receive their life thankfully from God and they live to his glory Now we say he hath a thing that knoweth how to make the right use of it and thus because the godly know how to receive their life from God and to return it again to him Therefore it is that they have life yea they have it because they can readily part with it at Gods Command I die daily said Paul 1 Cor. 15.31 And this is our Saviours sure Rule Luke 17.23 He that will lose his life shall save it and he that will save it shall lose it You see the way to have life is to part from it he hath it that hath it not as the Martyrs who as willingly laid down their lives as we our garments Seventhly The righteous only live Because they mortifie and subdue those sinnes that kill our bodies that take away our lives Wrath and quarrelling that depriveth a man of the peace of his life now he refraineth his tongue he is of a meek spirit whereas anger is like a fire burning in the bowels and so grief is a waster of the very bones Worldly sorrow worketh
death 2 Cor. 7. the godly therefore take heed of it as that which murders the body So inordinate and worldly cares we see how such do even devour men they have so many thorns in their flesh and what life do such live Impatience is a sudden Devil possessing a mans soul In patience possesse your souls Luke 21.19 A man doth not possesse himself he is not master over his own spirit that is passionate and furious So that men in such sins they live but as those that have been thrown to wilde beasts or serpents to be devoured by them Lastly The godly man only liveth Because even in the last breathings of this life his hopes and comforts do most remain The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 And this hope is called A lively hope yea the godly die not at all because all live to God their very dead bodies if you regard the Covenant of Grace and Gods power are alive Luke 20 38. At that moment when all a wicked mans hope perisheth his life faileth him his comforts his friends all forsake him then are the godly to lift up their heads for their redemption draweth nigh Though they were dead they shall live Dives had the good things of this life but doth he not lose all with his soul at his death Lazarus may say Soul take thy ease when dying which Dives could not But In the second place How can it be said that the wicked do not live when they are said to have their portion chiefly in this life And David by many Psalmes informeth us they do not onely vivere but valere not onely live but flourish Their eyes stick out with fatnesse yet they doe not live because 1. They are dead in their sins And hereby their faith their Religion their Christianity is all dead as you heard 2. They do not live Because they are in a condemned estate they are appointed to wrath As Adam is said to die in the day he did eat of the forbidden fruit and as the Scripture cals some the sonnes of death or dead men because appointed thereunto Oh this should enter deep into thy heart As long as thou livest in thy sinnes thou art a dead man a damned man as the malefactor condemned to die is a dead man though he live a day or two before execution 3. They doe not live Because all their time is lost so all the time of a mans unregâ—neracy is no life All those dayes were lost those duties lost all that time lost 4. They make every thing an instrument of death Their health their wealth their honours are all deadly herbs in the pot their tongue speaks the words of death their hands work the works of death Vse of Instruction to the Godly so live that your life may appear to be yours not the Devils not sinnes that thou doest not live to the world Let thy mouth be a Well of life Be thou a tree of life Prov. 11.20 as Solomon speaks of the righteous Do not thou only live but cause others to live Let thy life put life in others as one candle lightens another one candle kindleth another Vse 2. Of Terrour to wicked men You live not you rejoyce not you have no true mirth or gladnesse False joy is real misery A man that hath an estate of brasse for gold is not rich thou art a dead man as yet even condemned to Hell every day the sentence may be executed on thee and it 's plain thou art dead because thou feelest not thou complainest not under this heavy burden Or Death all things are yours We are upon the third part of the Apostles Enumeration and that is the different conditions which are in the world expressed under those two titles Life and death Not only life is yours but death also And in this later lieth the greater wonder For how Death which was inflicted at first as a curse and punishment for sinne and is the period of all outward comforts in this life should be for our advantage is hard to imagine and then that two contraries should meet in the same issue both life and death produce the like effects makes it still the greater paradox But the more unlikely and impossible it is to humane reason the easiâ—r it is to a divine faith In the Scripture Death admits of several senses 1 Sometimes it 's taken for the spiritual death of the soul in sinne Thus men are often said to be dead and well may this want of grace be called Death because such a man is like Lazarus buried and even putrified in the grave of sinne There is no sense no motion there is nothing but loathsomnesse they are putrifying carkasses and not living men though never so externally glorious in the world 2. There is an eternal Death often mentioned in the Scripture as the reward of every sinne who though they live yet it is a dying life 3. There is the natural Death viz. the dissolution of those two dear friends the soul and the body Lastly Death is put for any great extremity and misery in which sense God is said to raise the dead 2 Cor. 1. And the Israelites captivity is expressed under the similitude pf dead men dead bones and their restauration is a resurrection or living again Ezek 37.1 In these two later considerations we may take it as death comprehends all outward afflictions and miseries as also the separation of soul from body Observe That even Death which in it self is so terrible yet is for a godly mans advantage It 's his mercy it 's his gain as well as life is He may call it his death in a comfortable sense as well as he may call any mercy his To open this consider First That God created man at first after his own Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse and thereby he was immortal Not as God who is absolutely immortal and therefore said Only to have immortality 1 Tim. 6.16 Now as the Angels who are immortal from their intrinsecal constitution having no corruptible principles only God can annihilate them but he was made immortal conditionally had he continued in that state of integrity he had not been capable of death as appeareth by the commination In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Gen. 2.16 And the Apostle Rom. 5. concludeth That by sinne death reigned over the world where by death is not only meant actual death but potential also or a state of mortality Now the original of death or how it came into the world was not known by the Heathens They called it a tribute that all must pay to nature but why men should die and how it came about at first that they were ignorant of Secondly Vpon Adam 's fall In quo uno omnes peccarunt whose sinne was the sinne of all mankind as Rom 5. Death was inflicted as a punishment upon all So that if we consider death in the abstracted nature of it it is
a curse a punishment and so can be no more for good then hell and damnation can be Insomuch that to the wicked man death and hell are both alike they are of the same nature He can take no more comfort from one then from the other when death is approaching then also is hell and everlasting torments This is decreed immutably for every man once to die It was a vain boast of Paracelsus to think That if he had had the ordering of himself from his birth he could have preserved his life alwayes These are mad delusions Where sinne is there death followeth and it would be an excellent Antidote against sinne to consider what followeth it When thâ—u entertainest any sinne thou biddest death also come in at the door as pleasant and as delightfull as it is yet it brings death Thirdly Though death be in it self thus a curse and cometh as a punishment to wicked men yet unto the godly it is of a clean contrary nature The guilt and curse of it is taken away It 's no more the execution of that dreadfull sentence Thou shalt die but the chastisement of a loving Father because God loveth his children therefore they die death is made like Jacob's Chariot as the old man rejoyced when he saw that because it would carry him to see Joseph whom he so much longed for Thus doth death to the godly man It 's the glad messenger that comes to carry him to his Father to eternal glory It 's true the godly man dieth as well as the wicked he hath the same diseases the same paines but the Nature of them is farre different one is a curse to the wicked a beginning of hell and torments The other is a mercy to the godly and a passage to eternal glory Even as the afflictions which befall the godly they come from Gods love Whom I love I chasten Heb. 12. Thus it is also with death it self Lastly The ground why death is thus altered to the godly man why he should thus differ from the wicked men is wholly from Christ and his death as appeareth 1 Cor. 15.54 O death where is thy sting Death is swallowed up You would think the grave swalloweth up the godly man but his body swalloweth up the grave The sting of death is sinne if that be taken away the Snake cannot hurt now the guilt of sinne is removed by Christ Do not then think it impossible that ever such a terrible thing as death should be made lovely and the thoughts of it sweet and comfortable Yes by Christ all the terrour is done away As death had no power over him so neither shall it have over the godly These things premised Let us consider in how many particulars death is a godly mans it 's for his benefit and comfort And First In this respect Because by death he gaineth he is invested with greater glory joy and happinesse than this world can afford All the while a godly man liveth in this world he is a loser he is kept from his best treasures he is not enjoying his best blessings which will be vouchsafed to him This the Apostle you have admirably expressing Phil. 1.23 Paul is there in a great strait he knoweth not how to be content to live he can hardly satisfie himself to be kept from Christ so long To die is gain saith the Apostle and to depart and to be with Christ is farre better Paul is willing to live for the Churches good but yet that is not so good to him as to die Oh if a godly man could raise up his heart to such faith as Paul had he would even think this world an Aegypt this life a prison it 's to my losse to be here I might have better company better glory better joy every thing transcendently better Indeed we reade of Elisha and Jonah desiring death from impatiency because of the vexations upon them but that was sinfull But to long for and hasten the coming of Christ to be above the love of life and all outward comforts above the fear of death because of the heavenly affections the soul is transported with to Christ this is admirable Oh then that we were not such worms but like Larks could rise out of the earth and soar up into Heaven with holy joy and delight of spirit then death would be as a gain to us and life as a losse Yet this is not so to be understood as if death in it self were to be desired or to be prayed for for in it self it is a natural evil and so is only to be submitted to patiently not desired but the consequent of it viz. eternal glory this is to be prayed for as the Apostle doth fully expresse it 2 Cor. 5.4 We would gladly be cloathed with immortality yet to put off this mortal body is grievous as little children cry for their new garments and yet cry while they are putting them on Secondly Death is a godly mans Because it putteth a period to all those miseries and troubles he was here exercised with It 's the haven after all the tossings he had in this world If we had hope only in this life saith Paul 1 Cor. 15. we were of all men most miserable therefore death is that which makes them happy Alas were it not for death their reproaches would be eternal their persecutions would be everlasting Insomuch that death must be as welcome to them as the divisions of the waters of Jordan were to the Israelites to come out of Aegypt Mat. 24. Lift up your heâ—d for your redemption draweth nigh And Christs coming not only at the Day of Judgement but at the particular death of every godly man is the coming of the Bridegroom Then all tears are washed from their eyes Their happinesse doth not begin till death arrests them Now in this world for the most part the godly have the bitter things thereof Dives had the good things of this life when Lazarus had the bitter Besides the hatred and opposition in the world They groan under the guilt of sinne under the power of sinne Now death puts a stop not onely to worldly troubles but all spiritual diseases This flux of blood will run no more they shall have no more pride no more unbelief no more doubting about the pardon of sin in a moment their souls will be made like a paradise like the upper region no clouds no fears at all Thirdly Death is theirs Because it 's the finishing of all their worke and servâ—ce and by that they come for their wages How doth the labouring man long for the end of the day or the week that he may come to receive his wages Thus is death God putteth all his children on work he giveth them all talents and he takes them not away till they have done their work for which he appointed them Thus Moses Gods servant dieth Thus David served in his generation Thus Paul finished his course When they have done all their
Church Vse 2. Of Exhortation to you the people Hath the Ministry been usefull to bring you effectually to Christ himself This is that Paul desired You may hear much you may pray much you may be much affected with the matter preached and yet all this while not close with Christ to receive him as a Saviour and to obey him as a Lord. A woman may have many Letters and Tokens of love from him whom she loveth and be much affected to him yet not married to him nor enjoy him as her Husband And so thou maist have some affections and good desires but thou art not yet united to Christ The work of the Ministry is not done till we can leave you in the arms of Christ Till we have prepared the way for Christ to lodg in your fouls Who then is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed The former part of this Text hath been considered Paul's modesty and sincerity in gaining people to Christ and not to himself Now let 's consider in what order or rank of Causes the Apostle puts the Officers of the Church and that is in the Instrumental Causes Wherein you may Observe the Effect viz. Faith 2. The Manner of working it it is by Ministery They are not principal Agents They are Ministers by whom you believed The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deacons And this is sometimes used for a special Office in the Church for those who had the care of the poor Thus the Elder and the Deacon are sometimes used for the setled Officers in the Church but in this place and many others the word is used largely for any Ministry or service And so the Apostles and Elders and Pastours may be called Deacons in this large sense viz. Such who by their labours and pains serve the Church and its good Observe that this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as almost all the rest of the Greek words that denote the duty and quality of Church-Officers signifie no dignity or honour but care diligence and all solicitude Thus the most glorious creatures have Names signifying their Ministry and service The Hebrew word for the Sun comes from a root that signifieth to serve as also for an Angel to be sent by way of ministration So the simple word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesychius makes to signify to make haste to runne to the markes end also as a man by this much striving stirreth up dust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is dust like that of Virgil Pulverulenta fugâ Rutuli dant signa per agros So that the word in its native signification denoteth that earnest labour and striving which men that runne to some mark usually make by stirring up so much dust that doth even obnubilate the aire and from this it doth metaphorically signify that labour pains yea agony and striving which the Ministers of God ought to have in their work As Paul expressed it I have fought a good fight I have finished my course 2 Tim. 4.7 Thus the word is opened and it doth as we told you denote the quality and condition of the Officers of the Church in respect of their Auditours They are Ministers Instruments by which God works Faith in the Hearers Doct. That the Ministery in Gods Church is the Meanes and Instrumental Cause he hath appointed to work Faith and all other Graces in the Hearers This Point hath its good use for this will teach you what you should expect pray and hope for by the Ministry How doth it beget and increase Faith in thee How doth it wash thee and make thee clean But let us be more particular And 1. We shall shew you how it 's not an Instrumental Cause And 2 How it is Only take Rom. 10.14 for an eminent place to confirm this Truth where observe the excellent Gradation Paul makes None can call upon God or pray without Faith and none can believe unless they hear and none can hear unless they have a Preacher and none can be a preacher unless he be sent See what a dependence here is and how strong a place it is to prove the necessity of the Ministry This premised we go to the method proposed First When we say it 's the instituted meanes or Instrumental Cause it 's not to be understood as if the Ministry or Peaching of the Word by any inward natural power of it self can work grace in the hearts of the Hearers no Experience witnesseth that after ten thousand Sermons men remain as ignorant and as bruitish as before The words reach only to the ear but they make no forcible impression upon the soul So then the Ministry doth not beget grace as the fire burneth or the hatchet cutteth which are Instruments that work by their own inward dispotion and power to pruduce their effects This is good to observe that so still our hearts and prayers may be up to God who works in and by the Ministry Secondly Because it 's not a natural Cause therefore it doth not also work necessarily these Divine Effects in every subject but where and when God is pleased to apply it The Sunne shineth every where upon one thing as well as another The fire burneth alwaies every where in one place as well as another But the Ministry doth not so that is successfull in one place and not in another That works upon one Congregation and not upon another And herein Gods wisdom makes a wonderfull difference The most unlikely the most indisposed many times find the Ministry inlivening and quickning of them when others are blinded and hardned So that though we should have the Ministry of Angels and of the most eminent men that ever lived still we must take heed that by our unthanfulness negligence prophaneness we do not provoke God to withdraw his power and presence in the Ministry For if it be so as it is to be feared it is so to too many people then the Ministry is but a shadow or if a body a body without a soul It 's but a dead letter Yea not only the Law but the Gospel and all preaching is but the ministration of death and condemnation when without Gods Spirit and power As Elias servant though he had his Masters staff yet that could do no good to raise the dead Child till Eliah came himself Oh then say Lord be thou in their Sermons in their Ministry In the next place let us shew how it 's a Cause or Instituted Meanes And that is thus First God hath appointed the constant and diligent use of this in the Church and the peoples constant and diligent attending on it 2 Tim. 4.2 Preach the word in season and out of season That signifieth the diligent dispensing of the Word And then the people they are commanded to be swift to hear James 1.19 And As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word 1 Pet. 2 2. So that God hath indispensably commanded all people of what degrees
no increase Oh! consider thy account is drawing on Thy decay and the Day of Judgment is approaching God will not let his Word fall to the ground It will be for life or for death Sigh then and strike upon the breast and thigh Cry out Oh! my leanness my leanness My barrenness my barrenness Help Lord for I am perishing Pray to God that the Blessing upon man kind to Increase and multiply may be fulfilled on every Sermon for thy good But God gave the increase We have out of the former part handled the two-fold ministerial Imployment of Church-Officers to Plant and Water We continue a further amplification of the peculiar Operation attributed unto God in all this with that opposite distinction But God gave the increase The Metaphor as you have heard is taken from natural things where though the industry and skill of the Gardener and Husbandman is required yet God gives all the Increase As is more to be shewed Now this followeth à minori ad majus If in natural things the Husbandman cannot make an Apple or Cherry or the least grain of Corn much less in spiritual things can he make the nature of Grace and goodness He cannot work the heart to believe though he make a sound in the ear Yea it 's good to observe that God in this spiritual industry doth more give the Increase then in natural For in all the fruit and profit of natural things God doth not exclude nature from some kind of co-efficiency as the earth hath some inward power to help to the producing of the fruit thereof But in this spiritual increase God doth wholly exclude all natural ability Grace doth not fructify by the Ministry as Herbs and Corn do in the ground for the ground is the Mother and hath a kind of vivifical influence into them But here God works all and solely So that neither the Ministry without or the natural power and freewill of man within hath any joynt efficacy with God And although the Apostle saith We are workers together with God 2 Cor. 6.1 that is not to be understood of the immediate efficiency of grace for that cometh from him only as the Beames of light comes immediately from the Sunne But in respect of the outward Ministry they make the external application of the remedy but the power of grace giveth the quickning Even as men may say on the contrary by sinne Original corruption that plants sinne temptations they water it and the Devil he giveth the increase So then it 's not the learning the eloquence the efficacy of the Ministers words but Gods secret and invisible power which doth accompany it that makes a glorious change From whence observe what was formerly taken notice off but further to be enlarged That it is God only who makes the Ministry and all Spiritual Meanes of Grace successfull and prosperous If God cloathe the grass of the field and make the Lillies to grow how much more doth he cause the Ministry to fructify and bear fruit At the first creation God gave the word of Command which worketh to this very day Increase and multiply So it is here God doth all from the beginning to the end of Grace If we cannot turn the colour of an hair much less the torrent and custom of lives If this had been in the Prophets power Jeremy Isay and others they had not made such complaint for their barren Ministry as they did To clear this Consider Wherein this work of God to give Increase doth consist And First In that spiritual Revelation and Illumination or opening of the eyes whereby the mind understands and perceiveth the things of God The word is compared to light only God by this works above all light For the Sunne though it gives light yet it doth not give a blind man eyes He that cannot see the Sunne the Sunne though never so visible will not give him eyes But now God by the Word doth not only propound light but gives inward light That the soul cryeth out with more joy then that blind man cured by Christ For now it knoweth what it did not know Now he seeth terrible objects before his eyes as Balaam at last did If he had gone further he had perished in the pit irrecoverably A greater work then it is and mighty from God the Father of Spirits when a man can say O Lord I was as blind as senseless as obstinate as any Yet Oh! the glorious light of the Gospel that hath shined in my dark heart This then is a part of Divine Increase when God maketh the morning Starre to rise in thy soul Thou that once didst not perceive thy own misery or Gods mercy Thou didst not either know thy Disease or the Remedy Hast now found God saying Let there be light upon the dark confusion of thy soul Should thou hear a thousand and thousand of powerfull Sermons yet thou perceivest knowest and understandest nothing at all experimentally till God give this seeing eve Therefore you must know the Scripture speaks a strange Paradox to humane reason Having eyes they see not ears they hear not hearts they perceive not That which the Scripture attributes to dumb Idols it applieth to every natural man Hath God given thee a spiritual sight Art thou not rather like the Owle that seeth in the night but not in the day Thou hast understanding in worldly earthly things Thou canst tell how to make thy wealth and earthly advantages to good but thou hast no knowledge in spiritual things Who would think it possible under so many Instructions Informations Convictions that thou shouldst be so blind so sottish but God hath not given any Increase to thee Oh! though God give thee outward increase he maketh the Lands and the Cattell and the Corn to yeeld increase but if not the Ministry to be likewise so to thee though thou blessest thy self yet God curseth thee Secondly Gods giving increase lyeth in removing the negative incapacity and the positive contrariety in all mens heart to the Word preached As the Husbandman he first prepareth the ground by stocking up all those Bryers and thornes and removing all the stones that lie in the way whâ—ch would hinder the Corns growth So it is here God takes away all that cursed and serpentine nature which is in thee Thou art naturally a Beast a Devil and till God change thy nature thou shewest thy self no better to the Meanes of Grace Look upon the Prophets and Apostles in their Ministry Were men any better then mad Dogs and Lyons against them till God changed them The Prophets did plough and sow upon rocks till God made their Hearers the good ground The Ministers of God cannot do otherwise All mens hearts are rocks You may sooner get water out of hard flints then any godly sorrow or compunction out of their hearts No wonder then if God only give the increase because he only can alter the nature of mens hearts He maketh the stony
heart melting and bleeding He makes the rough and violent tame and mild Oh then in all our Preaching and soul-Administrations look up higher still cast your eyes upon God! Man doth not live by natural bread but by the Word of Gods mouth So neither by the Spiritual Bread O Lord make our hearts other hearts our affections other affections Thirdly God giveth the increase when he makes the Word preached to take root and setling in mens hearts Our Saviour purposely takes notice of this in his Parable of the Sower that went out to sow and the miscarriage of the most hopefull crop was because it had no rooting Mat. 13. While the Word is in the ear or floating only in the affections it 's like seed on the grounds Surface there will be no good of it till it take inward rooting This is called dwelling in a man Let the Word dwell in your hearts Col. 3.16 Let not our Sermons be as you your selves are pilgrims and strangers God many times threatneth the people of Israel to root them out of the Land as men do Trees and Plants which is an irrecoverable destruction when the root is pulled up there is no hope And one main cause was because the Word of God did not take any deep rooting in them Think it not then enough to hear it no nor to write it or repeat it or conferre of it but let it be rooted in thy vital parts If the ground you till and sow should yeild no more increase then thy heart doth to God thou wouldst give over thy labour as a vain thing And one main reason of this barrenness is those things go not home to your hearts they reach not to the inward parts Fourthly God giveth increase when he makes this rooted Word to grow For as there is in Corn first the blade and then the eare it comes to perfection by degrees So it is here the Word carrieth a man up by degrees towards Heaven he is first a dwarf then a gyant first a babe then a man first carnal then spiritual Oh! it 's much that thy profiting should no more appear But we see God even when he hath planted a Vinyeard hedged it in made the Clouds to drop on it yet it may bring forth wild grapes for grapes Isa 5.4 Oh! how angry is God with our Assemblies that doth not give this increase The Church sadly complained Why Gods angâ—r did smoak against the Sheep of his Pasture because of temporal dâ—solation Psal 74.1 But this is more terrible Now this growth that God giveâ—h it may be either Intensive or Extensive Intensive so God giveth increase when those graces that are already planted in the soul are made more lively and fervent This may be called a particular personal Increase Men are not only to enquire how God giveth increase in the general but how in particular to their souls Art thou made more believing more holy more humble then before The Children of God do not with that fear and trembling consider Whether God gives the Ministry such increase to their particular or no. Oh it 's a sad thing to see the decayes and abatements that are even of godly mens graces When God is the same God the Word is the same Word there is as much cause to grow as ever Consider lest thou live in such sinnes that make God cause the Ministry to be barren to thee Or else it may grow extensively and so God giveth increase when the Word spreads it self further to moe persons or Nations Those that do not mind or regard heavenly things do now lay them deeply to heart and the people that sate in darknesse have now light shining on them Thus our Saviour compared the Gospel to a grain of mustard-seed Mat. 13.13 the least of all seeds which yet in time grow very great and Gods power and goodnesse hath been very remarkable herein making the Word to thrive and prosper in those parts and amongst that people where the earthly or material sword could make no entrance In these respects God giveth the increase The work may be of men but the successe is of God Now the Grounds Why God onely giveth increase may be First Because even in natural blessings and outward mercies successe is attributed to God not to men much more in spirituals Thus the Psalmist attributes to God That the ridges are full of corn that cattel are fruitfull and do not miscarry God he keeps the key of Heaven and gives earthly blessings as he pleaseth Thus the blessing of the Lord that makes rich Prov. 10.22 And the battel is not many times to the strong or the race to swift or wealth to the wise Eccl. 12.9 but all is as God orders it If then these ordinary mercies which are wholy natural are only by God he gives life he gives wealth he gives strength how much more doth this hold in supernaturals Secondly God only can give increase Because he onely hath the supream power and dominion over mens hearts We are teachers to the ear God is a teacher of the heart God is the onely searcher of the heart he knoweth the thoughts and inward affections of men and so God only maketh and fashioneth the hearts of men Let us then look up with more earnest prayer to God that his Spirit would move upon these waters Not only the Law but the Gospel is but the letter meerly and the administration of death if the Spirit of God doth not enliven it Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died saith she to Christ So Lord if thou art in the Sermon thy power and thy presence then it had not so often miscarried Object But you may say If God give the increase Why then doth not the Word bear fruit in every place Are any hearts too strong for the Lord Cannot he turn a wildernesse into a Paradise Hath not he the key to open the hearts of men and none can shut them Answ I answer A people by their sinnes may provoke God to depart from his Ordinances The Temple in Jerusalem was dedicated unto God and he made a gracious promise to be there present yet the Jews did so long rebel against him that he wholly left the Temple and would no more answer them by Vrim oâ— Thummim Lay then the blame where it is say not If we had lived in the Apostles dayes had seen their miracles certainly we should have increased in all grace but we have not such preaching as then was we have not such miracles we have not Apostles Oh it was not those great things that wrought grace but God by them and the same God can do it by weak and unlikely means Conclude then If the Word then be not a Word of life a soul-saving Word to thee t is for some sinne or other upon thee Thou hast grieved the Spirit of God God is angry with thee and therefore thou art like the mountains of Gilboa upon
they shall have more gracious strength that they shall grow up into further Communion with Christ that their hearts and graces shall be better Oh! How heartily doth the soul pray for these things and grieve when it finds a defect Now God hath promised this to those that abour in his work Lastly They are sure to have Gods Protection and Presence to support them in all their labour The Apostle cals it labour and that which is accompanied with painfulnese And indeed the whole work of grace is very troublesome to flesh and blood their Combates and Conflicts within and then very troublesome to man without in the world which makes the world hate and oppose them Now then the work of God being thus opposed within and without did not God protect did not he draw nigh with his support and deliver or strengthen none were able to abide Thus you see a three-fold encouragement the godly have to labour for the Lord even in this life Oh! Why then should any be so diffident as to think they shall lose by God that godliness will be an hinderance to them Do but be sure that thy work is Gods work and thou doest it in Gods manner and never fear the issue of things God is not unrighteous saith the Apostle to forget your sufferings Heb. 6.10 You read that God put up all Davids teares into his bottle As Christ would not have the least fragment of bread lost so God will not let thee lose one mite for him Thou shalt never say God hath hindered thee When Abraham for Gods glory would take none of the King of Sodoms wealth God presently said to him I am thy exceeding great reward Gen. 15. In the next place consider What is the eternal Reward and how eye hath not seen nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive If the Queen of Sheba's spirit fainted within her to see all the glory of Solomon what then would it do to behold all the glory of God laid up for those that love him This is like Ezekiel's waters that rise up higher and higher God by reason of the sovereignty he hath over us and because we are his creatures having all from him might have commanded all our work and labour and given us nothing when we had done yea he might have annhilated us immediately into our first nothing for we were his servants more then any can be servants to men And our Saviour saith What Master though his Servant hath been at work will bid him sit down presently and not rather command him to wait on him Doth he thank that servant after he hath done what is commanded Luk. 17.9 Now then if God who might have given us no reward shall yet out of his bounty give us a recompence and that not only in this life but so glorious an one in the life to come Here the soul may be amazed and cry out It 's streightned It 's streightned within it self not able to speak of the bounless love of God! For consisider how great a Reward it is First It is God himself communicating his goodness and comfort to him that hath done his work Then shall we be with the Lord for ever This is called seeing of God and seeing him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 No longer as in a glass It 's disputed Whether formal Happiness consists in the acts of the understanding as knowing of God or in the acts of the will loving of him and embracing of him But we conclude in both So that this reward being God himself as he told Abraham it is infinite as he is and as God himself is inestimable Et tunc dignè eum aestimans quando inaestimabilem dicimus quicquid de Deo dici potest eo ipso est indignum quia dici potest Thus it is of the reward The great mercy covenanted in the Promise is That God will be our God and this is compleated in Heaven Secondly This reward lieth in the full glorification of the soul in all the faculties thereof and body in all the parts thereof The spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12. There needs no more grace no more holiness There is no more sin or remorse about it It 's like the higher Region where no troublesome meteor's are Oh! What a bottomless subject is this That thy understanding should have no more darkness in it Thy will no more disobedience in it Thy heart no more dulness or sluggishness in it Oh! you would think we were speaking of some Platonical Idea or metaphysical abstraction and not of a reallity indeed But yet the Scripture assures the godly of this Reward And then for the body it 's made a glorious body all vileness and loathsomeness is removed It 's an immortal body No more death paines or any distempers This Honour will God put upon those that labour for him Thirdly The Eternity of this happiness that is astonishing also We shall be with the Lord for ever 1 Thes 4.17 Come ye blessed inherit everlasting glory Oh! Who would think much of the present service or labour for God when it will bring an eternal weight of Glory Think what eternity is if we poor mortals that measure all things by time can tell how to think about it Fourthly The fulness of this happiness an aggregation of all things that may make happy either within or without Therefore in the Scripture it 's represented by all those things that are glorious in the world a Kingdom a Crown a great Feast Jerusalem from above is paved with all precious stones This is only to lift up our hearts and to say of all earthly glory Alas what is this to heavenly If the taste of this if drops be so much what then is the Ocean Fifthly Consider the vast disproportion of this to those works thou dost for God What equality is there between God and all those glorious Priviledges and those duties thou doest How can any plead merit or worth Where can there be any trusting in our selves Oh! you that think to be saved for your Prayers Alms-deeds you know not what a great and glorious thing salvation is If a man should have all the world given him for lifting up a straw it 's no such disproportion as here is For 1. The one is infinite and thou art a finite limited creature The Angels are not found pure in his sight and what hope hast thou 2. What work thou doest for God God he first works it in thee so that thou labourest for him of his own and yet he rewards it 3. What thou doest for him it 's accompanied with much evil and many imperfections Bona meaneque mea sunt neque purè bona sunt There is four leaven still abiding in thee 4. Thou hast formerly been a servant to Satan done his work so that God might damn thee upon the old score though thou wert now able to do all things perfectly 5. Whatsoever thou hast
onely poison Rom. 8. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God Oh dismall and sad condition Howsoever thou mayest please thy self and others please thee yet God is not pleased with thee In the third place let us take notice What are those weak and rotten foundations that many men build upon in regard of their practice And First A conformity to the life of others they do as most do they shall speed as well as they what would ye have them to be singular to be different from others This is a most rotten foundation which many support themselves with Now the Scripture is expresse Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil Exod. 23.2 Doest thou not know that the most are damned And wilt thou do as the most Take Lot for an example he was but one man and his righteous soul was so farre from conforming to them that it was tormented with seeing and hearing their unrighteous deeds 2 Pet. 2.8 Our Saviour tels his Disciples They must do some singular thing to the world Mat. 6.47 Gratias ago Deo quod dignus sum quod mundus oderit as Hierom said I thank God that I am worthy to be hated by the world Secondly Others build upon a partial practice of good things The hypocritical Jews they rested upon their Temple their Sacrifices their outward worship of God in the mean while their hands were full of bloud of unrighteousnesse and injustice So then whosoever builds his salvation upon his parts his duties his joyes his enlargements and doth not perform all the acts of righteousnesse truth and equity to men this mans foundation is self Others they build upon their moral righteousnesse and just conversation to men they lie not they defraud not none can accuse them of dishonest dealing but then for the religious duties of prayer humiliation and different walking to the world there they exceedingly fail likewise These build on a rotten foundation Thirdly Anothrr rotten foundation is The meer work done They consider no more than the external act of Religion of Justice of Charity and so they think they have obeyed the Commandment and kept the duty if they have done this This was the Pharisees foundation But what woes doth Christ pronounce against them He bids them look inward cleanse the heart the fountain And certainly God being a Spirit he will have all things done spiritually to him This opus operatum is the foundation of most mens Religion not attending to the manner whereas it is a known saying God loveth Adverbs better than Nouns not what but how is this and this done Fourthly Another rotten foundation is The goodnesse yea supposed perfection of the work they do Especially if men be poisoned with Popish Doctrines about the ability to keep all the Commandments of God and that what they do is meritorious of salvation Some Popish Interpreters do greedily catch at that expression 2 Tim. 6.19 where rich men are exhorted to works of liberality that thereby they may lay up in store for themselves a good foundation But by this good foundation is meant a certain and sure happiness which is not merited by such actions but graciously promised as a reward This is a most presumptuous and arrogant foundation thus to build upon thy own self and with the Pharisee to trust in thy own righteousness How different was Paul from this he laid another foundation when he desired to be found not in his own righteousness but in that of Christs Phil. 3.18 Now all this ariseth from a great ignorance of that total and universal pollution of man by nature Vse of Admonition to be awakened in this point What is the foundation that you have laid for a godly life How are all your duties and actions built Are they founded upon Christ for strength upon Scripture for direction upon justification for acceptance upon a sanctified nature for the root of all Then blessed and thrice blessed art thou blessed now in this life but more at thy death and the day of Judgment when the condition of wicked men will be most cursed and miserable But to whom hath the Lord revealed this Whose ear doth God open to understand this Oh what a confusion will it be to see all thy Religion all thy morality thrown into hell for want of a sure foundation It 's a matter of heavenly skill and wisdom so to do thy duties as they shall eternally live with thee What is a tree without a root in the midst of a storm What is a ship without an anchor The same art thou who hast no sound bottom to stand upon Think then whether this Sermon may not make thee to begin all anew Thou must pull down all thy old building and raise up a new one As a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon I have deferred the handling of the foundation of all our comfort and salvation till we arrive at the next verse and so shall take up those Particulars that are observable in the text not hitherto handled as the Adjunct or Quality Paul attributes to himself in this Office As a wise master builder Here it may seem vain-glory in Paul to write after this manner Doth not this expression savour of pride and self-conceit rather then of the humility and meekness of Christs Spirit Is it not Solomons Rule Let another mans mouth praise thee not thy own No We may not charge Paul with any folly or vaâ—ity in this thing especially when we shall consider the Reason moving him thereunto From whence Observe That it 's not vanity but a duty in some cases for the Ministers of the Gospel to magnify and set up their Work and Office It 's not vain-glory or self conceit but sometimes a necessary duty to justifie themselves and their Office otherwise the dishonour would much redound to God and danger be conveyed to mens souls To clear this though I intend to be brief in it because as Tully said of Hortensius that eloquent Authour He praised eloquence to the Heavens that he himself might be carried up with it So people are apt to think whatsoever the Ministers of the Gospel say in this case they do it for their own ends I shall only instance in what cases they may do it and what manner for he that doth it had need be an Argus full of the eyes of wisdom and prudence the matter is so nice and obnoxious to ill interpretation As First Then they may exalt their Office and work when false and malicious slanders and calumnies are raised against them by the ingratitude of the world When they devise all manner of evil and lay it to their charge here they are bound to preserve their good name and declare the good things they have done and of what necessary use their Office is Habent mores suas odores colores odores in famâ colores conscientiâ And therefore it 's not enough that our
consciences be not black or pale through guilt but that we be the sweet savour of Christ as Paul speakes it 2 Corinth 2.15 Now this cannot be unlesse they discover the falsenesse and weaknesse of any unjust aspersions Thus Christ himself when the Jewes talked of stoning him For which of my good works do you stone me John 10 32. And so the Ministers of God may plead Why are you become enemies and adversaries Is it because we convince of sinne we inform of duty we labour the eternal salvation of mens souls In such a case as this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no sinne though Aristotle make the affected vain glorious discourse of a mans self his fault Secondly When there arise false Teachers that under specious and fair words would draw away their people to errours and falsehoods it is then lawfull to justifie themselves This you shall observe very frequently in Paul The ground of saying this in this Text was that the people might not regard other foundations then he had laid And so in another place especially 2 Corinth 11.22 23. he doth at large reckon up both his excellencies and also his indefatigable sufferings for the Gospel sake and is very copious in it yet all this was no vain glory Why because it was in opposition to false Teachers who laboured to bring him into disesteem who endeavoured to represent Paul contemptible And this makes him exalt himself Thirdly When their is an undermining or open endeavouring to overthrow the very Office of the Ministry to make it common Herein also we see how men farre from any pride and wild fire have been zealously inflamed Numb 16.3 There some took upon them to invade the Priests Office Ye take too much upon you all the Congregation is holy as well as you Wherefore lift you up your selves above the people of God How did this fact provoke Moses that was the meekest man upon the earth and farre from self-seeking and revenge If these men die a common death the Lord hath not sent me And immediately the earth swallowed them up all and all that appertained to them Those that did sinfully strive to be as high as others God throweth them lower then others They lifted up themselves to Heaven and he casteth them lower then the earth Hence the Apostle Let a man account of us as the Ministers and Stewards of God 1 Cor. 4.1 Let a man he speaketh indefinitely though never so great a man so learned a man so gifted or gracious a man Thus you see there is a necessary cause of vindication when the Office it self is shaken Fourthly In these two general Cases which may comprehend all the rest they may set up their work and Ministry 1. When the glory of God is apparently concerned in their sufferings and debasement when it is plain that reproach and dishonour will redound upon God himself then it 's no modesty or humility to hold their tongue And the Reason is they are Embassadours and Messengers sent by God Now whatsoever reproach and scorn is cast upon them redounds to him that sent them And 2. When there is an evident utility and profit for the people Paul in many of his Epistles speaks so much about himself not that he regarded applause or had any carnal designes no he could appeal to God and had the testimony of his Conscience but it was for the good of Believers that they might not be seduced or led aside in damnable waies So that it is for your good and not ours if these things be spoken off But now here are Cautions in such self-justification First We must attribute nothing to our selves as of our selves Paul in this very Text speaks of the grace of God He is but the Trumpet that sounds not of it self but from the mouth that breatheth in it He is but the Pen of the Writer And therefore see how carefull he is in another place lest any man should think of him above what he ought to think 2 Cor. 12.6 Oh this is an admirable convincing way When what we say is still with the acknowledgement of grace and we are afraid men should look to our parts to our abilities more then to Christ himself Secondly It 's so to be done that it may plainly be seen we seek not any earthly greatness or glory of our own but only that Christ and his own way may be acknowledged We see Christ himself though he thought it no robbery to be equall with God yet looking upon himself as sent by the Father he saith I seek not my own glory Joh. 8.15 but the glory of my Father that sent me Oh admirable pattern for us to follow And when Paul had spoken of this authority and power he had and pressed them so to walk as that he might not come with a rod and was afraid he should come to them otherwise then they desired addeth Though we be accounted as Reprobates Cor. 1.2 Undervalue and despise us as you please yet if you be holy and keep in the truth I shall rejoyce in my debasements Lastly It must be necessarily not voluntarily even compelled to it Thus Paul when he had exalted his sufferings I speak as a fool you have complled me 2 Cor. 12.11 Could he have done his duty without it he would Especially you have a notable instance of Paul's modesty 2 Cor. 12. where being to relate some extraordinary Visions and Revelations see with what humility he doth it you cannot tell whether it was Paul or no I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago He had kept it silent all that while Certainly by this we see that whosoever God giveth extraordinary dispensations he fils the persons with much modesty They do not boast of them They do not despise others And thus John the Evangelist whereas the other when they speak of the Disciple beloved by Christ named him John himself doth not because he was the man Vse of Instrustion to people To take heed how the Devil or his Instruments ever seduce you so as to contemn or withdraw from the faithfull and powerfull Ministry of the Word No marvell the Devil assaults it because it is the only Engine to batter down his Kingdom I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning said Christ when he sent his Disciples to preach Luk 10.18 Certainly thou hast never got good by it or hast forgot it in that thou doest reject it Paul useth this Argument to the Corinthians that they should remember the proof of Christ speaking in him to themwards was not weak but mighty 2 Cor. 13.3 And let not this happily take thee off Thou hearest no more then thou knowest already I would come if every day I might have new things new questions and new opinions For what is this but to be weary of the old Bible and to desire a new To write the same things saith Paul to you it 's safe Phil. 3 1. It 's a safe and sound way to hear the
more A poor man thinketh a little summe of money great treasures For the day shall declare it c. This Text you heard containeth the proportionable Effects or successe which builders wise or foolish have in Gods house And the Apostle first layeth down a general Proposition Every mans work shall be made manifest which hath already been dispatched We therefore now proceed and for this manifestation the Apostle informeth us of the time first and then the manner how The time first in these words For the day shall declare it and of this at this present All the doubt is What the Apostle doth mean by the Day There are some understand it of the Day of death when every man receiveth his particular judgement he shall then know whether his building will abide or no. Others understand it of the Day of Judgement which is called the day of the Lord and that day by an emphasis Bellarmine indeed is positive in this because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used with an Article which signifieth the Day of Judgment but that is false For the time of the Gospel is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.12 The night is past the day is at hand c. So that we cannot close with this interpretation because the Apostle carrieth it all the way for this life while we are in this world as will be shewed when we come to explain what is meant by the fire We take therefore Day for no more than Time such a day hath God in his wisdome appointed for the blowing away all this chaff As we see a covering of thatch doth not ordinarily hold long but fire or winde ariseth and cosumeth all Thus the Septuagint sometimes render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time So that the meaning is Howsoever these errours and false Doctrines may continue yet time at last will discover the vanity and weaknesse of them The Grecian said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time was the Touchstone the trial of all things And the Latines say Veritas est temporis filia Truth is the daughter of Time The day will declare it that is time will make them manifest onely the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Day doth denote the appointed and set time which God hath for the taking of all such disguises whereas it is the clean contrary with truth The longer that lasts the more it is believed the sufficiency and evidence of it is the more entertained Now although we thus understand it of time in this world yet it cannot be denied but at the Day of Judgement there will be a full discovery of all the works and Doctrines of men Observe That God hath his time when he will discover the errours and falshoods of mens Doctrines A day shall declare it You have a parallel expression Their folly shall be made manifest and they shall proceed no further 2 Tim 3.9 he compareth false teachers to Jannes and Jambres as they did miracles like Moses for a while but at last their folly and sorcery were discovered So it 's here God will put a stop to the torrent of errours he will shew a great difference between his truth and mens inventions the one shall be received and the other rejected This Gangrene that spiritual Physician can stop from further contagion God that could stop the infection of the plague on a sudden that the arrow should kill no more at mid-day hath done this also wonderfully in his Church The day did declare Arianism Pelagianism Nestorianism and the like To enlarge this Doctrine consider these things First In that the Scripture cals the time of manifestation a Day wherein is light and the Sunne beams it doth excellently imply That all the while there are corruptions in Doctrine and Worship that time is a time of darknesse Let men never so much rejoyce in them and count them happy times yet the Scripture cals them dark times So that to take away the truths of God the pure worship of God is indeed Solem è mundo tollere to take the Sunne out of the firmament All the while the Church of the Jews was without the Law and the Prophet without true teaching of the Word of God they were in a worse condition than the Egyptians in their Egyptian darknesse for that hindred them onely in their bodily motions and outward accommodations but this tends to the destruction and damnation of soul and body The true Ministers of Gods word are compared to light and to salt Matth. 5 13. Nihil Sole sale utilius both are necessary and usefull They are called the Starres and it must needs be a dark night when no starres shine Since the Apostles times the Church of God hath many times come under such dark times that it hath been like the old Chaos when darknesse covered the deep Take we heed then of calling darknesse light there is a woe to those that do so Isa 5.20 as some do the times of Reformation the times of Deformation If these corrupt Doctrines which come from the prince of darknesse thou callest light as coming from the Father of lights Thou intitlest God to the Devils work and that is no mean â—in This should teach the godly what to think under the overflowing of errours to account them dark and sad times Secondly There are no foolish builders that thus deform Gods Temple but they are by Gods permission in his wrath and anger because men have abused his truth and waxed wanton under it therefore hath he sent the spirit of delusion and errours amongst men 2 Thess 2.10 For this you must know though God be not the Authour of any evil and it were blasphemy to ascribe sinne to him as the cause of it yet as a just Judge he doth not onely suffer but also order that heresies and corruptions shall be in the Church They are of the Lord by permission and ordination though not efficiency and approbation Thus in Deut. 13.3 If there arise a false Prophet I the Lord do it to try you And in Ahabs time you may reade of many lying spirits in the false Prophets yet they could not goe to delude such or such till God gave them leave 2 Chron. 18.21 Thus 1 Cor. 11. There must be heresies Why must there be so God to punish mens corruptions their pride their ignorance their wilfull abuse of his knowledge will suffer such things to be Though he hath a gracious end That the approved may be made manifest That as all the persecutions which have been in the Church were from God as a just Judge to exercise the patience of it So all the heresies and errours which have been were to exercise the wisdome and true faith of the Church So that howsoever times of overflowing of errours be dark and uncomfortable times yet to consider the cause is farre more uncomfortable for these came from mens corruptions and Satans instigations as also from a provoked God in Heaven who punisheth our former
with what indignation and anger should a wicked man look upon his sins You have deprived me of God and do you ask what I aile My lusts my wickednesse have taken God from me how can I then but rore out Would these be as good as a God to me This should make thee cast off all sinne as Paul did the Viper saying Wilt thou be as good as great as all-sufficient to me as God would be if I do serve him Secondly This privative destruction lyeth in the want of all comfort and peace and joy that might be in the soul Take away the Sunne and there remaineth nothing but horrible darknesse take God away and the soul is full of all darknesse and horrour Hence in Hell are said to be gnawing wormes and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Dives desired but a drop of water to coole his tongue and but the top of his tongue yet could not obtain it not a drop and for the top of the tongue This was to shew that there could not be the least comfort the least ease the least quietnesse of conscience and indeed this is the great part of Hell Some have thought Hell to be nothing but the torments and horrour of conscience but the Scripture cannot so be put off Yet certainly this is the Hell of Hell the greatest part of destruction that the guilt of a mans sinnes shall perpetually gnaw and teare his conscience which will then be awakened and will fall like so much scalding Lead into the eye of a man And if a good conscience be a continual Feast that tormenting disquieted conscience in Hell will be a continual unspeakable evil Oh we see but what the very drops of this torment hath wrought upon men Cain went up and down trembling all the pleasures all the delights and travils he took could not drive out that trembling Judas with what horrour doth he cry out He cannot beare his burden And therefore the damned brought in crying to the mountains to cover them and the hils to hide them Rev. 6.16 Oh is this nothing to you or a light matter who sit and hear these things Those grosse and foul sinnes which now make no torment nor gripings in thy conscience thou canst runne into all beastly excesse and thou findest no gnawing worms upon thee Oh consider and believe it the time is coming when conscience will be awakened and not the least corner of thy soul will be freed from torments and howlings Go on then and eat and drink and care for none of these things but remember this destruction will fall upon thee whether thou wilt or no. Oh that men would pitty themselves Or rather Oh that God would pitty your souls and make you to consider the latter end of your sinnes At last they will bite like an Adder and sting like a Serpent Thirdly There is a losse of all outward help and comfort from others Here in this world though we many times are in grievous losses yet some comfort from a friend is like the pleasant showers to the parched ground and though they cannot deliver out of trouble yet a word of comfort doth much refresh But here the destroyed sinner is excluded from comforts and friends and all When Absolom was shut out of Davids presence then there was a Joab to mediate for favour again but when this destruction is then no Saint or Angel can either comfort or help us Yea which is saddest of all then that Mediatory Office of Christ doth cease Then there is no Advocate to make Intercession then the Blood of Christ will do no good In the midst of all that guilt and trouble for sinne we have in this life there is still this hope That Christ is a Mediatour to reconcile God and the sinner but when this eternal destruction shall come upon thee then there is no more hope or help by Christ then Christ is of no more use or advantage to thee So that the losse of all help and all hope through Christ must needs make this destruction more terrible And as for the second part of this Destruction which is Positive That lieth in the accumulation and heaping up of all misery imaginable and possible even for a God to inflict or the soule and body of man to receive It 's I say in the heaping up of all misery For the state of blessednesse lyeth not in any one or many comforts but in the aggregation of all desirable mercies So this state of destruction lyeth not in the sustaining of one or many miseries but the aggregation and conflux of all Therefore the Scripture expresseth it under many names of terrour sometimes darknesse utter darknesse sometimes a prison and chaines of darknesse therein sometimes fire and brimstone eternal fire sometimes a place of weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth sometimes death and everlasting death sometimes judgement and condemnation Now the Scripture useth not these words in vaine but would hereby awaken and terrifie us that we might at last cast away our sinnes which are the onely fuell for this fire In the next place Let us consider the Aggravation of this Destruction And First It 's an Eternal Destruction A destruction that is alwayes destroying and yet the party is not extinguished If the Socinian annihilation were this destruction or Origen's opinion for the salvation of men and Devils at last after thousands of yeares torments could prove true here was some hope but it 's a living death and a dying life it 's everlasting fire it 's the worme that never dieth In all earthly calamities on this side Hell this is a mitigation that they are not everlasting they are but evil for a moment there will be an end But here thou art kept alive to be tormented for ever Oh what a thunder bolt is that word for ever Torment for ever Horrour for ever Fire for ever yet so it is Secondly It 's an Vniversal Destruction in a moral sense There is not the least mixture of any joy of any hope For as Heaven is a state of unmixed happinesse there cannot a drop of gall fall into that ocean of happinesse So here there cannot a drop of honey fall into that ocean of gall we told you not a drop of water for the top of the tongue only could be obtained much lesse for the whole body Thirdly It 's an Inevitable Destruction God will destroy Who can stop Gods hand Who can hinder his blow If a little of Gods wrath be kindled Who can abide How much lesse when he stirreth up all his wrath It is the day of his wrath when Kingdomes and Nations feele the day of his temporal wrath How sad hath it been Jerusalem had her day of Gods wrath but these are onely drops to that ocean of his wrath Now manifold Uses may be made of this but I shall instance onely in one here Of Instruction Here is a plain and evident discovery of the madnesse and
them meeting in this they bring good to the godly man And 1. There are happy and prosperous events Or 2. Adverse and afflicting ones And For the first What ever mercies or good things come about they are the godly-mans in these respects First They are for his necessary use and supply They come as so many gifts immediately given by God for thy necessities And when I say use I mean a sanctified use All the food raiment and wealth he hath are sanctified in their use to him and this the Scripture speaks of as a property to the godly only Wicked men may abound in wealth honours greatnesse but they are a curse to them they have them not from God as intending good to them thereby But as the Rule is Corpora impura quantò plus nutrias impuriora reddis The more you nourish unwholsome bodies the better food they have the more doth their disease increase So these worldly mercies draw out the lusts of wicked men the more Take notice of these two Texts Tit. 1.15 and 1 Tim. 4.5 There we may see a curse is upon every creature It 's unclean to a wicked man though he hath a civil right to his estate and comforts yet he can make no sanctified use of them for their own persons are not pure and sanctified and so nothing belonging to them is pure Seeing therefore there is a curse by Adams fall upon every creature Thy food thy raiment thy goods thy estate they neeâ—â—anctification by the Word and prayer Therefore the godly only have the sanctified use of them because they are humble in prayer for the cleansing of them But how atheistical are the men of the world They labour to have this state and that state still more and more not at all enquiring whether this come sanctified to them or not Doth not health wealth and all outward mercies come with the curse upon them they had at first The Devils Have not they a life Are not they preserved in their being Yet this is no mercy to them And thus it is with all wicked men We see what Paul saith Rom. 11.9 Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block It 's a terrible place A mans table his dainties his greatest pleasure may be made a snare to thee Wouldst thou receive the richest goods that are brought into thy house if the plague or infection were on them Couldst thou endure to have one at thy table to lay a snare to catch thee in thy words to bring thee in temporal danger And art not thou afraid thy house thy estate thy wealth may be made by God a snare to thee But how happy are the godly that how great soever the outward mercies are yet they are pure and sanctified to them The danger is taken off by Christs death Secondly These prosperous things are not only in a sanctified way to the godly but God alâ—o requireth that with joy and gladnesse we should make use of them for his glory It 's lawfull for them to eat and drink and enjoy the good mercies they hâ—ve with a cheerfull joyfull spirit I speak not of carnal and sinfull joy which quickly ends in terrour and trembling and is like the crackling of thorns that make a blaze but immediately go out No but of a well-ordered gladnesse and joy in the good things God bestoweth on them For God doth not call his people to a worldly dejected sorrow which worketh death but to a godly sorrow which causeth great joy and serenity of spirit Insomuch that Scripture speaks of it as a provoking sinne if we do not serve the Lord with joy and and gladnesse of spirit when he bestoweth these outward mercies upon us Deut. 28 47. Many terrible curses are there threatned to Israel Because they did not serve God with joyfulnesse and gladnesse of heart for the abundance of all things If therefore God giveth thee plenty of outward things and thou doest not serve him with joyfulnesse and thankfulnesse of heart it is a provoking sinne God doth not only love a cheerfull giver but a cheerfull receiver also of his mercies So then when prosperous things befall thee thou mayest with great joy of heart make use of them Thirdly These prosperous things are not only sanctified to them but they are also made sanctifying of them God giveth them those good things of the body to make their souls better Abraham had many outward mercies but these also were helpfull to his graces he was rich in faith as well as in cattel and great substance Thus Godlinesse hath the promise of this life and the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 To have the good things of the world and not the gracious things of the Gospel and the glorious things of Heaven is to have a cistern but to be without the fountain to have a starre but to want the Sunne Art thou drawn near to God more improved in holinesse by all the mercifull things thou hast Then art thou beloved of God God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith Jam. 5. And The poor receive the Gospel Be afraid lest wealth and greatnesse make thee reject the Gospel When thy outward mercies are sanctified then art thou happy Fourthly These prosperous present things are theirs Because they know how to make the present use of them for Gods glory As life was theirs and death theirs because they only could live well and die well so present riches present death present comforts are theirs because they know how to make the present improvement of them The Scripture still presseth While we have opportunity to do good to lay hold on it and while it is called to day 2 Heb. 3.15 Do good with thy present wealth improve thy present strength thy present health for who knoweth how long thou mayest enjoy it especially of all present things the present time is a godly mans Redeem the time Ephes 5.16 And now is the acceptable time 2 Cor. 6.2 This is a great part of wisdome to make the present time ours even now to turn to God now to reform and amend One Heathen complained that his friends were fures temporis the thieves of his time they stole that precious jewel away from him by their visits Oh take heed that no lusts no pleasures no enticements and worldly delights steal away thy present time it is all thou hast and it 's but a moment yet on this moment depends eternity Well therefore is it for the godly who knoweth how to make the best improvement of all prices put into his hand A Christian is not called to ease but labour to a spiritual merchandize to make profit of every thing And thus it should be with every godly man there is nothing befals thee no good comes to thee but thou shouldst bethink thy self how can this be improved for God How may I make heavenly advantages of these things Thus be like the Bee sucking honey out of every herb
had never seen him they had never known him If they had they would have been enammoured with him as well as the Church And thus when natural men wonder saying Why do these men thus pray thus mourn thus long after God Why is it that they are never satisfied but in him It 's a demonstration that this experimentall work hath never been upon thy heart If it had the spirit of Prophesie as I may so say would fall on thee also Thou wouldst admire the favour of God as well as they Seventhly Such only can desire the light of Gods countenance who have the Spirit of God working in them It 's that which maketh the soul go upwards We being like that man bowed down that Christ healed till the Spirit of God thus raise us up The holy Ghost came down in fire which denoteh the activty of it When fire assimilateth any thing into it self it makes it ascend upwards And thus when the Spirit of God converts and sanctifieth a mans soul it giveth it a contrary motion to what it had before Then it made provision for the flesh then it minded earthly things but now the Spirit of God hath raised it from the death of sinne That as you see it 's the mighty power of God which will make these bodies that are now corruptible heavy and pressing downwards to be immortal spiritual and so agile that they shall meet the Lord in the aire Even these bodies will be so transformed that they shall move in the air like Birds No wonder then if Gods Spirit is able so to work upon our hearts that they shall be constantly inclining to God And indeed none are to rest till they find God thus mightily prevailing upon them This excellent frame may be given by the Spirit and the Spirit is promised to such as ask for it Mat 6. Especially the Spirit of God as adopting enabâ—ling us to call God Father rebuking legall slavish feares and filling us with a filial and evangelical frame of heart Eighthly Therefore another Property of such who do thus highly esteem Gods favour is That they are diligent in Prayer and fervent in approaches to God Prayer is the ascending of the heart to God who is in Heaven The eyes lifted up argue what the heart should be Now Prayer is of this excellent advantage if spiritually and fervently performed that it carrieth up the soul to God and thereby God also manifests his loving kindnesse to his people Even as Moses upon his Communion with God had his face shine so gloriously that the people could not behold it and Christ himself upon Prayer had his countenance changed that his face did shine like the Sunne and his garments were white as snow So that such who esteem of Gods favour they are instant in Prayer They perform that duty with watching and attending thereunto which if so discharged then many consolations many irradiations of his favour are communicated to them So that a man diligent in Prayer is like the tree by the water side whose leafe will never fade Hence we have that encouragement No man seeketh Gods face in vain And no sooner did God command this but immediately David's heart yeelded to it Psal 7.8 Thy face Lord will I seek We cannot have it without seeking for it as that which is most precious and a very infinite Treasure And withall you see the encouragement God bespeaks it he saith Seek ye my face Lastly Such as prize the light of Gods countenance they walk closely with God and keep up strict Communion with him Slothfull and carelesse walking will never be blessed with this glorious advantage You read the Church was but once carelesse and negligent when Christ proffered himself and immediately Christ withdraweth so that though she runne up and down much perplexed to see the face of her Beloved again yet it cost her dear ere she could obtain it David began to have but some proud and presumptuous thoughts Psal 301.7 And God bid his face and then he was troubled You see a little thing a word a thought may do it Therefore those who desire to enjoy it they walk circumspectly lest they should do any thing that may make him angry with them Vse 1. Of Exhortation to Gods Children To keep up a tender mollified heart to take no rest till the light of Gods countenance shine upon thee Let not lusts passions or any thing be an eclipse between this glorious Sunne and you How can you live without this May not the Devil come with seven more tormenting Devils then ever if thou provoke God to withdraw his gracious presence To whom are woes To whom are sad terrours and perplexities of spirit but to such who cry out God frowneth on them Oh they feel his anger consuming of them Vse 2. Of Admonition to natural and unregenerate men To know there is a better good then ever yet they tasted Oh that thou couldst desire God as thou doest wealth and pleasures Is not the pleasant smiling face of some great Potentate a reviving to thee What endeavours for the favour of a great man who yet is mortal Will not this condemn thee at the Day of Judgment Oh how will the face of God be then esteemed of A Consideration of some false Grounds of a Perswasion of Gods Love We have declared already the Characters of such who can truly esteem the light of Gods favour let us now consider the condition of such who are mistaken herein and take that for Gods favour which is not And First There is the rich earthly or great man of the world He who aboundeth in all Prosperity and needeth nothing this man thinketh that Gods face is towards him in mercy They gather from all the mercies they enjoy that therefore God loveth them but this is a very dangerous mistake For 1. In the Scripture we read That chastisements and afflictions are sometimes an argument of Gods love and that God is never more angry then when he lets a mans waies be smooth and prosperous As it was with Moab because he was not moved often therefore he was setled upon the Lees. And thus in Hosea when God is angry in the highest manner then he threatens He will not punish their sonnes or daughters any more Hos 4.14 They therefore have little cause to boast in this That they are not afflicted as other men they are not in such bonds as others are For David Psal 73.6 did of old observe this That whereas the wicked of the world had all encouragements they had all temporal increase yet the godly were bowed down all the day long and that in those times when Promises of temporal abundance were in a larger way proposed to them If then the godly man had this measure in the Old Testamant no wonder if he meet with it much more in the New Testament where tribulations are made the Red Sea to go through into the Land of Canaan Hence the Apostle doth
expression to declare that the comfort Gods people have is of a farre more solid and real nature then what men of the world have They are never heartily and truely joyfull for there is either the sting of some sinne the guilt of conscience or the fear of some danger that doth greatly check their joy Insomuch that many times the ungodly of the world they put the best face upon things they can they would bear it out as if they had peace and they had comfort when God knoweth and their own heart feeleth many tormenting feares within them Solomon speaks fully to this of a wicked man Prov 14.13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowfull his meaning is that a wicked man in the midst of all jollity and a carnal mirth yet he hath but a sad heart and why There is guilt with him there is a conscience secretly repining in him and though he striveth to bear it down and would make a greater noise then that yet these whisperings and secret accusations do greatly weaken their joy for it 's enough that conscience accuseth thee though none in the world else can witness against thee Quid proder it tibi non habere conscium habenti conscientiam What will it avail thee to have thy conscience accusing thee though there be no witness conscious with it Was not Belshazzar in the midst of all his jollity and excessive riot Yet the appearing of an hand-writing made him quake and his knees to tremble Why might not he have thought it had been some good Angel or there was some writing for him to encrease his kingdome No but before ever he can tell what it is he is afraid and trembles his heart was guilty Semper praesumit saeva mala conscientia Thus take the most wanton loose and jolly sinner that is his heart being guilty he alwayes thinketh and feareth the worse now the Lord remembers such and such sinnes So that it 's not the laughing and ranting and singing of merry Songs that demonstrate a joyfull heart no there may be sadness and terrour within for all that whereas this spiritual joy filleth up the heart of a godly man whatsoever presents it self he can rejoyce At this time when David professeth his joy it was outwardly a most sad time with him For Expositors judge he was now pursued by Absolom his own sonne who riseth against him his people forsake him Shimei raileth at him telleth him God had now avenged the blood of Saul upon him and all this was occasioned by his own wickedness yet in the midst of all these sad circumstances he had so much joy in his heart So that the godly even while he weepeth and mourneth hath joy and the wicked even while he laugheth and rants it yet hath gnawing worms within him Thirdly Heavenly joy is rational setled upon sound and solid grounds If you see any godly man rejoyce and walk with a chearfull spirit it 's well done there is cause for it who may do it if not he Whereas take any natural unregenerate man he hath not the least cause of the least smile If he did as he should do he would roar and cry out he would go and weep bitterly he would smite upon the breast and the thigh saying What shall I do Oh my sinnes my sinnes Now this is greatly to be considered who hath the true cause of rejoycing and who not Tell not me such a man liveth a jolly merry life such a man is at his hearts ease he liveth in his pleasures all the week long Oh but what reason what cause hath he to do so If he did rightly consider himself if he did lay his sinnes to his heart he would mourn and weep and bewail himself all the day long for what joy canst thou have as long as thy sinnes are not pardoned as long as God is angry with thee as long as thou mayest tumble into hell every moment Is it for such an one as thou to be glad and laugh and take thy ease No our Saviour Luk 6.25 pronounceth a woe to you for you shall mourn though now you will not There is no peace saith my God to the wicked man it 's the speech of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 48 22. Stand off then joy doth not belong to thee it 's the godly mans portion none may or hath cause to walk chearfully but he for the favour of God is upon him God is not angry with him his sinnes they are forgiven death and the day of Judgement can do him no hurt whether poor or rich whether well or ill whether living or dying he hath cause to rejoyce Phil 4 4. Rejoyce in the Lord alway and again I say rejoyce Rejoyce alway There is no time wherein thou mayest not rejoyce Do not say I have this affliction I have this sad tryall upon me It 's no matter saith the Apostle Let it be how it will be with thee Rejoyce alway and indeed let the wicked and ungodly tremble let them cry out with horrour those that have the guilt of their sinnes upon them those that every moment may be adjudged to hell let them mourn and tremble But for a godly man he hath no cause at all but to rejoyce in the Lord alwayes Fourthly Joy from the Lord will have a good end there will be no sad reckoning for it afterwards There will be no cause to repent of it but all wordly joy though it doth please thee for a time yet there is a sting in the tail of it there will be a bitter account to be made at the day of Judgement and this certainly you should rightly consider of These pleasures this carnal delight of mine will it not cost dear hereafter Will not all this hony turn into choler Will not my torments be according to my pleasures What saith Solomon to his young man that is most given to follow his delights Eccles 11.9 Rejoyce O young man and walk in the wayes of thy heart pursue thy lusts care for nothing trample Gods word under thy feet but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement and is not this like an hand-writing in the wall The thoughts of what will be hereafter may justly strike out all thy present delights I am merry now laughing now But shall I do thus when death comes shall I laugh when at the day of judgement I shall stand arraigned at his Tribunal Oh do not admire such pleasures that will cost so dear at the latter end But for the godly mans joy that will never shame him that will never grieve him but as the Apostle speakes about repentance it 's a repentance never to be repented of Thus here is a joy that is alwayes to be joyed in a joy that will never trouble thee hereafter whereas for all this wordly joy thou must mourn again it hath been the time of thy sinning and of thy rebelling against God and therefore all this will turn into