have Israel gathered to Mispah when he prayes for them 1 Sam 7.5 Gather your selves together c. Zeph. 2.1 Sanctifie a Fast Call a Solemn Assemblie Joel 2.14 Christ gives order to his Disciples to continue together embodied sending out their Supplications Acts 1.4 14. and you see the Spirit came down upon them when assembled Acts 2.1 2. The Law was given upon the day of the Assemblie Deut. 9.10 and 10.4 and 18.16 Peter was thrown into a Meeting though a private Meeting Acts 12.11 God gives his special Boons of Favour to his People in Assemblies 3. In these Solemn Assemblies it is that men are set on work The Gospel like the rising Sun it calls up men to work men cannot be at rest in their sloth where God hath his Labourers Light if it be not powerful enough to direct it will afflict if it do not awaken them it will trouble their rest The Witnesses are Tormenters where they are not Saviours but now when the light is gone then may the People keep holy-day as some render that Text Feriabitur Populus Where no Vision is Prov. 29.18 Markets will be full of persons standing idle at all hours because there is none to hire them Now should not this adde weight to such a cross as this to make it break our hearts Did the Silver-Smiths make such a cry when they thought ere long they should have no work Acts 19.25 26 28. And â—â—all the loss of Spiritual Imployments be over looked 3. In the want of Assemblies we are deprived of our most cheering refreshments This loss draws our Table empties our Cup burns up our Pastures stops our Wells dries up our fresh Springs There is a fatness in God's House There are Rivers of Pleasures Psal 36.8 David calls the Altar of God his exceeding joy Psal 43.3 4. It is in the House of Prayer that God makes his People joyful Isa 56.7 8. there God makes his People not only to eat but makes them feasts of fat things Isa 25.6 O what a Feast of fat things is the Supper of the Lord wherein we have opportunity to thrust our hands into the Side of Christ to feel what work sin hath made there and what a warm Heart he hath and full of good-will to sinners O what a want of those comfortable Innes as I may call them and refreshing baiting Places in Heavens Road that have been to us as Bethel was to Jacob All that is left when our Assemblies are gone is uncomfortable when Nebuzaradan burnt the Temple he left but it was but the poor of the Land so when God takes down his Tent amongst us there may be some Mercies left behind but they are but poor things all that is in our houses is but lean when we want the fatness of God's House all that we see is uncomfortable when we cannot see our signs they are but shadows of Mercies that remain when our signs are gone fulness of bread and scarcity of the Word hath little satisfaction in it for when the Ordinances go the satifying and sanctifying Mercies are gone brown Bread and Gospel is better fare than Dainties and no Gospel This want turns our Wine into water and our Bread into stones What is a well-furnished house without windows and light what is a ceiled house if Gods House lie waste what are garners full of all manner of store if we have not the treasure that is in earthen vessels Happy is that People whose God is the LORD Psal 144.12 13 14. Now where God is a Peoples God He will set his Sanctuary in the midst of them and his Tabernacle shall be with them as in Ezek. 37.26 27. We are as it were without God if without the Ordinances of God Ordinances are as it were the life of a Land the Land of Canaan is in an especial manner in Scripture called the Land of the living as some think in regard of the Ordinances Moller on Psal 27.13 A Land dyes when the Ordinances go the soul of a Kingdom is gone the People live as it were among the Tombs and should not this make our houses houses of mourning What a cry in Egypt when death was in every house Should not the Mourners go about the streets when the Life of our lives is gone should the Word of Life depart unlamented 4. In the want of Assemblies we are deprived of our richest Ornaments These are our Crowns Rev. 12.1 Lam. 5.16 The Crown is fallen from our head We may in this case say as Job Chap. 19.9 Thou hast stripped me of my glory and taken my Crown from off my head The Ark is called the glory of Israel and the same thing is called Glory and Assembly Isa 4.5 Good Order which is a beautiful thing will not long stay after God's Ordinances are gone Church and State like those Twins laugh and cry live and dye together Righteousness which exalts a Nation is at the threshold when Religion is out of doors Civil Assemblies will cease to be Thrones of Judgment when Solemn Assemblies cease to be Thrones of Glory The custome of England hath made the way to the Bench by the Church that they that are to give charges to men may first receive their charge from God It was at Jerusalem where the Temple was that the Thrones of Judgment were Psal 122.5 It is the Grace of God bringing Salvation that teacheth men Piety Sobriety and Righteousness What can be expected when that disappeares but impiety intemprance and unrighteousness 2 Tit. 11 12. Now cannot a Maid forget her Ornaments and can we forget ours When God hath made us naked as the margent in your Bibles renders the word Prov. 29.18 should we not put on sackcloth And lastly I may adde We with them lose our strongest Muniments The Ark was strength Psal 78.61 1 Chron. 16.11 God is terrible out of his holy Places Psal 68.35 When our Ordinances are gone we are as Sampson with his locks cut even weak as others The Christian Regiments that could joyn in Prayer that were a Church as well as a Band they were called Thundring Regiments How may it be said of Assemblies as of Zion in Psal 76.3 There brake he the Arrows of the Bow the Shield and the Sword and the Battel It was Moses hands that beat the Amalakites We may cry after the Solemn Assemblies when they are going as Elisha after Elijah My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof There is a Defence upon Assemblies and with them that goes There are not a few places to be found that have soon tumbled into their graves after the removal of their Ministers by death as Hippo and Heidelberg c. Is the bough cutting on which we stand is our Defence departing from us and shall not we mourn Thus much of this Reason Now cast up all this together and see whether the sum that stands at the foot should not be written with tears Reas 2. Because Reproach is the
afterwards conclude with Directions Motives 1. Consider halting is very unseemly The Linsey-woolsey-coat is but an uncomely garment How ill doth it become a Child of God the Kings daughter Psa 45.13 14. Lameness or crookedness is a deformity in the body Not to walk uprightly is very uncomely among Professors There is an expression Psa 52.9 I will praise thee for ever and I will wait on thy Name for it is good before thy Saints Constancy and perseverance in God's Worship and Service and in our dependance upon Him this is good before the Saints And the contrary to see souls falling off from God and His Wayes is evil in their account They blush are asham'd to see it It is a sad and strange sight to them Gal. 1.6 I marvel saies the Apostle to these halting backsliding Professors I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the Grace of Christ Yea this is unseemly not only before the Saints but before wicked men Hence it is that the uncircumcised Philistines do so rejoyce and triumph when they can see or hear that any of Israels Worthies are fallen As the Psalmist complains Psa 38.16 When my foot slippeth they magnifie themselves against me They insult over the Righteous when they see them fall into any trouble and distress and no lesse when they fall into sin when they can take notice of any thing in their carriage and practice unbecoming their profession 2. Halting in Religion is most unreasonable No fair pretence that can be put 〈◊〉 As the Lord expostulates with them Jer. 2. 〈◊〉 What iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and are â—â—lked after vanity What a strange course they take wâ—â—â— turn aside from God from the true God to walk after vanity The People were convinced of the folly of such a course in Josh 24.16 God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods That were a folly and madness indeed God forbid we should forsake our own mercy our happiness to follow lying vanities How foolish was the Prodigal in leaving his Father's House to feed upon husks When the Galatians were halting in Religion how strangely the Apostle bespeaks them Gal. 3.1 O foolish Galatians Who hath bewitched you and verse 3. Are ye so foolish What so foolish q. d. none can be more foolish than thus If the Lord be not God why do we follow Him at all And if He be God as nothing more sure Why do we not follow the Lord fully If it be not good to be truly religious why do we make any profession of it why are we not open avowed Atheists And if it be good indeed Why are we no more careful to walk up to our profession Thus if we did but attend to Reason it would inform us thus much that either we should quite lay down our profession or indeavour to bring up our lives to our profession 3. Halting in Religion is exceeding hurtful As there is an expression Jer. 7.6 Neither walk after other gods to your hurt That some instead of cleaving to the Lord followed Baal-peor was it not to their hurt Deut. 4.3 4. see Ezek. 6.22 If we belong to God and yet are halting in our course before Him we may look to smart for it here if we are turning aside from him He will fetch us in with the rod Psa 89.30 c. 4. We have gone â—n halting too long already It is more than time we â—â—â—ld now seek for cure that we should now mend of it Hath not this been our manner from our youth As Moses said of the Children of Israel Ye have been rebellious against the Lorâ—â—rom the day that I knew you Have not we been still at this pass at â—ff and on playing fast and loose with God I may here allude to that in Josh 22.17 18. Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us from which we are not cleansed unto this day but that we must turn away this day from following the Lord We have been too long unsteady and uneven in our course 5. This halting in Religion is hard to cure And the longer any soul goes on in it it is still so much the worse As a leg out of joynt the longer it goes so it is so much the more difficult to set it right again Oh that this was seriously considered every step we take awry we are making work for Repentance And as it is not so easie but exceeding painful to have a broken leg set right and sound again so it is no such easie matter to have a lapsed soul restored by â—â—pentance 6. If we have made any progress in Christianity to halt now would deprive us of the comfort of it O what comfort is to be found iâ— close walking with God! The whole world if you search it through has no such cordial for a fainting dying creature as the sense of ones integrity and former upright-walking before God When Hezekiah had received the sentence of death this was more to him than all his Kingdom again Isa 38.3 On the contrary when we are halting in our course we undermine our own peace lay a foundation for inward troubles jealousy of our estates John 8.31 If ye continue in my Word then are ye my Disciples indeed Mark it If ye continue But otherwise you would only seem to be my Disciples It 's not enough to begin well but we must continue And otherwise all that we have done in Religion or suffered upon this account will be lost and in vain Gal. 3.4 And if our goodness be but as the morning cloud and early dew that soon passeth away even such will our hopes be Our comfort will hold out and continue no longer than we hold fast our integrity 7. Halting will really set us back cast us very much behind in our Christian course A lame man makes but a bad traveller So halting Christians drive on very heavily in the wayes of God A man that is careless of keeping in his way no wonder if he comes late and weary home And if we are oft turning into crooked paths how will this hinder us in the way to heaven This is going about indeed and no getting thus to heaven but we must return by weeping cross Thus every step we take awry is one step out of our way 8. It is a most unworthy thing to halt with God He keeps touch with his No God like him that keeps Covenant with them that walk before Him with all their heart 1 Kings 8.23 No God like him for this All besides Him are found lying vanities It was horrible blasphemy that message which Senacherib sent to Hezekiah Isa 37.10 Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee Little danger or fear of this Never to this day that the Lord deceived any one soul that trusted in him and was faithful to him 1 Sam. 10.19 Ye have this day rejected your God who himself
in vers 7. of his directions in the 5th and 6th verses would have been inconsequential And we find the Edification of the Church by Word and Sacraments is a duty imposed upon Presbyters 1 Pet. 5.2 Feed the Flock of God among you And Paul in his Valediction injoyns the same Work Care and Diligence to the Presbyters of Ephesus ver 28. And we reade that the Power of Ordination did belong to them and was conferred by the Imposition of their hands and not by the hands of a Bishop only Neglect not the Gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophesie with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery 1 Tim. 4.14 And we reade also in the Scriptures that they are called Rulers And we beseech you Brethren to know them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you 1 Thes 5.12 And again Obey them that have the rule over you for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account Heb. 13.17 and therefore seeing they have the same names ordained to the same work to feed God's Flock to ordain Pastors and Elders to rule and govern the Church of God there cannot be a Superiority of Power and Jurisdiction in one Minister above another but I pass by these things and leave them to your reading of the Scriptures and observations of them I now come to the Doctrine intended the Guardian and Protection Paul committed his Ephesians unto God and the Word of his Grace c. Whence note Doct. That God and the Word of his Grace are the best Security and Comfort a departing Minister can commit his People unto When the Father of a Family dies he commits his Wife and Children to his most faithful trusty and assured Friends And when a Minister departeth from and leaveth his People it lyeth him upon in respect of his Office Prudence Desire and Affection of their Eternal Welfare to commit them to the best Protection and Provision he can and which is the best we see in the instance and case of Paul who if there had been a better would have made use of it Such were the Dangers by persecution and infection they were to meet with such was the love he bore to them that he thought the best Security and Comfort could not be too good for them he commended them to God and the Word of his Grace than which there could not be a better found The Doctrine contains two parts 1. A Dereliction 2. A Protection that a loss this a Provision to make up that loss that a ground and occasion of Sorrow this a ground and occasion of Comfort that exposeth to Danger this defends from Danger secures in Danger and delivers out of Danger I shall a little open the Sore much I need not time and experience will declare it and then I will shew you the Plaister and apply it The Sore we see in Pauls departure and experience it in our selves He takes his leave of the Ministers of Ephesus and I of you I shall take the Doctrine in two parts First observe Obs That Ministers must not expect a quiet and setled condition in this world their residence amongst their People is not immoveable and inalterable but they and their People must part asunder as providence brought them together at the first and continues them for a while together so sometimes it suffers them to be parted asunder The Seeds-man you know stands not still in one place but goes from one part of the field unto another according to the will and appointment of his Master Ministers are God's Seeds-men and the World is his field wherein the Seed of his Word is sown and he calls them from one place and country to another and they must obey they are his spiritual Clouds to carry the Rain and Dew of their Ministry to water the Seed sown and as natural clouds are broken by the stormy winds and carried hither and thither to water refresh and enrich the Earth so these spiritual Clouds God's Garden-pots are squandred and carried up and down by the storms of Persecution to water refresh and make fruitful the Garden the Church of God Upon the Persecution that was at Jerusalem the Disciples were scattered up and down Preaching the Gospel and the Kingdom of God Acts 8. When they persecute you saith our Saviour in one city flee ye to another I need no demonstrations and instances to evidence the Truth of the Doctrine the Experience of the Priests Prophets under the Law of the Apostles after the times of our Saviour and the Ministers of the Primitive times of the Gospel are abundant Manifestations of the truth of this Doctrine and our own experience this day can set the seal to it not only I but hundreds yea it may be thousands more are this day singing their funeral Dirges and with Paul taking their leave of their beloved People What a strange Mortality is now in England did ever England nay did ever the Christian World hear of such a Mortality at the same instance of time how dismal is the day of St. Bartholomew On this day was Jerusalem once the Glory and Beauty of the world sacked by Titus and Vespasian On the Eve of this day began that bloody Massacre in Paris On this day is a great part of Englands Ministry slain slain not in their persons but in their Offices The dismal transactions that have befallen the Church of God this day deserve to be engraved in deep and in indeleble Characters on Pillars of the blackest Marble that the Ages and Generations to come may reade and weep showers of tears to quench Jerusalems Flames to wash and bathe the Wounds of the poor massacred Christians and bewail Englands loss But I forbear any more enlargements I come to the grounds and reasons of it 1. The first reason Is barrenness under the means of Grace When God bestows upon a People and Nation means of Grace he expects they should thrive up and grow in Grace and bring forth Fruits to his Glory but if they remain barren he removes the means from them When a man hath taken in a piece of ground to make a Garden or Vineyard of and hath taken pains and laid out cost upon it to fence it to manure it to plant it with the choicest Fruit and finest Flowers he expects a proportionable fruitfulness for the satisfaction and recompence for his cost and pains and if after all is done and many years expectations and waitings it remains unfruitful and disappoints his expectations he withholds his cost care and pains he will fence it no more dig it no more he will not do any thing more unto it Even thus the unfruitfulness of a People under means provoketh God to remove means God chose the People of the Jews before all other Nations of the world to be his pleasant Vineyard Isa 5.11 he did every thing requisite for ornament and security for fruitfulness
them and defend them from other sufferings and restore them again to their particular Congregations And pray one for another and for the Peace of Jerusalem Live and depend by Faith upon an invisible God in the midst of visible difficulties and dangers deriving supplies of comfort and strength of Grace from him Be frequent in reading the Word and understand it it is your Way your Light your Weapon and your Food When you go from Church do not as too many do lay up their Bibles on shelves in coffers and never look on them more until the next Lord's day It is the VVord of God written in your hearts and dwelling richly in you in all wisdom not the word on your shelves in your coffers that must guide you defend you and feed you You are careful to lay up your temporal food safely and cleanly O cast not this precious food of your souls at your heels as you do the crusts you give your dogs but begin and end the day with reading understanding treasuring up some part of the VVord and live according to it sanctifie God's Sabbaths according to it govern your Families according to it and manage all your negotiations with men according to it And forget not those things I have lately at large pressed you to from that place Col. 2.6 Remember them when you see me not that as you have received Christ so walk in him For hereby you will abundantly adorn your Profession bring credit to the Gospel and honour to Jesus Christ hereby you shall silence and ashame false Accusers rejoyce the hearts of God's People promote your own Peace and Salvation justifie the Doctrine preached to you from all aspersions and be a Crown of Glory and rejoycing to your dying Minister both now and in the Day of Christ Which that you may be directed and enabled to do and be I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace that is able to build you up and give you an Inheritance among them that are sanctified SERMON XV. 2 Pet. 1.15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things alwayes in remembrance THe occasion of these words and of the Epistle is this The Apostle knowing by Revelation as is probable that he was ere long to dye ver 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me and fearing that many of those to whom he wrote were negligent enough in minding and perfecting the business of their souls Salvation he therefore labours before his departing to put them afresh in remembrance of their duty ver 12 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you in remembrance of these things though ye know them c. as if he had said I know indeed that you who are the called of God know these things in part already which I am puting you in mind of but there are some considerable reasons why I would reinforce them again upon you viz. 1. From the nature of the things themselves they are of great concernment even such as relate to your Salvation ver 10.11 2. From the proximity or nearness of his Death ver 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off the Tabernacle of this body q. d. I am a dying man ere long I shall be taken from you and therefore I would leave this last Legacy with you I would leave something with you which you might remember when I am dead and gone in the words of the Text Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my departure to have these things in remembrance In the Original they run after this manner I will endeavour that ye may alwayes have to make a remembrance of these things after my departure Others reade it thus I will therefore endeavour that ye may be able to have these things in remembrance c. Therefore that is Seeing I am given to understand that I must within a few days be taken from amongst you translating the adversative Particle by an illative therefore I shall leave this Epistle amongst you as upon record that may ever put you in mind of these things when I am dead Hence observe Observ 1. That it is not unmeet for Ministers to inculcate and press the same Truths upon their People Our memories are brittle affections are ready to grow dull and we fall into security in an insensible manner which drowneth the force of former Truths Obs 2. It is the property of good Pastors to take care of their Flocks for the future Faithful Ministers should not only take care for their people whilst they are present with them but after they are gone from them they being spiritual Fathers should lay up for their Children When Christ was to leave his Disciples he leaves some Legacies behind him he tells them what they might expect when he was gone from them and how they should behave themselves in a sinful and troublesome world John 16.1 33. When Paul was to leave Ephesus he sends for the Elders and tells them how they should demean themselves amongst the Flock over which God had made them Overseers We see how Paul was not only a good Shepherd himself but he also provides sutable Successors at least to direct encourage and quicken those that were to succeed him to the same diligence and faithfulness among the People as he himself had exprest Acts 20.28 30 31. When Moses was to be absent but forty dayes from the charge that was committed to him he takes care for the People by leaving Aaron and Hur behind him that they might direct and govern them whilst he himself was in the Mount Exod. 24.14 After these examples I have made it my study and shall make it my business at this time to communicate some spiritual Gifts to you And whereas he said This is the third time I am coming to you Rom. 1.11 I fear I may say this is the last time I am coming unto you I cannot say with Paul ver 14. that our Lord Jesus hath shewed me I must shortly put off my Tabernacle though that may be for ought I know but this I may say that providence seems to point out unto me that the time of my departure from you in particular is at hand Gen. 49.1 We reade that Jacob being to dye calls his sons together to give them some good instructions and to tell them of things to come after his death Now Brethren there is a Law extent which lookes upon many of my Brethren as well as my self who were and are taking pains in the Lords Vineyard as civilly dead henceforth we shall not be in a capacity to preach to you in publick many laborious Ministers after this day are likely to be dead even whilst they are alive if not as long as they live And before I proceed I would that you were freed from mistakes Do not think we lay by our publick Work without cause I would