Christ and not in any strength of his owne I will goe in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy rightousnesse even of thine onely Psalm 71.16 I will goe in the strength of the Lord God c. That is in every designe and in every businesse I will depend wholly upon the aide and assistance of God and upon no strength of my owne Thus we know David went against Goliah when he would declare his sincere love to God whom Goliah blasphemed Thus must we doe when ever we set upon any opportunity wherein to declare our sincere love to God or else we shall doe as Peter deny Christ instead of standing for him answerably to the occasion offered Now that what hath beene said touching this point of taking hold of golden opportunities offered for the declaration of sincerity you may all observe and follow thinke on these two or three things God calles for it Conscience calls for it Church and State calls for it Soule and body will else severely smart for it First thinke on this God calls for this at our hands that we should declare sincerity according to the speciall occasions calling thereunto Gather your selves together c. saith the Lord to the disobedient Jewes and in them to us before the decree come forth before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you Seeke ye the Lord all ye meeke of the earth seeke righteousnesse seeke meekenesse it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger Zeph. 2.1,2,3 A speciall time was offered wherein to shew themselves for God and for good and God called upon them carefully to take it as they tendered their temporall and eternall good God calls us now to the declaration of sincerity as by his word so by his workes both of mercy and justice God hath loaded us with mercies and corrections of all sorts and all for this end that we should declare our sincere love to him answerable to all opportunities offered hereunto Many a time as the Psalmist saith hath he turned away his anger and hath not made a full end of us when we have highly provoked him thereunto and all for this end that we should declare our sincere love to him answerable to all opportunities offered thereunto To the language of the Lord by the Prophet Amos I may fitly here allude God hath withholden the raine from us when there have beene but three months to the harvest God hath caused it to raine upon one shire and county and not upon another God hath smitten us with blasting and Mildew and all this to bring us to declare a sincere love to him according to all opportunities offered and yet we are backward hereunto God hath smitten us with the pestilence againe and againe and with the sword hath he threatned us againe and againe and all this to bring us on to declare a sincere love to him according to all occasions offered and yet we are backward hereunto Therefore thus will I doe unto thee saith the Lord to Israel and because I will doe thus prepare to meet the Lord thy God O Israel Amos 4. So say I to you forasmuch as all the milde meanes which God hath hitherto used are not effectuall for this end to bring us to declare our sincere love to him according to all opportunities offered therefore we must expect that God will take some severe course with us for the time to come and because we are to expect this at the hands of God let us prepare to meet the Lord our God Let every one of us repent of our halting and time-serving past and for the time to come let us set our selves to declare a sincere love to God according to all occasions offered 2. Conscience calls us hereunto as well as God Speciall occasions for the declaration of sincerity now so frequently and so openly shew themselves that every mans conscience tells him that he should shew himselfe a great deale more then he doth for God his King and Countrey As in the night the Owles and the Bats looke abroad so in these darke sad daies of sinne and wickednesse the eyes of Owles and Bats the eyes of wicked and secure sinners begin to open and their consciences begin to tell them that they should doe something more now then they have done for God and the good of this Church and Kingdome 3. Church and State cals for it They both now with one dolefull voice cry out to us in the language of the Psalmist Who will rise up for me against the evill doers or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity Psal 94.16 They know not neither will they understand they walke on in darknesse all the foundations of the earth are out of course Psal 82.5 Finally soule and body will else severely smart for it if we doe not now step in to take hold of all opportunities for the declaration of sincerity Curse ye Meroz said the Angell of the Lord curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the helpe of the Lord against the mighty Judg. 5.23 This curse may all such expect who now come not forth to declare their sincere love to Christ and his truth upon all just occasions calling thereunto The soules of such Christians as now neglect and put by these golden opportunities of declaring their sincere love to Christ will be given up to lukewarmnesse coldnesse deadnesse hardnesse and some to obstinatenesse and maliciousnesse against God and all goodnesse which are all soule cursâ—s with a witnesse And such bodies as have in them such cursed soules as these you may assure yourselves they shall meet with misery enough first or 〈◊〉 Paul intimates something to this purpose where he saith At my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge 2 Tim. 4.16 Such as take not hold of speciall times and occasions for the declaration of their sincere love to Christ and his truth may feare that sad things will be first or last laid to their charge such as shall make body and soule shake Let us therefore all as we love our bodies and soules and as we professe love to Christ which should be dearer to us then our bodies or soules take hold of all opportunities for the declaration of sincerity As God brings about speciall times and occasions for this end so let every one of us after a speciall manner take hold of them that we may after a speciall manner be honoured of God both here and hereafter Dixi. Trinuni Deo gloria Imprimatur Tho Wykes Febr. 24. 1639
field shall yeeld no meate the flocke shall be cut off from the folds and there be no herd in the stalles yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation saith the Prophet Hab. 3.17,18 Habakkuk will rise in judgement against a thousand thousand soules which would never judge God worthy to be lookt after muchlesse delighted in if he had not Corne and Wine Heaven and Earth to bestow upon his favorits This text I conceive is a plaine testimony that God alone is the object of divine joy that is not God as very wealthy and very bountifull but as very holy and an absolute compleat being above all things beside him This was Pauls joy to wit in God alone as he whom his conscience told him he served sincerely though weakely Upright men eye the divine rule in their rejoycing as well as in all other things Now the divine rule of joy is that it should be bounded and terminated in God Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous Psal 97.12 This rule is repeated againe and againe in Scripture to note how apt we are to rejoyce in creatures and sinnes which are worse then any creatures and not in God as also to note how strictly God lookes at this that we should make him onely the object of our joy and all other good things as beames of this Sunne as blessings from his hand and so consequently to rejoyce still as long as we have communion with God and our consciences witnessing with us that we sincerely serve him though we have nothing else in the world beside him as Paul and Timothy did For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisedome but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world c. Thirdly divine joy is called spirituall because all the manifestations of it are spirituall They that have this joy in their hearts do not let their tongues sing ribaldry and vanity such as flesh and blood delights in but they sing in the waies of the Lord Psal 138.5 That is they rejoyce in divine things to be thinking and speaking of and walking in the waies of the Lord. 'T was Pauls and Timothies matter of joy that they could walke sincerely in the waies of the Lord and this they humbly gloried in Such as have the joy of the Lord in their hearts their tongues speake and sing in such a manner that God is extolled and magnified according to one attribute or another which is making melody to God as the Apostle termes it As here in my text the Apostles so expressed divine joy that the power and goodnesse of the Lord were magnified that he could and would give internall comfort to those that did sincerely though weakely serve him when all externall comforts failed Divine joy doth not as carnall joy transport men into drunkards whore-masters wantons libertines and so turne them out of the waies of the Lord but raises their spirits to a higher pitch of love to God and so makes them walke more strictly and chearfully in the waies of God Divine joy makes a man rejoyce and worke righteousnesse and not rejoyce and worke wickednesse Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousnesse Isa 64.5 Paul Timothy thus rejoyced that they could worke righteousnesse that they could order their conversation sincerely though by many handled injuriously For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisedome but by the grace of God wee have had our conversation in the world c. 2 Divine joy is the soules rejoycing in God as reconciled in Christ Divine joy as man upon earth is the subject of it hath God in Christ for its object that is God as reconciled in Christ for otherwise God is an enemy and no man rejoyceth in an enemy And not onely so but we also rejoyce in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the attonement Rom. 5.11 We cannot joy immediately in God as Adam could because of our sinne in Adam which made God angry with us we must now have some to interpose betweene God and us in whom is made up what is wanting in us and so Gods anger against us appeased and therefore 't is that the Apostle thus speakes in the person of the godly we joy in God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom we have received the attonement This is sweetly set forth also unto us under metaphoricall termes by the Prophet Isaiah I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soule shall be joyfull in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousnesse as a Bride-groome decketh himselfe with ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her selfe with Jewels Isa 61.10 God as cloathing us with the garments of salvation and as covering us with a robe of righteousnesse is the object of joy to fallen man and thus we know he doth in Christ God freely reveales an infinite love to man in Christ and this begets love to him and joy in him He washed away all our sinnes in Christs blood covers all our wants with Christs righteousnesse subjects his Sonne to suffer what we had deserved and to merit for us all that from which we were justly excluded to wit communion with God and eternall life This love God sheads abroad in the heart of man and this makes man love God and joy in him God out of Christ is no other but a condemner of man conscience so apprehending God is no other but a tormentour of man and man betweene both these is in no other but Hell and there is no joy in Hell God in Christ reconciles man to himselfe and then God joyes in man and man in God The blood of Christ makes peace betweene God and man and betweene man and his conscience and makes God acquit and conscience acquit God to speake peace though man be not perfect conscience to speake peace though man walke weakely yet whilst sincerely and this makes divine ioy in the heart in the midst of all troubles naturall or accidentall For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisedome but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world c. You have had a briefe hint now by what hath beene said what that joy is which the testimony of conscience brings to the soule to wit a conciliatory joy as I may fitly call it A joy of peace and friendship betweene God and man and betweene man and himselfe to wit conscience Conscience tels that man which walkes sincerely that he for his part is at peace with him and that God is the like though men and divels be at variance with him and that he shall have favours spirituall and temporall here and eternally hereafter say and