the bargain According to the Psalmists Prayer to apply or as the word is to bring our hearts to wisdom Psal 90. 12. and according to Solomon's direction above all gettings to get understanding Prov. 4. 7. what a greedy but yet holy Covetousness doth St. Austin commend to us in that expression of his Capiat quisque quod potest in quantum Tractat. 1. in Joan. potest qui non potest nutriat cor ut possit c. that every one should take what he can as much as ever he can and he that is weak should labour to grow up to more strength that at last he may carry away more than now he can was it a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the man was sick of that the more he ate the more he hungred No but a spiritual appetite of a divine object that as fire the most spiritual Element the more it s fed the more it burns so the more that the Divine Soul tasts of this sweetness the more it thirsts and longs for greater supplies 1. And this because herein we cannot exceed for however in some other Cases whilst we follow our own conceits we may be overwise Eccles 7. 16. and too much learning hath made some men mad yet I am sure the more we have learnt of Christ the more are we able with Paul to speak the words of truth and soberness Act. 26. 24 25. and no fear of being here over-wise unless we could be over-happy or of going and getting too fast or too far when Paul who very far advanced professeth he had not attained Philip. 3. 12 13. 2. But the danger on the contrary is in falling short and it 's just so much of eternal life as it is of the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ John 17. 3. Ignorance being Satan's blind which he sets up in our way to life the mother of Popish Devotion but in truth one of the most dangerous Precipices into irrecoverable destruction for as there is no hitting upon happiness by a blind peradventure so there is no right ordering of our steps to it when we know not that we are out of the way What mischief other sins do us by their greater atrocity and more deadly guilt the same ignorance doth it may be by leading of us blindfold into the worst of them for they that walk in the dark know not at what they stumble Prov. 4. 19. Or at least by cutting off all hope of help whilst it renders us sensless both of remedy and malady both of the smart of our wound and of the way nay of any need of our Cure Other sins are like a malignant Feaver this of ignorance like a sensless Lethargy much different but both deadly And so Solomon's Proverb that brings this blind-folded man erring from the way of understanding leaveth him in the Congregation of the dead Prov. 21. 16. as in an irrecoverable hopeless condition To which purpose is both that of the Prophet where God compassionately complains that his people perish for want of knowledge As likewise such other expressions as those Psal 49. 20. 79. 6. 95. 10 11. Hos 4. 6. and that of Elihu Job 36. 12. where to die without knowledge is threatned as that which sealeth upon us the bottomless pit so as never to see or take hold of the paths of light and life and so this inward and at last that outward darkness meet and lie down together for ever I only add that the desperateness of this danger is aggravated when this ignorance is affected when we are willingly ignorant 2 Pet. 3. 5. as we do not know so we will not understand Psal 82. 5. not only simply blind that we cannot put froward and so wink with our eyes and will not Jer. 9. 6. see Matth. 13. 15. And this is the rather to be heeded because too often practised no knowledge and wisdom being so despised and loathed as this of Christ which the Text calls excellent all other kind of learning though not alike fancied by all yet hated by none but by brutish ignorants that know not the worth of it That I may use Solomon's Phrase Prov. 1. 9. it 's an ornament of grace to the head makes us fine and so we are both glad and proud of it But it 's this true knowledge of Christ that works grace in the heart which a corrupt proud heart cannot brook and therefore doth hate it Prov. 1. 29. and all the means of it say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 21. 14. Now of all others these froward fools hating of knowledge the Scripture looks at as a most dangerous saith that this their peevish turning away will slay them Prov. 1. 32. that whilst they hate wisdom they love death Prov. 8. 36. and their bidding God depart now will be answered with a Depart from me ye Matth. 25. 41. cursed at the last day And that we may be the more sensible how nearly we are herein concerned be pleased to consider that Ignorance of Christ is so much willingly and wilfully affected as the proffers of Christ and the means and opportunities of the true and saving knowing of him and acquaintance with him are neglected Now our opportunities in this kind are fair and our advantages great we had therefore need have our eyes in our head to look about us that we prove not like Solomon's fool that hath a price in his hand but Prov. 17. 16. wants a heart to improve it 1. As men For a man without knowledge is unmanned and become a beast Psal 49. 20. Anaxagoras said he was born coelum solem intueri to eye the Sun and heaven Poor man that he was so short-sighed as not to have looked higher to the Sun of righteousness we are indeed all born to look upward and it will be too low if it be not as high as God in Jesus Christ who stooped so low as to become man that man in and by him might come to know and enjoy God I confess that humane reason cannot at first discover Christ but being discovered by faith it 's all reason that we should acknowledge him nor shall we shew our selves reasonable men unless we adore him He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 1. 1. and therefore Isa 46. 8. it is the most Divine Reason to believe in him the light which inlightneth every man that cometh into the world v. 9. and therefore let the Prince of darkness shut his eyes to this light But did he for us men and for our salvation come down from heaven and become incarnate c O let us that shall at last be caught up into 1 Thess 4. 17. the Clouds to meet him in the air be caught up in the spirit even now whilst we are on earth with Steven to see and injoy him in Heaven seeing we have such a fair rise for it as we are men 2. Especially as we are
gather up the crumbs that fall from this full table O full-handed Father O bountiful House-keeper Here 's God's Plenty Enough and to spare Ruth found it in Boaz's field But the truly hungring Soul Ruth 2. 4 18. more abundantly in Christ's Tasts Pledges earnest-pennies here are very satisfying What then will the full meal and payment and portion in Heaven be If he so satisfie us here he will there for certain fill our treasures They so satisfie that they would not have any thing else but only are unsatisfied that they have no more of them 5. Add hereto if you please in the fifth place that this filling over-flowing fulness of Christ appears yet further in that he can thus compleatly fill us by himself alone when there is so little it may be nothing else to bestead us A little spring if it have many rivolets falling into it as it runs along may at last swell into a great stream and all Rivers meeting may make a full Sea and vast Ocean but it 's a full fountain indeed that of it self alone fills all the Cocks and sets all the Mills a going No great matter for a confluence of all outward comforts to fill a man and that rather with pride and self than any solid satisfaction But Either when we have but little else to have fully enough whilst When they shewed him two Swords he said it was enough Luke 22. 38. we have the more of Christ when so many thousand are fed to the full and so much to spare when the Provision was but five barly loaves that was but sparing and course and two small fishes but two and they little ones too made the miracle the greater and tells us that Christ was the entertainer Or when there is nothing else and yet nothing wanting when Christ is not To have nothing and yet to possess all things 2 Cor. 6. 10. as it hath been with Christ's Martyrs and other his destitute and persecuted Servants when destitute yet not desolate This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 11. 37. is only from that little stone cut out without hands that became a mountain and filled the whole earth Dan. 2. 34 35. As it 's the Air which is not seen that fills up that vast space betwixt Heaven and Earth so it 's nothing else but an hidden unseen unknown unconceiveable Fulness of Christ that fills such Souls with Grace Peace and Joy when all else is nothing or nothing but vacuity and vanity and that the Prophet saith is less and worse than nothing In a word Christ here in the Text when speaking of substance saith it emphatically and exclusively I will fill their Treasures I and none nothing but I. A solid and satisfying Repletion is from this Bread of life only All besides it satisfieth not Isa 55. 2. It swells rather than fills Or if it fills it 's with emptiness with Job 15. 2. wind and east-wind with Pride or Pain rather than with any solid and substantial satisfaction That 's Christ's Royalty which he here appropriates to himself when he saith that He will make those that love him to inherit substance and that He will fill their Treasures In the Application of which that which in the general I Vse would most seriously press and call for is that we would endeavour to be more fully and feelingly possessed with the belief of this truth For did we firmly believe in the general and constantly carry along with us actual thoughts and persuasions that God is Alsufficient and that Christ alone is able and willing and ready to fill our treasures it would be of admirable use to us in our whole course for our instruction and direction and establishment in matter both of doctrine and practice As in particular It would cut off all those Assumenta or Patches with which Vse 1 the Papists would eke out Christ to make him compleat or us in him as his Prophetical office in their Traditions or Kingly in the Popes Head-ship or Priestly in their own merits or Popes Pardons and Indulgences That Treasure of the Church as they call it is exhausted and their Purgatory or purses rather quite emptied by this of Christs filling of his peoples treasures It was in this sense that the Apostle said that we are compleat in him Col. 2. 10. And whereas cap. 1. 19. he had said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell it cannot but much displease that quite cross to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good pleasure and design of the Father and the Glory of Christ any thing should be taken away from his sole jurisdiction or added to help to fill up his plenary satisfaction and full redemption Indeed the Apostle in the 24. verse of that chapter speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was behind which the vulgar too boldly rendreth ea quae desunt what was wanting of the afflictions of Christ for his bodies sake the Church But that is meant of Christ Mystical not Personal and for the edifying of the Saints not for the satisfying for their sins which Christ had done fully and by one offering for ever perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. So that in it alone is the Churches treasury to be freely taken out by the alone hand of faith and not sold by the Popes merchants to fill their purses not Gods peoples consciences with peace and joy It 's Christ alone that fills those treasures The Popes Bulls whether Plumbeae or Aureae are Bullatae Nugae Bubbles full of wind which will leave the soul full of anguish and despair but empty of all solid and true satisfaction But we leave them and come to our selves As to our practice it condemns our stuffing and filling our Vse 2 selves with other trash as the Apostle saith After the Tradition Col. 2. 8. of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ Vain man would be wise and empty man full so vain empty souls Full we would fain be But it 's with the world with self with sin but not with Christ full of poyson or trash Such kind of fillings the Scripture often speaks of Either with what is simply and sinfully evil and will certainly undo us and fill us at last with the wrath of God and sinking grief and horrour So the wanton fills himself with unchast love Prov. 7. 18. the drunkard with drink Isa 56. 12. the violent oppressour as the Lion doth his den with prey Nahum 2. 12. their houses with spoil Prov. 1. 13. their eyes with adultery 2 Pet. 2. 14. their mouths with cursing Psal 10. 7. and their hands with bribes Psal 26. 10. and bloud Isa 1. 15. their hearts full of wrath and fury Esther 3. 5. Dan. 3. 19. But where is Christ in all this He doth not so use to fill his servants treasures This is the filling up of the measure of our sins Matth. 23.
more is his grief when with anguish and horror he thinks and saith surgunt indocti rapiunt coelum I repeat not what followeth in the sentence as desiring it may never overtake any of us in those straits But wo to us if it do But the more blessed therefore is this more excellent knowledge that we now speak of which is not so much a tree of knowledge as a tree of life and is therefore called eternal life John 17. 3. by which my Soul lives in death that I can tell what to do when other far more learned men are at their wits end that in mine evening I may have light Zech. 14. 7. whilst others far more sharp-sighted stumble in that dark entry into outer darkness for ever O give me that sweet Bird that will sing in such a Winter that lamp of a wise Virgin that will burn clear at midnight that Matth. 25. 6 7 8. torch which will not light my body to the Grave but my Soul to Heaven I this this is the light of life John 8. 12. by which when my bodily eye grows dim and upon my eyelids sits the gloomy Joh 16. 16. shadow of death I may then lift up an Eye of faith with Steven at the very point of Death Act 7. 56. and then see Christ more clearly and know much of him more fully than ever before as it is related of Oecolampadius upon his Death-Bed being asked Mylii Apophthegmata merientium whether the light of the Candle troubled him laying his hand on his breast said Hîc abunde lucis est or with Laurentius At Nox mea tenebras non habet The more darkness without the more light within when the Curtains are drawn Christ more unvailed and when the dying body smells now of the Earth to which it is sinking the Divine Soul ut in rogo Imperatorum savours of Heaven to which it is ascending with a farewel-faith and welcom-Vision no more to see Christ as here through a glass darkly but face to face to know him no more in part but 1 Cor. 13. 12. even as I am known I close mine eyes to see my Saviour and like old Simeon lay down my head in my Fathers bosom with his Nunc dimittis Now Lord let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation THE Text had two parts 1. The Purchase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the excellent Sermon II knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. 2. The price that our Apostle Preacht at St. Maries Octob. 18. 1646. was chearfully willing to come up to that he might compass it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he accounted all things loss that he might gain it In the handling the former part the last time I endeavoured as I was able though infinitely under its worth to hold forth and commend to you the supereminent excellency of the saving knowledge of Christ above all other things and all other knowledge whatsoever But as they say the Jews are now wont when ever they build an House to leave some part of it imperfect in reference to Jerusalems ruins which they would remember so in all our largest discourses of Christ and his Excellencies of necessity something yea much must be left unsaid because there is infinitely more than we can comprehend the half of our Solomons glory will 1 King 10. 7. never be told Here the most copious and fluent Orator must close his imperfect speech with a Dicebam instead of a Dixi and draw the Curtain of silence over those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he cannot draw and set out to the life And yet it 's good digging deeper in such golden Mines and another hour would be well spent in viewing and admiring that infinite excellency which in Heaven we shall be adoring to Eternity Should we lanch out we may soon be swallowed up in that bottomless Ocean And therefore for this time let us rather draw the net to the shore and in the second applicatory part of the Text see what we have taken or whether our selves rather be so taken with an holy admiration and desire of it that with our Apostle we can be willing to suffer the loss of all for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea doubtless and I count all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. And if that be such a transcendent excellent knowledge First How low should the consideration of it lay even Scholars Use 1 of the highest form in their thoughts and estimate of all their other knowledge in comparison of it and of themselves as long as they fall short of it Behold the height of the Stars how high they are said Eliphaz to Job But it was that he might have Cap. 22. 12. more lowly thoughts of himself And when we look up and see how high Heaven is above we cannot but think what poor low things we are in the Ant-hill here beneath Yea by how much more exactly the Astronomer by his instrument can take the height of Sun or Star by so much the more fully he apprehends at what a wonderful distance he and the highest Mountain of the whole Earth is under it O that the consideration of this high transcending excellency of the knowledge of Christ might help us though not to low thoughts of learning yet to more lowly thoughts of our selves notwithstanding all our other knowledge that the dazeling brightness of the sun of Righteousness might at least so far blind us as to hide pride from us pride which is the great learned mans greatest and dangerousest snare in which by reason of his learning and knowledge he is easiliest taken and by which he is most of all hindred from this more excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ 1. Most easily taken with it it being a very hard thing to be a knowing man and not to know it to be learned and humble together for the King of Tyre to be as wise as Daniel and not to be as Ezek. 28. 2 3. proud as Lucifer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowledge puffs up saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 8. 1. and usually the more aiery and empty the knowledge is it makes the bladder swell the more The Devil is a very knowing and a very proud Creature The most learned Philosophers and wisest Statesmen amongst the Heathen have been noted for pride vain-glory and an impotent desire of applause being accounted by them a piece of gallantry rather than a vice And although by Christians it cannot but be accounted a sin yet even amongst them such as excel others in knowledge are oft known by it The more able in this kind of old were very ready to despise the weak and to over-look them which were under them Rom. 14. 3. The supercilium with which the great Rabbies despised the poor ignorant people that knew not the punctilioes of the law John 7. 49. and the Typhus of many of our great Criticks who
say to his sons Why do you look one upon another get you down and buy for us that we may live and not dye Gen. 42. 1 2. And why then should we look here and there and like fools have our eyes in the ends of the earth to find out other vanities when Pro. 17. 24. did we but lift up our eyes and hearts to heaven we might both see and get that which will make us like the God of heaven I say not therefore as Jacob there of Egypt Get you down thither but get we up hither though it be with Jonathan and his Armour-bearer on our hands and keens with humblest prayers and earnestest endeavours though as with them up sharpest rocks through greatest difficulties and dangers But is it possible that a child of wrath by nature may become a Son of God and by Grace be partaker of the Divine Nature One in himself so much the Beast and the Devil be made like the blessed God And so I that am so vile and sinful may I become holy as he is holy perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect Then sure the happiness of it would not be more inconceivable than our neglect of it unexcusable Let us therefore up and be doing 1 Chron. 22. 16. 3. And this yet the rather upon consideration of what others even Heathens have attempted in this kind and when they have been so mantling the wing this way let them shame us if we take not a further and an higher flight How doth Plato up and down define the chiefest good of man to consist in a full conformity to God! and what a noise do they make with their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their being God-like whilest they lived and Deifiâ—d when dead Oh that what we read in their Books we might find in our hearts and others may see in our lives that we might really be and do what they talked of At least for shame let us exceed what they did or could attain to whilst we do so much exceed them both for pattern and principle 1. Our pattern is more fair and our Copy far more clearly and legibly written before us in the word of truth than theirs in the dim light of nature It did more darkly discover to them the footsteps of God that by following him therein they might grope after an Vnknown God and so they fumbled about a poor conformity Act. 17. 23 27. 2 Pet. 1. 19. to him But upon us the day hath dawned and the day-star is risen in our hearts and the Sun of righteousness shineth forth which hath more fully discovered to us the image and nature of God in the face of Jesus Christ unvailed and clearly discovered to us in the glass and bright beams of the Gospel the Deity in its nature persons and properties evidently manifested nor ever could the holiness justice power truth and mercy of God be more fully declared than they are by Christ and as they are held forth in the Gospel In Christ God is manifested in the flâ—sh He being 1 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 1. 3. â—ol 2. 9. the Brightness of His Father's glory and the express Image of his Person in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily and all grace which is this Divine nature in the Text emâ—nently and without measure for our participation imitation So that our better Abimelech our King and Father in his grace and life saith to us all as the other Abimelech did to his followers Judg. 9. 48. What ye have seen me do make haste and do like me The word was made flesh and dwelt among us that we might at a nearer John 1. 14. view behold his glory full of grace and truth and walkt among us on purpose that we should follow his steps In a word he being 1 Pet. 2. 21. God took upon him the nature and was made in the likeness of man that the like mind might be in us and that whilst Phil. 2. 7. 5. we have such a perfect pattern so near our eye according to our measure in likeness and conformity we might be made partakers of the divine nature And if the rich man thought that one coming from the dead would work so great matters with his brethren Luke 16. 30. what a transformation in our hearts and lives should Christ make who for this very purpose came down from heaven Our pattern in Christ is very fair And it very openly and clearly held out to us in the Gospel Whether by Christs own ministry he being the only begotten Son in his Fathers bosom could best declare him John 1. 18. And should we only consider his sermon on the Mount in the 5 6 7. Chapters of S. Matthew we may understand so much of God's nature and will that were our hearts and lives answerable we should therein very much partake of the Divine nature and in our measure be perfect as our Father who is in heaven is perfect as our Saviour there speaks Matth. 5. 48. Or should we consider the Gospel of Christ as dispensed in the writings or preachings of his Apostles or other servants Paul in the general speaks very full to our purpose 2 Cor. 3. 18. that we all with open face as in a glass beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. In which Text every clause is very strong and emphatical We all not only Apostles and Ministers as some would expound it but all true Christians for they are not only such as we call Divines that are made partakers of the Divine nature With open face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not through Moses his darker veils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beholding the glory of God that is the glorious nature wisdom justice and mercy of God most fully and perfectly expressed and exposed and manifested in Christ And accordingly most clearly reflected and held forth in the glass and most clear mirrour of the Gospel This ex parte objecti medii But what ex parte subjecti is or should be the effect of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are or at least God expecteth that we should be changed into the very same image not only there to see and behold him but so as to represent him in speculo repraesentantes as Erasmus translateth it and so are transfigured into the same likeness tanquam secundariae quaedam imagines as Beza well expresseth it And that from glory to glory that is not only from one degree of glorious grace to another as most interpreters expound Beza Lapide it but as some add from the glory that is in God and Christ from this reflexion of it to a proportionable glory according to our manner and measure communicated to us by it And all this as by the spirit of the Lord that is so really and gloriously that nothing but the all powerful
Labyâ—inth contrary to our former Expectation and without hope of future recovery All thâ—ngs in the Earth as the Earth it self are founded on nothing Secondly But the Text calls me to view rather the Pefection of things which is like the Flower of the Grass and hath this above it that as it is more beautiful so more subject to speedy Alteration For how often have we seen Wisdom and Strength and Beauty and Riches and the like Perfections gone before the Man that had them How often have we seen Wisdom decaied and the old Man left indeed but left childishly doting Riches flown away as Solomon speaketh but leaving a Begger behind them Strength and Beauty gone too but so as leaving Weakness and Deformity in their room So that if you should distil the Quintessence and Perfection of all things here as it would be contained in a narrow room so a short time will put a period to it's continuance His substance shall not continue neither shall he prolong the Perfection thereof upon the Earth saith Eliphaz Job 15. 29. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there and only there used in Scripture is by the Hebrew Writers as by us generally expounded Perfection But the Septuagint there express it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Shadow It may be thereby to set forth what kind of Perfections arise from outward things We and they both like Shadows may shew greater than we are and yet shadows still that last not And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the Text and no where else seemeth also to imitate some such thing as coming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth Deficere as well as Perficere Such defective Perfections and such spending and decaying Felicities are all such as he that sees and finds the most can find in outward Contentments Or if a third word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used in this kind seem in its signification to promise longer Continuance yet Eliphaz cuts it short too Job 4. ult Doth not the excellency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word is Doth not thâ— excellency which is in them go away And truly often so as never to return more But not to trouble you with Grammatical Speculations in a word if you would take the full length and breadth of all these Perfections use no better Instrument than that of David Psal 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Man is all vanity and that in his best or most settled estate as the word signifieth So that when he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so settled as with David he thinks he shall never be removed even oftentimes then he falls down head-long For how often after many dangers past at Sea doth a Ship now fairly fraughted sink in Havens mouth How often have you seen Men so long in cutting out their Fortune that at length they marr all winding up themselves to the highest Peg and then crack And labouring to frame I know not what Castles in the Aâ—r and when the whole Fabriâ—k is well nigh reared up and they on the top of it then one Pin slips or one Pillar on which it stands is suddenly taken away and so all prove Castle-come-downs Thus finis consummationis and Interitus often take one another by the Heel or at the best it is with outward Estates as it is with our High-ways in Summer-time they are then so fair and firm that we think it well nigh impossible that ever they should prove so fowl and deep as in Winter we find them It 's so in our Summer-weather of Prosperity Our Perfection so high we think as above all Winter showres and Tempests The Kings of the Earth and all the Inhabitants of the World would not have believed that the Adversary should have entered into the Gates of Jerusalem Lamen 4. 12. they would not believe it nor which was worst would she She remembred not her later end But mark what follows Therefore she came down wonderfully Lamen 1. 9. Such and so brittle are the best of these lower Perfections like Glasses shine bright but even then are broken like falshes give some light for the time but are soon out or like so many Bubbles that are higher indeed than the rest of the Water and some remain a shorter and some a longer time But yet it 's not long before they all vanish For I have seen saith David the end of all Perfection But this universal All seems to require an Induction to prove it by particulars In which that I may not fetch too large a Compass I follow only that ordinary division of Perfection of Mind of Body of outward Estate and but glance at some of the chief without troubling you with a full view of any Now for the Perfections of the Mind let them in gross be Understanding and Wisdom Which though I confess have the start of all that follow as being seated in an everlasting Subject yet We see that Wise Men die as well as Fools Psal 49. 10. and sometimes their Wisdom before them David had seen Abitophel's Wisdom ending in Foolishness And we have read of Nebuchadnezzar's Vnderstanding changed into â—rutishness God can make the Judges fools Job 12. 17. Disuse can make the most expert forgetful The Plague at Athens and many Diseases since could deprive the Wisest of Understanding and Memory at once And if all fail yet Old-age as they fain of Saturn most commonly devours that Wisdom which it begets Or rather like an Unthrift in a short time spends what his Predecessors were a long time in getting So that the Ancients that teach Wisdom as Elihu speaks Job 32. 7. sometimes prove childish Old Men often dote before they die and though their Soul be ready to take its flight yet the strength of Understanding takes leave first and prevents it In a word if it be no more than the Wisdom of the World or of the Princes of the World it as the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 6. telleth us they do will come to nought and so you see an end of that Perfection And if it fare so with the Soul we cannot think that the Perfection of the Body which comes so short of it in worth can exceed it in continuance for it 's but an House of Clay and therefore all the Paint and Varnish it can have must decay either with it or before it See it in the particulars which especially are three Health Strength and Beauty For Health I need say no more than what St. Austine said before me Quaenam est ista salus Corporis quae morte premitur quae aegritudine debilitatur frivola mortalis fluxa IN a word let him that never hath been sick and is sure never shall be say that Health will last always But our Experience teacheth us that the Physician who often restores our Health cannot always maintain his own that there is such contrariety of Humours such well-nigh Infinitness of imbred Diseases so many outward occasions of Distemper
upon it i. e. It shall have as many Senses as they Fancies and Fetches and so justifie Pighius his Blasphemy who called it a Nose of Wax which they may draw out or put together and alter and change as they think good I abhor and so I know do you all these Blasphemies God's Word is not so Broad But yet I thus far yield that it 's a safe way of interpreting Scripture to take it in as broad and large a Sense as all things considered it will bear And if I do so in expounding this place it self will bear me out in it for it saith that God's Commandment is exceeding broad Exceeding broad therefore because every way broad reaching to all Persons in its Commands awing the greatest Kings and in it's Promises comforting the poorest Begger Reaching all Conditions Prosperity v. 14 72. Adversity v. 54. Alâ— Sexes Times Places all parts of body faculties of Soul Actions of both and Circumstances of those Actions I cannot exemplifie them all If you will go no further than this Psalm and but mark what 's said of it in the several Verses you shall find more than I say It 's Life v. 93. Comfort of Life v. 50. End of Life v 17. the Way v. 35. Rule v. 30. Counseller v. 24. a chief Gift v. 29 Better than thousands of Gold and Silver v. 72. It 's our Love v. 47 48. Joy v. 14. Delight v. 16. Choise v. 30. Desire v. 20 40. Hope v. 43. Trust v. 42. Fear v. 120 161. that which he longs for v. 40 82. seeks after v. 45 94. cleaves to v. 31. It 's his All. And if it be all this and much more then sure it 's Exceeding broad But I cannot insist upon all these particulars Only for more distinct Consideration of it we must remember that God's Word is here compared with all other Perfections and its Breadth with their End Now therefore as we heard before of all other best Perfections there was a double End of them Of Length they lasted not alwayes And of Breadth they reached not to all our Occasions and Wants So now on the contrary there is an exceeding Breadth of Gods Word I. Because it reacheth to all Times II. And to all our Wants in them as able to be a Direction and to make a Supply in all 1. For the first Therefore it is exceeding broad because reaching to all Times The place parellel to the Text fully proves it Isa 40. 6 8. All flesh is Grass and all the goodliness of it as the Flower of the Field The Grass withereth and the Flower fadeth But the Word of our God shall stand for ever For ever that 's long but to stand or to be established for ever as the word signifieth is much more and yet no more than is true of every Word of God whether a Command I pray you mark that Expression Heb. 4. 11 12. Let us labour to enter into that rest For the Word of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quick and powerful or as the words are living and active It may be you 'l ask What 's the strength of the Apostle's Reason Strive to enter into this rest for the Word of God is quick c. 〈◊〉 It s from this Ground we are now upon He had before spoken of an Exhortation of David's Psal 95. Of striving to enter into rest which Exhortation the Apostle urgeth upon them in his time Nondum inquit mortua est vâ—x illa Dei vocantis nos Hodie c. Pareus in locum to whom he wrote But now it might be some would say But why trouble you us with a command of David so long time since spoken to the Men of his Generation and now by this time out of Date and antiquated Which kind of Objection the Apostle takes away as though he should say Nay but do not think that David's word is dead with him For it was not his word but God's and therefore as God never dies nor grows old no more doth his Word But it 's quick or living still It 's not dead no nor grown old and weak but it 's as active and powerful as ever And therefore as much concerns you now as it did them to whom David in Person spake it And so we see in this respect God's Commandment is exceeding broad reacheth from David's time to Paul's And so are hiâ— Threats One reached from Doeg to Judas compare Psal 109. 8. with Acts 1. 20. Yea one reached from Enoch the 7th from Adam to the Day of Judgment Jude ver 14 15. And so are all his Promises which David as I said in the Text principally intends In the first Verse of this Ogdoad he saith For ever O Lord thy Word is settled in Heaven A Word of a Promise is in Heaven and settled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there and that for ever a most strong and full Expression that whereas if a Man look to these outward Contentments there 's nothing settled or if settled yet it 's but poorly not for ever according to that as strong Expression Psal 39. 5. Verily every Man at his best estate is altogether vanity or as the Hebrew is all Men are all vanity even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word in both places when most settled and established yet he continues not so long But when full of Riches and happy in Children and so in a seeming settledness yet it 's soon shaken Nay further whereas if a Man should look at God's Word and Promise as it is in our unsettled hearts we are ready to think that it 's as ready to waver as our Hearts are as the shadow of the Sun or Moon in the Water seems to shake as much as the Water doth which it shines in Yet for all this seeming shaking here below the Sun and Moon go on in a stedfast Course in Heaven So the Psalmist tells us that however our Hearts stagger at a Promise through unbelief nay and our Unbelief makes us believe that the Promise often is shaken withal and when we are at our Wits-end we are ready to think that God's Promise comes to an end too as Psal 77. 8. Yet God's Word is settled though not in our Hearts yet in Heaven yea and there for ever as settled as Heaven it self is yea more than so for Heaven and Earth may pass but not one jot or tittle of the Law and therefore of the Gospel shall fail Luke 16. 17. And thus we see that God's Commandment and Promise in this respect is Exceeding broad reaching to all Times Was a word of Command the Guide of thy youth I assure thee it will be as good a Staff of thine age And I assure you a good Promise is a good Nurse both to the young Babe and decrepit old Man Your Apothecaries best Cordials in time will lose their Spirits and sometimes the stronger they are the sooner But hath a Promise cheared thee say twenty thirty forty years ago
Salvation As God in nature layeth his beams in the waters Psal 104. 3. you would think but a sinking foundation and founds the Earth by the Seas and establisheth it upon the Flouds Psal 24. 2. â—nd that 's as dangerous a scituation So in his Church though seated nearest greatest dangers yet farthest from being swallowed up by them because ever at last either defended or delivered from them a most firm bank near a most raging Sea a sure Shield amidst showers of invenomed darts So God is Davids Shield-bearer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 7. 10. my Shield is upon God Nay God is my shield Psal 3. 3. nay more than Shield It covers the Man but on one side but God is a Shield round about Thou compassest him with favour as with a shield Psal 5. 12. I should be too large if I should run out in such-like Scripture-proofs Mark but out of one Psalm those many and strong expressions it 's Psalm 68. They had lyen among the Pots but fly out of the collow as a Dove with silver wings v. 13. See how God beautifieth them with Salvation as white as Snow in Salmon v. 14. Snow is white but Salmon signifieth a shady gloominess Behold how there ariseth to them Light in Darkness He is to them v. 20. a God of Salvations multiplied deliverances in multitudes of dangers to whom belongs issues from Death when round about besieged and begirt with extremities v. 21. he will wound both head and hairy scalp of Enemies The wound in the Head is deadly and dasheth out the Brains of all their Counsels and the hairy-scalp signifieth strength of Age and constitution and not weakned and made bald either with Age or Sickness And to add no more v. 22. He will bring back from Bashan out of Og's the most Gigantean Enemie's Clutches from the depths of the Sea Even the depths of Hell shall not drown the Israel of God whose Hope is anchor'd upward in Heaven It 's a Christian's comfort that whatever his dangers and troubles in this World may be yet the last Articles of his Creed are a Resurrection and Life everlasting and when come to the last cast he can with fainting old Jacob lean on this Staff of comfort and look up to God and say Lord I have waited for thy Salvation Salvation But Lord it 's thine and that 's the third particular before observed It 's the Salvation of a God that the Israel of Doct. 3 God is saved by Jacob here put by all other Saviours when he Deut. 33. 29. Psal 124. 1 to 6. Jer. 3. 23. Psal 121. 1 2. looks up to God and waits for his Salvation If it had not been the Lord who was on our side both then and now may Israel say then the proud waters had gone over our Soul as a Man in a Storm that seeth nothing but Sea and Heaven may cry out if yonder Heaven do not save me this Sea will drown me And this partly from the extremities of the Church and partly from the good pleasure of God 1. The extremities of the Church oft de facto are such that of necessity it must be so His Salvation or none so Jonah 2. 9. Psal 3. 8. Evils sometimes are so many and great either so suddenly surprize them or in continuance so tire them or by their weight so overpower them that unless it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are quite at a loss no power or wisdome either of their own or others can rescue them Not their own that they should prove Self-faviours Indeed it 's wont to be said that Self-defence is held the first Maxime in Dodonas Grove See Deut. 33. 7. Policy But it 's not so in Divinity Enemies are so crafty and strong and the Flock of Christ so simple and weak that if the Sheep's strength be not in its Head and it's security in the Shepherd's care it would be soon either lost or worried So Jehoshaphat cries out we know not what to do 2 Chron. 20. 12. and Asa Chap. 14. speaks as though he had no power when he had Ver. 8. with 11. almost Six hundred thousand fighting Men. It was not their own Sword or Arm but thy Right-hand and thy Arm and the Light of thy Countenance Psal 44. 3. Jerusalem may have Palaces but God is known to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Refuge in them Psal 48. 3. In Jer. 36. 19. they bid Jeremiah and Baruch hide themselves but it 's added ver 26. that the Lord hid them It 's not our own hiding but God's that must secure us When we are in such deep Waters it 's the stretching out of our Hands to Heaven that must save us Clasping our Arms about our selves is the certain way to sink us If saved it 's not by their own might Nor by others help They either do not help us or it 's only by and from God if they do They do not because they will not or cannot Some may have glorious Titles as he is called Hadadezer 2 Sam. 8. 3. which in its signification promiseth a magnificent help But in the Apothecaries Shop very promising Titles are oft writ upon Boxes that have either nothing or it may be Poyson in them The Horse in which is the strength of the Battel and therefore promiseth much Psal 33. 17. the Psalmist saith is a vain thing and that signifieth nothing But the Reed of Egypt not only breaks but also wounds the hand that leaneth on it and that 's as ill as Poyson like him in Austin that in a Tempest sailing towards a Mountain light and split upon a Rock Vbi non invenit portum sed planctum Tract 1. in Joannem They that promise most oft perform least unless it be Mischief The one of which is Vanity And the other Vexation In a word every Man is a liar the Apostle saith and of all others Rom. 3. Psal 62. 9. Men of high degree which promise most the Psalmist are a very Lye in the abstract And if any at any time make good their Name that in Scripture are sometimes called Saviours it 's Neh. 9. 27. Obad. v. 21. only as they are Weapons in God's Hand and in the alone Strength of this our Great Saviour And so indeed as he said to Gideon Go in this thy Might and thou shalt save Israel Otherwise Judg. 9. 6 14. Truly in vain is Salvation hoped for from the Hills and from the multitudes of Mountains truly in the Lord our God is the Jer. 3. 23. Salvation of Israel Though Hills Mountains multitudes of Mountains though Pelion Ossa though never so many Mountains be heaped one upon another yet if they be but Mountains of Earth they may not be high enough to set us above danger A Deluge as Noah's may over-top them all They are but See Wolphii Lect. Memorab Cent. 1. p. 24. Lying Fables and contrary to Scripture that tell of some saved then
Published in Print which I especially shewed that Death being disarmed could privately do us no hurt or procure our loss But here we are principally to make out that on the contrary it positively brings us in much Gain But because even of this many particulars were there spoken to there is less now to be Insisted on Now what our Apostle more plainly expresseth concerning himself saying that his death was his Gain in effect he enlargeth to all true Believers 1 Cor. 3. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether Life or Death or things present or things to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all is yours and Death as well as Life or the whole World and all the Comforts of either The Apostle here writes the Godly's Inventory and inter peculia amongst all their other Goods he sets down Death for one part of them and therefore as other Goods are therefore so called because they are for the good of the Owner so Death is reckoned amongst them because by Christ it 's for the great good and gain of the Believer For if all things work together for the good of them that love God Rom. 8. 28. then Death also for it is also reckoned among those all things ver 38. Hither also referr that of Solomon Eccles 7. 1. The day of Death is better than the day of ones Birth And that in Rev. 14. 13. where a Voice from Heaven ploclaims Blessed 〈◊〉 they that die in the Lord. So that if Blessedness be Gain Death is so too which puts them into the possession of it And for further Proof it appears that they are fully perswaded and assured of it Else 1. They would never so desire it before it come For Evil and Loss as such can never be the object of Desire but it must appear to be good and profitable if desired but so Death hath been and that earnestly by the Faithful Old Simeon's Nunc dimittis Luke 2. 29. tells us what he did and our Apostle because he could here say that his Death would be his Gain doth in the next Verse save one say that he had a desire to depart and well he might for then he should be with Christ which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more better best of all and that is Gain with an advantage How ambitious were Primitive Christians to die for Christ And how earnestly desirous have others been to Die if it might be in Christ Making use of the Psalmist's expressions my Soul thirsteth for God for the Living Psal 42. ◠God When shall I come and appear before God The Moralist's Maxime is Summam nec metuas diem nec optes that we should neither fear Death nor desire it But a truly believing Christian goeth higher hath Vitam in patientiâ mortem in desiderio fears not Death because it can do him no Dammage but desires it because it brings with it greatest Gain And upon this ground as he desires it before it come 2. So with Joy he welcomes it when it doth come yea though in a violent way As Ignatius blessed God upon Trajan's condemning him Cum gaudio circumponens vincula The Martyr Vide martyrium Ignatii pag. 4. could kiss the Stake and say Welcome the Cross of Christ And well he might when he could add welcome everlasting Life in which expressions we have his joyful Welcome of it with the Ground of it because he gained no less than everlasting Life by it And if so with them that went up to Heaven with Elijah in a fiery Chariot and a Whirl-wind Then no wonder if so with them that are carried hence by the conduct of a more placid and easie departure and if some only from weariness of this troublesome Life account Death such a Gain as to dig for it as for bid Treasure and rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they find the Grave Job 3. 21 22. then we may well conceive how glad the assured Believer may be of it when he knows he shall be greater Gainer by it as not only resting from his Labours of this Life but also then entring into his everlasting both Rest and Joy in a better Life which those others may not then meet with but the contrary But if upon this ground the Righteous hath such hope in his Death Prov. 14. 32. then I hope you will not deny him Joy in it and if Joy then Gain also But this will more particularly be made out if we consider the several kinds of Deaths of Believers And as I even now touched they may be either for Christ or only in Christ 1. If for Christ then as their outward Loss is the greater so is their eternal Gain too no less than of a Crown It is the Crown of Martyrdom Sciant Christi milites se non perimi Cyprian Epist 82. Sect. 2. sed coronari and more massy than others And if there be any such things as Aureolae they will be found on their Heads God's First-born and therefore have a double Portion Tot mercedes Idem Epist 77. Sect. 1. in caelestibus quot nunc dies numer antur in paenis as Cyprian speaketh who compares them to that good Ground that brings forth an Hundred-fold and therefore their Harvest-joy will be greater And therefore Ignatius professeth that it 's better to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Romanos Die for Christ than to be King of the whole Earth He therefore thought it was the greatest Gain To be sure Christ will see they shall be no losers who hath given his Word that he that findeth his Life shall lose it and he that loseth his Life for his sake shall find it Mat. 10. 39. 16. 25. And because we know not what God may call us to it will be good to encourage and comfort our selves with these Words and with firm belief of this undoubted Truth that they who Die for Christ are greatest Gainers 2. And if it be but in Christ most happy Gains will come in to us by that also And that both Privative and Positive 1. First Privative for such a kind of Gain we find in Scripture as Acts 27. 21. that phrase of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where Paul tells them that were in the Ship with him that if they had followed his advice they might have gained that Loss that is they might have prevented it And such a first kind of Gain the Faithful have by Death in freeing them from that both Sin and Misery either by ending what before they were in or preventing what if they had lived longer they might have fallen into 1. It ends Sin which all our Lifes-time we were wofully encumbred with which made Paul so sadly groan out that complaint Rom. 7. 24. O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death That is either this outward mortal Body or this inward body of Sin which is more mortal Both may be taken into the Sense because both are together