5.19 These hand out this provision The Hebrew word for Ministery is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manus per manum prophetoe They are instâ—â—cted of God to instruct others endued with heavenly gifts Eph. 4.8 For the bringing souls in and carrying souls on in the way of heaven 6. Look at the place of this feast that is called the mountain of God Isa 25.6 Else where called a great mountain which excells all the mountains of the world This mountain is the Church of God the pillar and ground of truth and it doth appear wheresoever the ordinances of God are in power and purity CHAP. III. Use 1. THis informs us of God's great goodness Psal 31.19 That he should provide such spiritual store to supply our spiritual wants and should set out the nature of spiritual things by those sensible things which are most obvious to us wherewith we are most affected This Gospel-provision is set forth in Scripture by those things which are the objects of all our five senses As 1. It is compared to a pearl of great price which is the object of seeing Matth. 13.46 Pearls and Diamonds seed the eye Sacred truths are proper and pleasing objects to the eyes of our understandings 2. It is compared to a sound to the voice of harpers Rev. 14.2 A melodious tune is the pleasant object of hearing Musick delighteth a skilful ear This Gospel-provision excells all that the eye hath seen or the ear hath heard 1 Cor. 2.9 3. 'T is compared to a garden full of fragrant flowers and sweet spices which is the object of smelling Cant. 5.1 The choicest fruits grow in gardens but the wild grows on the wast Divine graces are only among Christians moral vertues may grow among Heathens 4. It is compared unto a marriage Rev. 19.7 which is the object of touching On how delightful are those spiritual and eternal embraces which Saints have and shall have in the arms of God's everlasting mercy 5. It is here and in Matth. 22. compared to a feast which is the object of tasting These sensible similitudes serve to convey holy truths with the more ease and delight to tell us how satisfactory grace and glory is to them whose senses are exercised to discern both good and evil Heb. 5.14 This sets forth the greatness of man's wickedness in refusing the Gospel-remedy Ingentia beneficia ingentia flagitia ingentia supplicia The great providing it for us and bringing it to us sheweth that God he is much more quick and peremptory in these days of grace in rejecting men saith Dr. Preston The time is shorter he will not wait so long as he was wont to do Use 2. But though the grace of God in the Gospel be great Distributivè quoad genera singulorum non collectivè quoad singula generum Prideaux yet it is not universal so as to set all persons equally in a state of salvation Rom. 9.18 Where it is said God will have all men to be saved it is meant distributively in respect of ranks and kinds of men not collectively in respect of the individual persons of men Use 3. Is there such plenty of Gospel-provision then eat O friends and drink abundantly Cant. 5.1 This eating is believing John 6.53 63 64. The phrase intimates 1. That close union between the grace of God and a believing soul as between the body and the meat which is eaten 2. That special good which the believer doth receive by the grace of God as the body by meat David sheweth what it is to taste that the Lord is good when he presently addeth Blessed is the man that trusteth in him Psal 34.8 Give heedful attendance to the means of grace and yield conscionable obedience to the grace you hear of We have had plentiful means of grace so that many have been in a strait by their plenty like guests at a full feast Coena magna coena dubia that know not at which dish to reach For this cause a great supper among the Romans was called a doubtful supper but take heed of wantonness under means of grace And consider as the day of grace is great so the day of judgment will be great when you shall be called to account for your abuse of Gospel-grace CHAP. IV. Luke 14.16 And bad many THese words shew Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unde fortasse Angl. Call frequenter de vocatione ad convivium dicitur unde apud latinos simpliciter vocare est invit are ad mensam Novar that the invitation is answerable to the provision forementioned The Greek word in the Text signifyeth to call but 't is most frequently used for such a calling as is to a feast or banquet therefore 't is fitly translated bidding or inviting The many that are here said to be invited doth most properly belong to the time before Christs incarnation and in special to the Jews as appears by the immediate subsequent words which refer to the time at Christ's incarnation But the words are delivered in such large terms as exercise the bounty of the Maker of this Feast who declared herein his willingness that so many should partake of his supper Not only Jews but Gentiles ver 21.23 Of which there was some fore-taste in the conversion of several Gentiles called Proselytes by their coming in at the call before Christ came in the flesh Hence I note Obser The invitation to partake of Gospel-provision is very large Mnay are bidden Isa 55.1 Rev. 22.1 7. The explication of this truth will appear by an enumeration of several particular gâ—ests invited and many considered under each of them As 1. Adam was invited and with him the whole race of mankind He was the first man and the Head of the following men and the Gospel was propounded to him Genes 3.15 That he might communicate it to them that came of him Wherefore some make those words who will have all men saved 1 Tim. 2.4 a gloss upon the words of our Text. 2. Noah was invited and with him the old world Noah did partake of the grace of God in the Gospel and those of that age had the offer of that grace by him Christ was preached unto the old world by the ministery of Noah 1 Pet. 3.18 19. who is called not only an heir of righteousness but also a preacher of righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 Those disobedient wretches in that loose age were called upon by Noah from God to believe and repent 3. Abraham was invited and with him the whole Nation of the Jews who came of his loins Gen. 12.1 17.1 he receiving the seal of this Gospel-righteousness in his uncircumcision he became the father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised Rom. 4.11 which extendeth to the good of believers in any Nation But for a long time the Gospel was confined within Abraham's family and Abraham's posterity according to the flesh 4. Moses was invited and with him the Jews had
to go through the service of God without weariness 4. With spirituality raised a spiritual body ver 44. not maintained by natural helps of food Physick sleep c. but kept by the power of God Then body and soul making one person shall serve and obey God without interruption for ever The reasons why it is thus are 1. The filling of heaven is decreed of God and therefore must be effected Though many Angels left their own habitation Jâ—de ver 6. yet their habitation abideth to be possessed by others There is not as some observe the least atom of grace or glory intended for the creature lost to the universality though forfeited by the individuals for what was retracted as to the extent of it to more was supplyed by the intensiveness of it in the fewer whereby the divine justice was fully displayed and the bounty not at all diminished And as the creatures find no abatement of happiness conferred upon them so neither shall the Creator find any abatement of homage attributed to him 2. The preaching of the Gospel and converting of souls is the only way to fill up heaven for this is the way to have Christ in us the hope of glory Col. 1.27 This is the way to be joyned to that Church which is the body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Eph. 1.22 23. CHAP. IV. Use 1. HOw may this support us under all our losses and sufferings What though we be cast out of house and home and lose all for the Gospel yet if we help fill heaven when we are gone from hence will not that make amends Heb. 10.34 what if we should live in a world filled with violence and oppression as the old world was Gen. 6.13 yet God hath an Ark for Noah an heaven for Saints what though we should be filled with scorn and contempt as Israel was Psal 123.3 4. yet there is exceeding joy in the presence of God Jude ver 24. Use 2. Though heaven shall be filled with inhabitants yet it shall be without any annoyance to those inhabitants We must not conceive that house above where Saints immediately attend God's service like these houses below where we attend upon God in the use of means Hear when an house is filled people are crowded they stand and sit in Little Ease so that the very attendance upon means for the soul is not without some annoyance to the body but it shall not be so in heaven That house is not an house made with hands 2 Cor. 5.1 but eternal in the heavens it is of an everlasting continuance and of a very vast circumference without the least inconvenience Use 3. Let us live as those upon earth who shall help fill heaven hereafter let us be cleansing our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and so be perfecting holiness upon earth which is the ready way to perfection of holiness in heaven 2 Cor. 7.1 This is like w ping the feet before we enter a room kept clean and fair No unclean thing must enter heaven as full as it will be Without are dogs Rev. 22.15 the fittest place for them what should they do within Men that live like dogs here must fare like dogs hereafter heaven is no kennel for dogs but a Palace for Kings for Saints who are Kings and Priests unto God Let us look to be filled with the fruits of righteousness to be filled with such fruits here is to be fitted for glory hereafter Grace like Grapes grows by clusters A cluster of these grapes of Canaan we may view Gal. 5.22 and we must look to be filled with such fruits now if we would have heaven filled with us hereafter it is called the fruit of the spirit such fruit as doth not grow in Natures Garden 1. Love the bond of perfectness As the Curtains of the Tabernacle were joyned by loops so are all true Christians by love 2. Joy that in special whereby we rejoyce in our Neighbours good 3. Peace the peace of concord with our brethren 4. Long-suffering patience drawn out at length continuing as long as the trouble 5. Gentleness amiableness and sweetness in behaviour 6. Goodness usefulness in our places 7. Faith taken here for fidelity 8. Meekness not easily provoked a readiness to pass by injuries 9. Temperance whereby a Christian as Master in his own house doth so order his affections that they do not irregularly move nor inordinately lash out To make us now to mind the way to heaven consider what lyeth in our Text the goodly company we shall enjoy in heaven It was the speech of good old Grynaeus O faelicem diem quum ad illud animorum concilium proficiscar ex hac turbâ colluvione discedam Grynaeus Oh happy day when I shall depart from the crowd and sink in this world to go to that blessed councel of souls There is but one heaven to hold all Saints they shall all be in one house Hold up your heads O Christians we shall be in that heaven where all the godly Patriarchs Kings Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Preachers are and where all our dear friends in the Lord are who are gone a little before us Doth it affect you to read the stories of the Patriarchs the writings of the Prophets and Apostles the sufferings of the Martyrs the Acts and Monuments of the Kings the Sermons of godly Preachers Oh how will it affect us to see those very persons another day and to be happy with them SERM. XVII Luke 14.24 For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my Supper CHAP. I. THis verse containeth the conclusion of the Parable the definitive sentence upon the whole In which we have 1. A Preface 2. A Proposition The Preface is a form of speech usually prefixed to raise our attention unto the weighty matter spoken of And this very phrase I say unto you is used near an hundred times by our Saviour in the four Evangelists The Prophets prefaced their Doctrine with Thus saith the Lord. But our Saviour prefaceth his Doctrine with I say unto you The Prophets were but men speaking in the name of the Lord but Christ is God as well as man and therefore could speak in his own name as well as in his father's name because his father and he are one Here the consideration of him that speaks is sufficient to make us receive what is spoken Obser The Authority of the speaker is sufficient ground for the truth and our belief of the holy Scripture The Authority of the speaker in sacred Scripture is altogether divine it being the word of God and so the Authority of the only Deity Quest How doth it appear that those writings which we call the sacred Scripture is the very word of God Resp. 1. It is evident so to be if ye look at the Pen men of Scripture and their impartial proceedings in their writings setting down their own commendations and discommendations
in express terms as Moses doth his meekness at one time and his provoking God at another time Now as it is a base thing for a man to commend himself so it is a foolish thing for a man to blaze his own faults It appears therefore the Pen-men of Scripture were not led by humane policy but by divine Authority And hereby it is evident they were moved by the Holy Ghost to set down what they did 2 Pet. 1.21 As for that objection which some make from the circumstantial different expressions of the Pen-men writing the same things as the four Evangelists we may retort the objection seeing the difference is not substantial but circumstantial and thence fetch a good argument to prove the divine authority of the Scriptures viz. that the Pen-men did not lay their Heads together about the framing of their writings and did not transcribe one anothers Copies they agreeing in the main and yet differing in things of a lesser consideration which is admirable to consider of 2. If we look at the matter of these writings it is evident it comes from heaven because it tends to heaven directing men thither and taking them off from the world There is not one tittle of it that savours of earthlyness or tends to the maintaining of carnal interest so then as the light of the Sun sheweth it self to be the Sun as the discourse of a learned man proves himself to be learned so the language of the Scripture evidenceth it to be sacred it breathing forth nothing but godliness thereby it appeareth to be the very breath of God 3. If we look at the effects of these Scriptures what a wonderful force they have upon the insides of men Tertullian tells the Jews that those places among the Brittains which the Romans could never come at were subdued by Christ that is by his word Here we may appeal to mens consciences for evidence The awakened conscience of a natural man trembleth at this word The clear conscience of an holy man feels a through change within made by force of this word I can speak it by experience saith Erasmus that there is little good to be gotten by the Gospel if a man read it cursorily and carelesly but if he exercise himself therein constantly and conscionably he shall feel such a force in it as is not to be found again in any other book whatsoever 4. If we consider the preservation of these Scriptures That writings penned by so many several men at so many several places in so many several ages should be kept so entire together is more than humane power to bring it to pass The Reason why the Authority of the Speaker is ground enough for our belief of Scripture is Because as God is so Almighty and independent as none can contribute to his being so neither to his truth Let a man but grant a God and he must needs grant his authority to be authentick and that absolute credence is to be yielded to him Hence those Heathen Law-givers Numa Lycurgus c. would needs seem to derive their Laws from some Deity And Mahomet's dictates may not be disputed upon pain of death Let God be true and every man a Liar Rom. 3.4 and Christ Jesus is truth it self John 14.6 and God in Christ is that God who cannot lie Tit. 1.2 CHAP. II. Vse 1. THis shews us the difference between the holy Scriptures and other writings No other writing must be believed barely for the Author's sake but for their agreement to right reason or to the rule of these holy Scriptures In other Sciences we first know and then believe but here it is otherwise we must believe the truth and integrity of the Scriptures because they are of God and then we shall know whether these things are of God or not Humane Authors are apt to go awry in their writings being biassed by self-interest and therefore must not presently be credited as Learned Scâ—liger observeth of Baronius that he did not write but make Annals This also shews us the vanity and vileness of thâ—se who so magnifie reason as they vilifie faith who will believe no more than they see reason for Quid proderit Papismum â—eliquâ—sseâ— et in Socinâ—am 〈◊〉 incidisse câ—lâ—um imagi num detâ—â—â—â— et cul tum maginâ—tionum ampleâ—â—i Prideaux who think it beneath a rational creature to ground faith upon the Authority of the Speaker Such are the Sâ—cinians That which is said to be spoken by a person of Quality of this Nation of that judgment is a very prophane speech Whaâ— saith he do you talk to me of faith Give me reason every Cobler may have faith But the Scripture saith Faith is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 the demonstrative evidence it is the nature of faith to believe God upon his bare word and that against sense in things invisible and against reason in things incredible Sense corrects imagination reason corrects sense but saith corrects both faith helpeth at a dead lift Use 2. Yet this doth not make that we should take divine truths upon trust when men utter the same though they quote Scripture for what they speak let who will be the preacher we should examine what we hear Act. 17.11 there is a judgment of discretion that belongs to every one to make trial of their own actions Secondly this doth not make Christian Religion irrational no Ratio Christianorum est fides Luther it is a most reasonable service Rom. 12.1 where we cannot see a natural reason for what we believe yet it is most reasonable we should believe it when we know the Supream cause hath spoken it The knowledge of the Scriptures and the power of God would make those things credible to faith which seem impossible to reason Matth. 22.29 Use 3. Let us be ashamed of our slowness to believe what is spoken in the sacred Scriptures As it is our misery that we are so dull to conceive so it is our folly that we are so slow to believe divine truths Luke 24.25 let us be sure throughly to understand those arguments which prove the Authority of sacred Scripture let us believe God upon his bare word believing though we have not seen John 20.29 grounding our faith according to our duty upon the Authority of the Speaker Study the Supremacy of God's Authority This made the Centurion believe Christ upon his bare word Matth. 8.8 9. And be acquainted with those Experiments that assure you that God is as good as his word Such as that of God's delivering Israel out of Egypt just at the time appointed Exod. 12.41 God kept his word to a day 1. Herein is the high commendation of faith when we can thus believe God on his bare word This made Christ say of the Centurion's faith he had not found so great faith no not in Israel Matth. 8.10 he admired it as incomparable and matchless Some required Christ to come to them others required Christ to