thou Simon Bar-jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven Flesh and blood is no revealer of Christ nor of the Mysteries which belong unto him And so 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receives not the things of the spirit for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And so in the place before cited 1 Cor. 2.8 Which none of the Princes of the world knew The Princes of the world who are they these are not as I conceive only those which are properly so call'd earthly Kings and Potentates and the like for but few of them had an hand in the actual crucifying of Christ but by the Princes of the world we are to understand rather the great Rabbies and Doctors of the world which were as it were Princes for learning and humane knowledg which did Dominari in Scholis The Scribes and Pharisees the Philosophers and Naturalists and the like these were Principes seculi hujus and which notwithstanding were wholly ignorant of Christ So that we see how men may much abound in worldly wisdom and yet fall short of Evangelical knowledg First Because this Mystery of the Gospel it is a thing which is meerly dependant upon the will and counsel of God himself that which has its sole ground work and foundation in the wisdom of God that cannot be discovered or discerned by the meer wit and wisdom of man now thus it is with the Doctrine of the Gospel and the way to Salvation by Christ it is a thing purely dependant upon Gods Wisdom and Decree for the accomplishment and revelation of it Hence it is said in Scripture to be the Wisdom of God in a mystery and the hidden Wisdom which God had before the world ordained to our glory 1 Cor. 2.7 Again it is said to be hid in God Eph. 3.9 that is in the secret of his own purpose and eternal counsel This makes it to be such as is beyond the reach not only of the wisest men in the world but likewise without particular revelation of the Angels themselves Secondly As it is hid in God so it is also hid by God and that of purpose oftentimes from those which are otherwise the wisest men in the world thus we have it in that acknowledgment of our Saviours Mat. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Even so O Father because it seemed good in thy sight God does think fitting sometimes in his infinite and unsearchable wisdom to conceal and hide from the great ones and Rabbies of the world those things as concerning Religion which yet he discovers to mean persons And so if we will we may apply the phrase in the Text in another sense than as yet we have taken it In the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God namely by taking this Wisdom of God Oeconomicè as well as Objectivè God did so order it dispense it in his Providence and unsearchable Wisdom that the world by all their wisdom should not attain to the right knowledg of him Thirdly The world by the strength of natural wisdom is not able to know God in Christ in regard of the disproportion betwixt the faculty and the object the knowledg of Christ being of a far different and contrary nature and condition hereunto We know that no faculty can act beyond its own sphere nor reach an object which is above it self As bodily eyes cannot see spiritual substances no more can wit and natural sagacity be able to reach the knowledg of God in Christ which is an object transcendent unto it The improvement of this Point to our selves is not as some would make it to be from hence to cast a reproach and disparagement upon Wit and Parts and humane learning simply considered it is not in the sense of the times at least of many foolish people in them to cry down Schools and Colledges and Universities and such places of Learning and Education as these are nor to diminish or take off from those which are eminent in such kind of perfections humane wisdom and wit and skill in Philosophy and sagacity they are singular gifts and endowments which proceed from God himself and God does highly honour those persons whom he does bestow them upon for which reason we are to honour them also and whosoever speaks against them they speak evil of the things which they know not as the Apostle speaks It may be requisite for us therefore to consider the right sense and meaning of these things that we may not mistake There 's a threefold disparagement especially if so be I may call it a disparagement which we do justly and most deservedly cast upon humane learning and the wisdom of the world First Comparative and Exclusive we do disparage it and diminish from it so Humane learning if we compare it with Divine and worldly wisdom with the wisdom from above here it is as good as nothing a very poor and mean business For a man to know all kind of things in the world and in the mean time to be ignorant of Christ and those things which concern his soul this knowledg will in effect profit him nothing and he is but a very Ignoramus There 's no comparison to be made betwixt them we see how the Apostle himself sets it when he speaks to this point Phil. 3.8 I count all things says he but dung and dross for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord c. Saint Paul was a very learned man and that in the Mysteries of humane learning a great and deep Scholar yet when he compared his knowledg here with the knowledg of Christ and the Gospel here he set it at a very low rate and so indeed it was to be set and is so still to be by all others whatsoever Thus far now we disparage humane wisdom as we do dross by setting it below Gold not absolutely but only by comparison And that 's the first Explication Secondly We do disparage Humane wisdom Vt fundamentum superbiae carnalis confidentiae as a ground or argument of pride and boasting and carnal confidence wit and learning and parts and the wisdom of the world they are very noble and excellent qualifications but yet they are such as none have cause to be proud of or lifted up with whosoever they are There 's no man who has any of these things in the greatest measure that can be who has any reason to swell in himself for the enjoyment of them If he considers either how he comes by them which is only by gift or if he considers how easily he may lose them and may have them taken away from him or if he considers how they are such gifts as may be bestowed even upon enemies and wicked men these are enough to
And the end in which it is so concluded It is necessary departure ending in a sensible return This is matter of joy and great rejoycing to us Be therefore patient and stablish your hearts as the Apostle St. James reasons and argues in the place before-cited A Spouse when she thinks her Bridegroom will return and come back to her again it contens her in his present absence And so it should also do us in the present absence of Christ from us As the Apostle al 's urges it upon the Hebrews Heb. 10.36 37. Ye have ned of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry And so also as to the departure of Christian friends there 's the same ground of satisfaction likewise because they go away upon the same terms also as Christ himself does namely of coming again Not of coming again into the world to lead here a emporal life as sometimes they did but of coming again so as we shall again see them and have communion with them Thus 2 Cor. 4.14 Knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you And 1 Thess 4.14 If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him When Christ himself comes again all the Saints shall then come again with him which is matter of great satisfaction and encouragement in reference to their departure Secondly Whiles we hear that Christ will return and come back again it should make us very much to wish and long for his coming that it may be speeded and hasened to us Looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God as it is in 2 Pet. 3.12 This is the temper and disposition of all gracious and faithful Souls As Believers under the Old Testament they long'd for the first coming of Christ And therefore old Simeon is described by one that waited for the consolation of Israel Luke 2.25 So Believers now under the New Testament they do also long for the second coming of Christ and therefore are described by such as love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 This is that which we our selves should do The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come as it is in Rev. 22.17 And so indeed he does if he be that which he should be The Church here ecchoes to Christ and they are the very last words of the Bible where-with all besides he blessing it is concluded Rev. ult 20. Surely I come quickly says Christ And the Church says Amen to it Even so come Lord Jesus An affection suitable to the dispensation Thirdly It teaches us likewise to be in readiness and preparation hereunto Seeing Christ will indeed come we should be fitted for the entertainment of him Prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband as it is in Rev. 21.2 When we hear the Bridegroom cometh we should go out to meet him We should be like the wise Virgins that had their Lamps trimmed and oyl in their Vessels and all things in readiness when the Bridegroom came Matth. 25.10 And we should be like faithful servants that wait for their Lord when he will return from the Wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately as it is in Luk. 12.36 This is done by walking curious paths and exactly and having our hearts and affections above As the Apostle Paul seems to carry it Phil. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ c. Because we look for our Saviour from Heaven therefore our conversation is in Heaven as a carriage suitable and agreeable to such expectations Lastly Here 's matter of terrour to all those that are the enemies of Christ and who with that slothful servant in the Gospel say Their Lord delayeth his coming and therefore go on still securely in sinning eating and drinking and being drunken These scoffers of the last days such as are these in which we live may say Where is the promise of his coming For since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation as it is in 2 Pet. 3.4 Let all such as these now here take notice that will inded come again though they think that they are quit of him and shall never hear of him more I say that he will again come Come in such a day as they will not look for him and at such an hour as they are not aware and wil cut them in sunder and will appoint them their portion with Unbelievers It is that which Christ has signified to us in this present Text and he 'll be as good as his word I will come again While it is said here I will come again We are for the better and fuller understanding of this Passage to take it still in its connexion and dependance upon that which went before I go to prepare a place for you Now says our Saviour If I do thus I will then come again And the one follows from the other These foregoing words have both a discreet Emphasis and an Hypothetical according to a different reading of them For some read them thus Though I go to prepare a place for you yet I will come again And so it is a discreet Proposition Others read them thus If I go away and prepare a place for you then I will come again c. And so it is an Hypothetical We may take them either way The former of these has been spoken to as it were all this while where we have shewn that Christ's departure is not absolutely but only temporary it is not so as utterly to forsake them but with thoughts of returning again unto them And so he makes his return to be concomitant to his departure it is as well one with him as t'other and the latter not excluded by the former The latter reading by taking it Hypothetically is now further considerable of us and as suiting with our own last Translation If I go away c. then I will come again Where his coming again is inferr'd upon his going away especially in the circumstances of it and the end for which it was undertaken To prepare a place for them And indeed we may if we please conjoyn them and take them both together and that thus Though I go away from you yet I will come again unto you And because I go to prepare a place for you therefore I will also in due time return unto you His foregoing preparation would be in vain without his following return to make answet unto it Till he has prepared a place for us he will not come And when he has prepared a place for us he will not stay So great is the love and kindness of our blessed
easily can he also do so likewise in these Tempests of Blood He that commanded peace in that Sea how easily can he do also in this And he who stilled those Waves how easily can he also do these and that in the greatest unlikelyhood and improbability for it This is a very comfortable consideration to be thought on and meditated by us in these our Distractions that the making or breaking of our peace and that treaty which is now on foot it is not at the will and pleasure of those which labour our Ruin but in the hands of God himself if he will have it to thrive it shall prosper and if he will not there is somewhat more in it then we are presently capable off though it should come to nothing as a Treaty yet it will come to somewhat as a Providence that we may be sure of and rest upon and that which shall make most for his Glory and his Churches good Therefore this may serve further to Confound all the Enemies of the Church in their attempts and indeavours against it they do but befool themselves and labour in Vain while they think and study to hinder God's people of that Peace and quietness which he has prepared and appointed for them We may see this for instance in the Example of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in their attempts against the Children of Israel whereunto some Interpreters have been of opinion that the words of this very Text in hand did more particularly allude I say we may see it in them how the Lord by his Sovereign sentence free'd them out of Slavery and Oppression and Bondage which they were then inthralled in notwithstanding all the Plots and indeavours of their Enemies to the Contrary And so he will also doe for others of his People upon the like occasions he will create Peace for them c. Lastly It shews us the Vanity of all Peace-makers without God if the Lord do not help thee whence should I help thee c. There is one thing more which we may here observe which I think fitting to take notice off in this order before I proceed to the second Reference and that 's this The joyning of these two together whether against a Nation or against a man onely from whence we may learn thus much That it is all one to God to punish an whole Nation as it is to punish a particular Person he can as easily do one as the other When he hides his face who can behold him It may be said of Either of them and experience shews it to be thus we see how easily God punish't an whole World when they were wicked and sinned against him he brought a deluge of waters upon them wherewith he destroyed them And so afterwards Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities thereabouts he overthrew them by Fire as he did the other before by Water And so the Cananites and Perrezites and Jubesites and those Nations which were Enemies to Israel we read how the Lord hid his face from them that is how he conquered and subdued them and made an end and Desolation of them in Nahum 1.12 Though they be Quiet and likewise many yet thus shall they be Cut down when he shall pass through And in Chap. 3. vers 8. c. Speaking to Nineveh which was a great City Art thou better then Populous No that was situate amongst the Rivers that had the Waters round about it whose Rampart was the Sea and her wall was from the Sea Aethiopia and Egypt were her strength and it was infinite Put and Lubin were thy helpers yet was she carryed away she went into Captivity c. And thus it shall also be with thee we see that multitude and populousness and number cannot exempt from the judgements of God look as paucity and fewness and smalness does not disparage in regard of deliverance where God hath at any time a minde to save He can save by few as well as by many if he please so plurality and greatness and combination does not priviledge in regard of punishment where God hath a mind to destroy Though hand joyn in hand the wicked shall not go unpunish'd He can subdue a whole Kingdom as well as a private person and a Nation as well as a man onely He makes no difference either of one or the other The Ground of this is taken First From Gods Omnipotency and the Infiniteness of his Almighty Power which has all the men and People of the World in his own hands and can do with them whatsoever he pleaseth as we have it set forth unto us excellently in Esay 40.15 Behold the Nations are as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small dust of the Ballance behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing Alas What is all the strength and Power and Multitude in the World to the power of an Omnipotent God The drop of a Bucket it is a small and poor matter and the dust of the Ballance the least breath that is Scatters and disperses it And thus now are all Nations and Kingdomes in the hands of the Lord. Secondly As God hath infiniteness of power consider'd simply in himself so he hath also variety of instruments consider'd in those which attend him and wait upon him We see how in the Camp of Sennacherib there were an hundred fourscore and five thousand which were destroyed in one night and how by the ministry of an Angel One Angel can quickly destroy thousands of men And what shall we say then when all the Angels and Creatures in the world stand ready arm'd at Gods command for the execution of his will and pleasure upon ungodly men Surely here whatever a Nation or a man onely it 's all one unto him Forasmuch as what he does not by one means he is able to do by another The use of this Point to our selves may be drawn out in a double improvement First in a way of terror and astonishment to wicked men even there where they are arm'd and kept in with never so much multitude and power yet the hand of God can reach them and pay them home Psal 33 16. There 's no king saved by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by his much strength That is he is not thus delivered out of the hand of God Amongst men it is many times otherwise The multitude of the delinquents is sometimes an hindrance and impediment to the proceeding and execution of Justice And that as we shall ordinarily observe upon these two grounds First From a wearisomness and tediousness which is in him who is to inflict punishment upon them Where there are many offenders a man is loth to stand about it to punish them and so by this means they all scape now and then in regard of their multitude or at least the whole number and generality of them may not suffer But with God it is not thus there 's is no tyring
God's Goodness in this first Dispensation of himself unto us The State and Condition of Infancy may here be a ground of Security to riper years Thus it was here to David And accordingly it should now occasionally be improved by you against all inordinate carefulness and Sollicitude and distraction of Spirit whether for your selves or those which in this relation belong unto you There are many which much perplex themselves with such thoughts what shall become of them and especially of their Infants and little ones in such sad times as these which are now upon us Of War and Slaughter and Desolation and national Ruine why consider now for this purpose who it is that makes to hope upon the breast It is not the tenderness of Condition which makes God uncapable of shewing mercy or unwilling or unable to give protection nay he gives it so much the rather in that regard in which respect we should depend upon him and though God may not always it may be shew it in that way which we may desire and expect it yet he will do it in some other way and manner which shall be altogether as profitable for us and comfortable to us And that 's the first pledge of Goodness which David draws from this Condition The Pledges of Protection and Preservation The Second is the Pledge of Provision and Sustentation God fed him upon the Breasts therefore there was good ground to hope that God would feed and sustain him still Here 's an argument now against Sollicitous and distracting care for our support here in this World which is that which does very much disquiet many an Heart What shall we Eat and what shall we Drink and wherewith shall we be Cloathed Our Saviour in this case sends us in another place to the Birds and to the Lillyes and Beasts Here now we are sent to the Babes and Sucklings and Breasts consider what God has done here in this particular and fetch an argument of Faith from hence It is a good security to us for our Sustenance and daily Bread And when we are at any time tempted to distrustfulness we should make this use of it to look back and consider how God provided for us in this Condition and reason thus He that fed me when I was a Child and unable to feed my self will he now starve me when I am a man and when I partake of more Abilities He that fed me with Milk will he not feed me with stronger Meat He that has fed me will he not feed those also which are mine and which belongs unto me Thus should we argue in these cases and consider that this Carping and Caring as it is offensive in other Considerations so it does also in particular trespass upon our experience of Gods goodness to us in our Infancy and tender Estate There is one thing more before I pass this particular which is not to be omitted by us my Mothers Breasts There is somewhat also observable in this It is not said the Breasts of the Nurse but the breasts of the Mother to signify thus much unto us that none in an ordinary way are so fit Nurses of Children as Parents Where there is a Concurrance of other Qualifications and no special hinderance and impediment that justly lyes in the way as an obstruction thereunto which must always in such cases be excepted She that is the Childs Mother is the fittest to be the Childs Nurse it 's most sutable and agreeable to Nature and that affection which God hath put into Parents for this end amongst the rest Esay 49.15 Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb. Where the Son of her Womb and her sucking Child are put together as explaining one another A Woman may forget a sucking Child which is the Son of another Woman but which is the Son of her own Womb this she can hardly forget This was the Happiness of Moses when Pharach's Daughter took him up for her adopted one that she which was his Mother was his Nurse and so David here in this place he does intimate it as a blessing to be remembred that she that bore him Nurst him and that as God preserved him upon the Breasts so especially upon the breasts of his Mother This is therefore by the way a good item and admonition which is here suggested unto us as concerning Parents and Mothers of Children to be taken notice of by them that they consider upon what grounds and in what cases they devolve this work upon others which properly and naturally and orginally and in the example of Scripture hath still for the most part been an imployment belonging to themselves And that 's also the Second particular The blessings of the Breasts The Third is the blessings of the Cradle in the care of his Orphanage and Education Vpon thee was I cast from the Womb. Here is a further Expression of Gods goodness and mercy to him in his former Estate There are two manner of ways in which David was said from the Womb to be cast upon God and so consequently any other may be said to be cast upon him in the same respect likewise First By the Helplesness and Necessity of his Condition He was now a poor and destitute Creature unable to help Himself or do any thing towards his own advancement and then did God himself take a special care of him he was cast upon him that is left to his mercy Secondly By the Faith of his Parents Who in the exercise of Faith in the promises and Gods Covenant of free-Grace did commend and commit and give him up to Gods tuition First He was cast upon God from the Womb by the Helplesness and Necessity of his Condition He was so cast upon God as that he or none must now relieve him and take care of him and so he did Thus Psal 27.10 When my Father and Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up Which is true both of a forsaking of Affection and likewise of a forsaking of Presence which latter as I conceive is there chiefly and principally intended When his Father and his Mother forsook him by being removed and taken away from him so that here now we have exhibited unto us the special care which God undertakes to have of Orphans and Fatherless Children to provide for them or any other which though they have Parents yet are such as cannot help them Thou art the helper of the Fatherless Psal 10.14 And in thee the Fatherless find mercy Hose 14.3 In which places by Fatherless we may understand not onely such as are commonly and properly so called but which are in any destitute and forelorn Condition whatsoever it be Thus did God graciously provide for David and thus also for sundry others he is a faithful and careful Guardian to protect and sustain those which are most to seek of outward relief and he delights to shew himself so
while they live here in the World Especially in his Patience towards them and Long-suffering and Forbearance of them in that he does not presently take advantage against them but heaps many comforts upon them thereby to lead them and draw them to Himself but they commonly make but an ill use and Improvement of it by being from hence so much the more harden'd and confirm'd in Sin they despise that Goodness which they should Imbrace and the Author of it as so much the greater Aggravation of Wickedness and Sinfulness in them The Mercies which God bestows upon the Publique and so upon themselves in commonwith others and the mercies which God bestows upon them in private for their own particulars each of these are misimprov'd by them as it is said concerning the Israelites Jeshuron waxed fat and kicked and when God fed them with Quayles and Manna gave them drink and water out of the Rock delivered them out of the hands of their Enemies by a strong hand and a stretched out arm yet they forgot the works of the Lord and all the wonders that he had wrought for them which he took as a contemning of himself Thus Esay 5.12 The Harp and Viol the Tabret and the Pipe and the Wine are in their Feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord nor the Opperation of his hands Whether in Judgments or if we will also in Mercy the great things which his hands have wrought for them And so Psal 28.5 There is the like expression Because they regarded not the works of the Lord nor the Opperation of their hands he shall destroy them and not build them up Again as in the Providences of Mercy so likewise in the Providences of Judgment wicked men they contemn God here also in that while his hand is lifted up they will not see neither any thing better'd or reformed by it as it is said of them in Esay 9.13 This People turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts And the Prophet Jeremiah to the like purpose Jer. 5.3 Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have not received Correction they have made their faces harder then a Rock they have refused to return When people shall come to this pass as to be inncorrigible under Gods Afflicting hand and Chastising of them it is a Contemning of him in a way of his Judgments which is the case of many Persons When Gods Judgments are either threatned but not Executed or Executed but with some Intermission or Mitigation of them this makes some kind of Natures to slight him and despise him in them Thus we know it was with Pharoah He that first asked who is the Lord when he sent a Messuage to him to let go his People and so contemn'd him as concerning his Commands when afterwards he was followed with Gods plagues and had any respite of them he still persisted and contemn'd him in his Judgments And that is the Second Explication of this Observation The Third and last is in his Servants and those which belong unto him We know how in the affairs of the world Contempt it does oftentimes proceed and Express it self in this not onely as to mens person but as to their Relations Thus are Parents contemned in their Children Masters in their Servants Princes in their Ambassadors and the like And thus is God also contemned in those that have Relations to him He that despiseth the poor says Solomon he reproaches his maker Those that contemn the poor members of Christ they contemn Christ himself and so he will account them to have done at the last day when he shall come to Judgment as much as they have done it to any of his little ones he will reckon it as done unto himself as he there professes in Matth. 25.45 Men may think when they slight and wrong and oppress any of the poor members of Christ that this Injury and contempt reaches no further then a Company of poor and Helpless men Oh but there is somewhat more in it if it be duly considered it reaches even God Himself who is despised in their Despisings and accordingly will take it to Himself at another day As in all their Afflictions he is Afflicted and Sympathised with them in their Sufferings so in all their Contemnings he is Contemned and Sympathised with them in their Despisings Those that Despise the members of Christ they Despise Christ Himself And so as for the Members of Christ so likewise for the Ministers of Christ which is another consideration of his servants It holds here also when these come to us in the Name of Christ and by authority from him and we shall contemn them in the discharge of their office it reaches to Christ He that despises you sayes he despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10.16 And 1 Thes 4.8 He therefore that despiseth not man but God who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit What are we sayes Moses to the Isaelites that ye murmur against us your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord Exod. 16.8 And again the Lord to Samuel when they rejected him for ruling over them They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that is not onely thee but me and me in thee 1 Sam. 8.7 Thus we see in all these particulars and according to these various explications how wicked men do contemn God as a thing which is manifest by experience In his Ordinances in his Providences and in his Servants Now it would he further inquired whence this does proceed in them Because it seems some what strange that indeed it should be so what may we then conceive to be the Ground or occasion of it Surely there is a twofold Ground which may be assign'd of it as is usually observable in other Contumelies in the world The one as proceeding from Pride and the other from Ignorance These two taken together are the grounds and occasions of this contempt First It proceeds from Pride This hath a common and usual influence upon Contempt Those that do too much pride and over-value themselves they are apt to contemn others and sometimes better then themselves and so it is here The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts in the fourth verse of this Psalm Through the pride of his countenance that is indeed through the pride of his heart which doth usually express and manifest it self in the Countenance This is that which makes him not to seek after God but to neglect him because he thinks with himself that he can do well enough without him Self-sufficiency it disposes men to pride and so consequently to contemptuousness Those that apprehend themselves independent are scornfull and whiles they think they can subsist of themselves they subject to despise others yea sometimes even God himself
Christ so they have likewise interest in that Affection which might incline the Heart of him that has these things in his own disposing to bestow these good things upon them whatsoever they be The Lord bears that render love and respect to those which are his Children as that he thinks nothing in the world too good for them This is another Consideration and which carries a great deal of weight in it If Gods Children do want any thing which they may conceive and apprehend to be fortheir good it is not for want of any love or Affection of God himself towards them that they may assure themselves of and conclude upon it they have his Heart and his good-will towards them in their greatest restraints and such as is ready to bestow any thing upon them He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 Thirdly There is no good thing whatsoever which the Children of God can desire which God is not able to bestow upon them in regard of Himself He which is Goodness it self and the Fountain and Treasure of Goodness he has all good things at his Command and in his own Power As there 's a Title and an Affection so there 's an Estate too as the Ground and Foundation of this Bounty whereof we now speak to be bestowed upon them The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the World and they that dwell therein Psal 24. vers 1. So then if Gods Children do want as they Imagin any good thing as it is not for want of love in God so it is not for want of Power in them neither he withholds no good thing from them out of any impotency in himself to bestow it But then Fourthly and Lastly As to the matter of Actual performance God does withhold no good thing from those that fear Him in the event it self but does indeed bestow it upon them and does here by this passage in the Text ingage himself to as much for them No good thing will be c. This must again be taken with these Explications First There is no good thing which God does withhold from all his Children take it absolutely and specificatively in regard of the things themselves There are some of the Children of God which do partake of every good thing in kind in one rank or degree or other as some of them have Riches and some of them have none and some Health c. Secondly There 's no good thing whatsoever which God does withhold from any of his Children either in the formality or Equivalency of it Let it be truly good and he does not withhold it or if he does withhold it in the kind yet he does withhold it in the Analogy and proportion and Equalness of it First I say let it be truly good and he does not withhold it so much as in kind as Health and Riches and Friends and Honours make this but out that it is indeed good for any Child of God now to have them and he shall be sure not to want them God will never withhold them from him that he may be sure But now to make this good ye must know there are divers things concerning it First It must be a sutable Good that which is good in it self and considered simple in it own Nature is not always good for thee in thy particular Condition and God has a special heed and regard to that This we must needs distinguish both for the Vindicating of this present Text which we have now in hand as also the Providence of God to his Children in this particular There are many which when they hear this point God will withhold no good thing from his Children Except against it as a false Proposition because many of the Servants of God are deficient in such and such particulars Nay but soft that 's a very unsound and inconsistant kind of Reasoning for that which is good in it self is not so good for such and such persons because not so sutable to them nor agreeable to them in those Circumstances which are upon them that are here to be attended to That Greatness of Estate or that Health of Body or that height of Place which it may be thou hast a mind to and thinkest to be very good as it may be perhaps in it self yet it is not so good for thee in thy particular and therefore upon that account is withheld from thee that onely is good which is sutable to such a subject c. Secondly Which is seasonable and in it's time God does not absolutely withhold but onely delay good things to his Children he will give them but not yet till they are in some manner sitted and qualified for them Every thing is beautiful in it's season the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as men count slack And then Thirdly also Which may best conduce to and consist with their Eternal Salvation when these outward good things are likely to be any Hinderances to the Salvation of Gods people God does in these cases deny them to them and withhold them from them which yet properly is no withholding in good earnest for as much as his main end and design which he has about them is to save them and bring them to Heaven Thus when any thing is absolutely good for them God does give it them and that also in kind But then further if not in kind in proportion and Equivalency that he does at least He gives them the sweetness and comfort of all these things in the denyal of themselves this we may see in that Expression in Mark 10.29.30 Where those that leave Houses and Bretheren and Sisters and Lands c. For Christs sake and the Gospel are said to receive them again here in this time even with Persecution How can that be possible Namely in the Analogy and Equivalence though not in the things themselves There 's all these in the Comfort of them which they partake off though not in the particular That 's another Explication of this point unto you and so you have the Blessing it self No good thing withheld The next with which I end is the Persons to whom this is promised that walk uprightly this has two things in it First It shews the Persons in what Condition for the General and that is the Children of God who are described by this Pariphrasis of such as walk uprightly Secondly It shews the Persons under what Qualifications for the particular and that is of Exact-Walkers And in this latter Sense are we to take it Especially It is not the Children of God any ways consider'd which can expect this bounty from God but as approving themselves unto him Those which walk any thing carelesly and Remisly neglect their Spiritual Watch venter upon Temptations at random c. They may miss of many a good thing which is otherwise provided for
Solomon tells us and Peter councels Simon Magus to repent of his wicked thought that it might be forgiven unto him we have cause to take care of our thoughts that they may not be otherwise then such as are agreeable to the rule of God's Law Take heed of spiritual sins and such as are more appropriated to the mind or of Corporal sins made Spiritual by Fancy and Speculation Speculative revenge and Speculative uncleanness and Speculative Theft which consists in Covetous and unlawful Desires We should use our phansies and thoughts purely that so while they are not to us instruments and means of sin they may not be to us neither instruments or means of Affliction that we may not have troublesome and disquieting thoughts it concerns us to have innocent thoughts and thoughts as near as we can free from guilt and that in all the Improvements and Activities of them In matter of Judgement to have sound and sober opinions In matter of reflection to have holy and Sanctified Meditations In matter of Counsel to have honest and faithful Contrivances Every way and in every thing to submit our thoughts to the blessed guidance of the Holy Spirit of God and in a Gracious Captivity and subjection to the Obedience of Christ Thus shall we have less trouble from our thoughts then otherways we should And as this does concern all men whatsoever so more especially does it concern those whose excellency lies in their thoughts Schollers and men of parts and understanding forasmuch as these are most subject to such kind of evils as these are in the greatest Aggravations The finest wits are liable to the greatest Distractions and the more advantages any have of doing Evil the more occasions have they likewise of suffering Evil as the mind is capable of the greater Comfort and Contentment so it is also of the greatest trouble and look as it is in the body that the most exquisite Constitutions are liable to the greatest pains so in the Soul the most sublime and raised parts ar exposed to the most disquieting thoughts Thus God is pleased now and then to afford sad instances and Expressions off that others may take heed but so much for the first particular to wit the grief or evil it self which is here mentioned And that is thoughts The Second is the Amplification of this Evil and that is from the Number Multitude of thoughts Thoughts crowding and thrusting in themselves in a Violent and confused manner one upon another Que catervatim se proruunt as Austin speaks in another case such thoughts as these does he here speak off All Evils do still receive an Intention and Aggavation of themselves from the plurality and multiplicity of them And so likewise here one troublesome and molesting thought it may breed a great deale of Grief and Distraction and such as a man would fain be rid off and shake off from Himself what he could But where there are many this is so much the more Intollerable Now this is that which we have here in this place exhibited to us David had many rugged thoughts which he was perplext and troubled withall and which occasion'd so much grief unto Him It was Multitudo Cogitationum and this is that which many others besides are subject unto There are many devises in the Heart of a man as Solomon speaks Prov. 19.21 And again in Eccl. 7.29 God made man Righteous but they sought out many Inventions Many Devises and many Inventions and many Thoughts are men troubled withall There 's a variety and diversity of them This to give you some account of it from whence it does proceed is founded upon these following Considerations First The nature of the mind of man consider'd simply in it self that lays Ground for this Multiplication Man's Soul it is full of Nimbleness and Activity and Fruitfulness upon all occasions It is that which is still working and beating out somewhat or other without any Intermission And because it is also full of Inconstancy and unsettledness by reason of Sin therefore it is apt to produce a variety and abundance of thoughts It goes from one thing to another like a Bee in the change of Flowers and is never at rest and this is a part of that Vanity which is upon it this Infirmity is seen in nothing more then it is in the performance of good Duties Prayer and hearing of the word and such Religious Exercises as these wherein this multitude of thoughts does in a special manner discover it self How hard and difficult is it without a great deal of carefulness and watchfulness and preparation and circumspection for the mind to keep it self close to that one thing which is necessary and not to be called away to a variety and multiplicity of Distractions at such times as those are The Holiest men that ever have been they have much complained of this weakness in themselves as St. Austin and St. Basil c. Secondly Another Cause and Ground of this multitude of thoughts may be taken from the mutability of Conditions and variety of Objects and occasions which we meet withall in this world Our thoughts are for the most part answerable to the Estate in which we are and the occasions which are presented unto us Now forasmuch as there 's an alteration in them there 's a diversity also in these which are sutable and agreeable thereunto This is our Condition in this World that it is subject to an abundance of change sometimes things go well with us and sometimes they go another way at least we are ready to think so let them go how they will There are occasions from our selves there are occasions from our Relations there are occasions from the Church and publique Estates And this does produce Plurality and variety of thoughts in us Thirdly There is also some cause from this now and then likewise from others according as thoughts are suggested and presented and offered to the mind and this is seen in nothing more then in the Temptations of Satan who being Himself a Spirit has thereby a very great advantage over our Spirits and does sometimes put thoughts into us of his own accord and which otherwise we should never think off Yea there are some whom he does in a manner force and impose thoughts upon them against their will in his violent suggestions Thoughts of Atheism and thoughts of Blasphemy and thoughts against the very Light and dictates of Nature it self these may be said to be our thoughts so far forth as we are the Subjects recipient of them and in a passive sense but otherwise they are none of ours neither shall they be put upon our score or laid to our charge while we do abhor and reverence them no more then the words of any Blasphemer or prophane person which we hear against our minds and which we shut our Ears against yet these they are many times in great multitudes and do make up this present number in the Text. And
this which is belonging unto them All the Creatures are ready to stand up to avenge the quarrel of their Creator upon them whom such persons are at variance withal as we shewed before And so they have no peace with them We know here by the fall of man as the Creatures themselves are subject to vanity so they can also to be hurtfull and pernicious to the sons of men who have thereby lost the Primitive Authority and Dominion over them and are now become in a manner Subject unto them And this in wicked men especially holds in its full vigor and force who have a special share in this curse of all others besides As for those who are good either they are preserved from the Creatures hurting them or that hurt which they receive from them is sanctified to them for good in which sense they may be said so far forth to be at peace with them But for wicked men it is no such matter They are subject to all the inconveniencies that may be from them The Fire and the Water and the Air and the Earth all the Elements conspire against them and they are in no safety or security from them But if they escape the evil of the one they are ready presently to be surprised with the other and that in the most dreadfull and disadvantagious circumstances that can be imagined And so much may suffice to have spoken of the First Explication in which there is no Peace to the wicked By taking it in the state of Peace in reference to their condition there 's no peace to them so The Second is by taking it for the Spirit of Peace and in reference to the words There 's no Peace to them thus neither wicked men they have no true Peace in themselves this is another sense of those words and it seems to agree very much with the context in the verse immediately preceeding where we find it exprest thus The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt which seems to deny them that calmness and peaceableness of mind and soul which were desireable in them this is that which they want And there are two things again which seem also to be imply'd in this First There 's want of Peace as it is a Grace And Secondly There 's want of Peace as it is a Priviledge There 's no Peace to the Wicked that is they have not that meek disposition which is desireable in them And there is no Peace to the Wicked that is they have not that comfortable disposition which is desireable of them First Take it for the Grace of Peace And there is no Peace to the wicked thus Peace it is a fruit of the Spirit namely as Sanctifying and so we find it to be made Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the spirit is Love Joy Peace Hence also the Apostle James speaking of that wisdom which is from above says it is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated c. Now this I say among other things is that wherein wicked men are failing As they are destitute of many other Virtues and Graces besides so amongst the rest of this Grace of Peace which is failing in them They are not of quiet and peaceable spirits but rather the contrary Therefore they are said to be like the Sea which in a Storm casts up mire and dirt Even so do wicked men in their Passion cast out filthy and unbeseeming expressions This it hath a twofold ground or Foundation for it First The General Corruption of nature which does prevail and bear sway in them Corrupt nature is unquiet and full of Commotion Where there is envying and strife there is confusion and every evil work Now this is that which men are naturally prone to The Spirit which is in us namely in our Natural Consideration it lusts to Envy Now that excludes and keeps out Peace Secondly There is Satan also ruling in wicked Men The spirit that works in the children of disobedience And he is a quarrelsome and contentious spirit that hath no peace in him And so it is with those likewise who are Members of him As Cain who was of that evil one and slew his Brother as the Apostle John applies it in 1 Joh. 3.12 Those who are acted and carried by the Devil they must needs be Strangers and Enemies to Peace And thus of Peace as it may be taken for the Grace of Peace There is no Peace in the minds of wicked men as it is considerable in that Exception But Secondly Take Peace as a Privilege And there is no Peace in the minds of wicked men considered as such Wicked men have no calmness or tranquility of mind in themselves No Peace that is no Peace of Conscience or Inward Man Wicked and Ungodly Persons they know not such a thing as this is nor what belongs unto it Indeed they may have that sometimes which is a resemblance of it and which is somewhat like thereunto They may be for the present quiet aad unmolested and untroubled in themselves But yet in the mean time they have no true or real Peace for all that And that because it is not rightly grounded or bottomed in them which is the main of all The Peace of wicked men it is not from the Removal of Danger but from the ignorance and insensibleness of it therefore they are at peace and undisturbed because indeed they do not see or consider the great danger in which they are But this is no Peace to speak of because it is such as is not likely to hold out and continue but will sooner or later manifest and discover the Insufficiency of it self Yea and break out in greater trouble and perplexity of Spirit afterwards As a Sore which is only skinned over and so not perfectly healed it breaks forth afterwards more violently than before Even so it is also without Conscience There is the same inconvenience in both There are divers things in Wicked Men which do sometimes occasion Peace unto them in the appearance and resemblance of it Which yet are no Grounds of any true Peace indeed As First Outward Property and Success here in the World Their Peace is sometimes founded on this as thinking that God does certainly love them and is well pleased with them and will bestow Heaven hereafter upon them because he is pleased to follow them with such things as these are But this hath no good Bottom with it nor hath any true Ground of Peace in it if it be duly and rightly considered God may follow Men with many Temporal Comforts and yet deprive them of his Eternal Blessings which are the greatest Rewards of all Secondly Some good Duties which are perform-and practised by them they lay their Peace also in these The Outward Exercises of Religion or some Acts of Charity and Benificence They place their Peace sometimes also in these not in the mean time considering the
and called us with an holy calling Our holy calling calls us to holiness Fourthly Our Sanctification there 's an argument likewise from that Rom. 8.12 Brethren we are debters not to the flesh to live after the flesh And Eph. 4.23 24. Ye have put on the new man which is created in c. And Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained Our Sanctification does engage us to a strict kind of life in both the parts of it First as to our mortification and so it is urged by the Apostle Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin And so ver 11. Reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin c. Secondly our vivification and spiritual quickening Col. 3.1 2. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth That is conform not your selves to the world Lastly to add no more at this time Our Justificaion likewise that lies as a restraint upon us also Being justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3.24 and Tit. 3.7 Especially if we shall take in with it the seal of the Holy Ghost upon our consciences Eph. 4.30 Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Upon all these grounds and considerations have we it evidenced and cleared unto us how unreasonable a thing it is for God's people to mingle themselves with the corruptions of men of the world As contrary and unsuitable to their Election Redemption Vocation Sanctification Justification and Obsignation of all to them by the Spirit of God in their hearts and consciences Now therefore all these things considered we see here how blame-worthy those are which none of these arguments do prevail and work upon to perswade them in this particular What a shame is it for those which are Christians and profess themselves to be so to be as vain in their conversation as others when as the Lord has made so wide a difference and distinction and separation betwixt them as he has done in his dispenfations towards them For Ephraim to mix himself with the people let all those think of this who are led away either with the errors of the times in matter of Doctrine or with the miscarriages of them in matter of practice which cannot hear of any new-fangled opinion but they are ready to follow it let such as these I say consider how unsuitably they walk to Religion and their Christian profession The Lord took it very ill from Ephraim of all others that he should be tainted and defiled with the abominations of the Heathen and so will he likewise proportionably do from all others besides which are in the same condition with them He will not suffer them to go unpunished but will avenge their iniquities and miscarriages upon their own heads This is signified to us in the second sense which may be put upon these words not only as a complaint but a threatening As if the Prophet had said Ephraim shall be mingled among the people that is he shall have the same kind of judgment and punishment executed upon him that others have look as God punishes the Heathen so he will likewise punish Israel he will make no difference betwixt one and t'other And this it follows pertinently upon the other The like judgments are consequent upon the like sins For God is a just God and is no respecter of persons and his justice engages him hereunto And therefore he does upon this consideration deal thus with his people to take them off from these ungodly mixtures As Rev. 18.4 Speaking there of Babylon Come out of her my people that ye be not partkers of her sins and that ye receive not her plagues Implying thus much that as long as she was the one she must expect likewise to be the other If Ephraim will mingle himself with the people in regard of sin God will mingle Ephraim with the people in regard of punishment Now acccordingly should this argument affect us and work upon us It is true if we have any spiritual wisdom or ingenuity in us we might be disswaded from this sinful mixture as it does drive away the Spirit of God from dwelling in us and as the contrary does move him to receive us According to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Wherefore come ye out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty This if there be nothing else in it I say might take us off from this compliance and ungodly conjunction But moreover there is this considerable with it even the punishment that is attendant upon it which is an involution in common judgment But so much of the first Branch to wit Ephraim's unhappy mixtures He hath mingled himself with the people The Second is their indifferent temper Ephraim a cake not turn'd Now this as well as the former may admit of a double exposition The one as an amplification of their sin and the other as an aggravation of their punishment It may carry both senses in it according to a different application which may be made of it First Take it as an amplification of their sin we will begin with that first Ephraim is a cake not turn'd Thus it follows as an illustration of the former He hath mingled himself among the people They were ready to boast of themselves that they were the people of God that they had circumcision and the worship of God amongst them whereby they were distinguisht from other Nations and that therefore they were not so bad as perhaps they might be conceived to be To this the Prophet answers by way of anticipation to them that they were a cake not turn'd which was baked but on one side that is of an imperfect and indifferent temper in Religion They had somewhat which was good amongst them but they did not come up to that exactness which was required of them This it is such an expression as may be applyed to divers sorts of persons and has divers miscarriages in it As First it is an expression of hypocrisie and false-heartedness in Religion When people shall be good in profession and outward appearance but naughty and corrupt in their hearts their outside fair and specious but their inside unclean and odious the cleanest part uppermost the foulest underneath Here 's a cake not turn'd This is the temper and condition of too many persons in the world which have it thus with them And the Scripture does reckon them up to us Isa 29.13 This people draw near unto me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me So Psal 55.21 The words of his
judgment This passage may be looked upon by us as it lies here in the Text two manner of ways First in the general proposition of it as it stands in it self Secondly in the particular scope of it in reference to that which went before and the persons to whom it is directed First Take it simply and absolutely as it lies in it self and in the general proposition which is here exprest in a twofold representation First in the Affirmative what it is and that is that it is darkness Secondly in the Negative what it is not and that is that it is not light First To speak of the former and that is the Affirmative The day of the Lord is darkness Thus we find it to be called in some other places besides as Joel 2.1 2. The day of the Lord cometh and is nigh at hand A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness And so also in Zeph. 1.15 A day of wasteness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess c. This is true of the day of the Lord in the full extent of it whether we take it of personal desolation the day of death or of national desolation the day of captivity or of general resurrection the day of judgment But still with this restriction as it referr'd to ungodly persons and to impenitent sinners with respect had to such as these are is this day that which it is said here to be But especially as I said does it refer to the day of death and final judgment which is here intended This is called a day of darkness that is to say a day of extreme misery and perplexity Darkness and light they do in the usual acception of Scripture where they are used metaphorically denote sorrow and gladness as it were easy to give instance of it and so here in this place amongst the rest Forasmuch as darkness does contain in it all kinds of sadness in which is fear and horror and solitariness and all kind of misery Such is this day of the Lord to the fore-mentioned persons not only dark in the conerete but also darkness even in the very abstract it self Take the unprofitable Servant and cast him into outer darkness Matth. 25.30 The ground hereof is this Because wicked men they are darkness themselves therefore is this day of the Lord darkness They are in the darkness of sin and ignorance whiles they live here in the world delight in works of darkness and which are opposite to the light of Grace and therefore go into a place of darkness and which is opposite to the light of Glory Their understandings are darkened and therefore their conditions are darkness also Being led and carried from one kind of darkness to another It is a day of darkness that is a day of fearfulness and terribleness and horror and consternation of mind There 's every thing terrible in it and adding to the astonishment of it The sound of the Trumpet the appearance of the Judge the opening of the Books the passing of the Sentence the dissolution of the whole frame of Heaven and earth the Sea and the waves roaring the Heavens passing away with a great noise the Elements melting with servent heat the Earth and all the works that are therein burâ—â— up the Sun darken'd the Moon withdrawing her light the Stars falling from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shaken What a terrible day must this be to such as are not provided for it that has all these concurrences in it That 's the first expression here considerable viz. the Affirmative The day of the Lord is darkness The Second is the additional Negative and that is that it is not light which is added for the greater emphasis of it Therefore we find it to be reiterated in the verse following darkness and not light even very dark and no brightness in it And it is agreeable in the like form of speech in reference to other matters which we meet withal in Scripture Thus Deut. 32.4 speaking of God A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he And Joh. 8.44 speaking of Satan He is a liar and there is no truth in him c. In 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us In all which places and the like the Negative is joyned with the Affirmative to make it more emphatical and so here To take a more particular account of it It is said here darkness and not light as we may conceive for these reasons First by way of opposition darkness and not light that is it is not light but darkness as expressing the simple nature and condition of that day Take the word day and it does in the ordinary and common acception of it denote light Whensoever it begins to be light it begins to be day and whensoever it ceases to be light it ceases to be day as that which does give the proper notion and denomination unto it and which distinguishes the one from the other God called the light day and the darkness he called night Gen. 1.5 Yea but here now in the Text it is day and yet not light day and no light in it This by way of opposition Secondly By way of intension and to shew the greatness of this darkness It is dark and dark entirely without the mixture of any thing to qualify it or to take off from the severity of it without ease without comfort without direction or any good counsel which are such things as are sometimes exprest to us by the name of light This is the misery of Hell and of the judgment which passes upon wicked men that it is absolute and compleat and entire The wrath of God without mixture as the Scripture calls it that is without any mixture of favour or refreshment in it Take any day whatsoever here in the world whether in the proper sense or in the metaphorical and it is not so over-darkned with darkness but has some kind of glimmerings of light in it The day which is fullest of clouds the rainiest and most tempestuous day yet it partakes of some light And the day which is fullest of troubles the saddest and most disconsolate day it has some mixtures of refreshment in it likewise which do serve to allay it Yea but this day of the Lord here spoken of it has none of this it is darkness and no light it is sadness and no comfort Thirdly By way of perpetuity and continuation Darkness and no light that is darkness and always dark There are some days which though they may be dark for a while yet they do not abide and continue to be so but do at last overcome that The Sun it breaks through the clouds and the day recovers its light at last though perhaps it be long first ere it does it Yea but here it does not do so Dark and no light this is a continual and
in Martha was as a mis-apprehension of Christ so a misplacing of her own affections She look'd after that which was but trivial and nothing to speak of the providing of her fâ—â—st c. and neglected the main chance of all which was the word of Christ This is intimated in this expression Thou art careful and troubled about many things where that which expresses many things is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is ordinary and common and vulgar things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So if we please we may render it and very suitable to the scope of the place And here we learn thus much that it is a great fault in Christians and those who are professors of Religion to have their minds and thoughts taken up about slight and trivial matters Coloss 3. verse 2. Set your affection on things above and not on things on the earth And it is a character of evil persons that they are minding of earthly things Phil. 3.29 And Matth. 13.22 He is condemned in the thorny ground that the care of this World and the deceitfulness of riches choaked the word that it became unfruitful This minding of such things is very unfitting in these respects First In regard of the unsuitableness of these things to their minds they are things below a Christian's spirit It is true that so far forth as we are men and consist of slesh and blood as others do so far forth we have need of those things which do tend to the sustenance and preservation of this our natural life and so far forth they may also in good sort and in a degree be tended by us but take them simply in themselves and they are exceedingly inferior and below a Christian's spirit there 's no agreement or correspondency betwixt them Take an heart which is sanctified by Grace sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ has the Spirit of God dwelling in it and how far are these outward things inferior to it as much and a great deal more than the sports and pastimes of children are to the thoughts of grown and grave men Secondly Because they have better and other things to take their minds up If Christians had nothing else to think of they might be perhaps excused for being so busy and careful about these because the mind of man must have somewhat to exercise and employ it self in But now there are other matters of greater and higher consequence and of better concernment There 's God and Christ and Grace and Glory to be revealed There 's one thing which is necessary which makes these many things which are superfluous to be out of date This was the fault here of Martha in the Text that she was so taken up in these trifles when she had the word of Christ to be exercised in That 's another thing which makes them unfitting Thirdly Because they little conduce to that end to which themselves are appointed Every wise man has his eye still upon his end and that scope which he propounds to himself to have a care of that Now what are all these things to that any further than as so many encouragements to carry us chearfully through our way Our main end is a better life and to be fitted and prepared for that And therefore accordingly our thoughts and affections should be pitcht on such things as do most conduce hereunto other matters are little to the purpose and sometimes do very much lead another way Ye cannot serve two Masters God and Mammon both He that will love the one must forsake the other And we see here again in the Text that Martha whiles she looked after many things she was so much the more remiss about one and that which of all other could least and worst be neglected Thus we see upon what grounds it is blameable in Christians to be intent upon trivial things This therefore justly meets with the distemper of many Christians in this particular whose thoughts are too much taken up about the world and the things thereof It is true that God does both allow and command us a moderate regard of these things as we intimated before but that these should have our hearts and affections this is that which he takes very ill from us and it is justly taxable in us when-ever it is so that these poor and empty things should possess us and have the mastery of us that Martha a godly woman and one that profest Religion that she should now be thus taken up was very irregular And so is it also for any other Christians besides and a dishonour upon Christianity it self therefore it deserved a chiding and a very tart and sharp one too as here it found from Christ for there was more in these words than is exprest there 's an Emphasis in the very naming an recital of them which Christ contents himself here withal in his dealing with Martha He does not give her any harsh language and tell her she is thus and thus that she is a worldling or a muck-worm or so only names her sin to her which was enough to an ingenious spirit Thou art careful and troubled about many things And this indeed shewed the greatness and heinousness of the offence That 's a great miscarriage indeed which the naming of it is enough to reprove And so was this here in the Text. And that 's the Second the misplacing of her affections about many things c. The Third and last thing which Christ seems here to tax in Martha is her sollicitude and distraction of spirit and excess in this business Here were two faults involved in one and so we 'll take them together First here was her excess and superfluity in the word many things as it is a note of variety And Secondly here was her perplexity and distraction in the word troubled First Here was her excess and superfluity in the word many things as a note of variety Christ did not find fault with her hospitality but she was too curious and superfluous in it From whence we may note thus much That we may over-do there where it would be a fault not to do at all we may do more than we need to do and we may do more than we should do where we should sin except we did somewhat Yea further we are apt and prone hereunto take notice of that We are very ready and subject to over-shoot our selves in things lawful and necessary and to go beyond our bounds in them licitis perimus omnes we are all undone by lawful things as by apparel by meats and drinks by traffick and commerce those things which are indulged to us and which we cannot well be without yet we sin oftentimes in the enjoyment and use of them The ground hereof is First of all The general corruption of our nature which taints the best things in us To the pure all things are pure but to them which are defiled is nothing pure c. says the
Thirdly therefore There is his coming at the last day to judg the World This is the coming indeed which is here intended by him and is now to be taken notice of by us as a grand and principal Article of our Christian Faith This is that which we find to be declared by the Angels at the very instant of his Ascension Acts. 1.11 This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Come and come in like manner that is as really as conspicuously as gloriously Therefore it is usually exprest in Scripture by the name of his appearing When Christ who is our life shall appear Col. 3.4 Who shall judg the quick and dead at his appearing 2 Tim. 4.2 To them that look for him he shall appear the second time c. in Heb. 9.28 This coming and appearing of Christ after this manner is very requisite upon a very good account As namely for the fulfilling af all the testimonies which are made to this purpose It is that which Christ promises to us here in this Text and it is scatered as I have shewn already in sundry other places of Scripture now therefore it must needs be so that the Scripture may not be broken Forasmuch as no tittle of God's word shall ever be abolished or diminished or fall to the ground Then it follows also from the condition of wicked men who must be reckoned withal and brought to judgment We see here in the World how men carry it by living as they list What wrong and injustice and oppression and violence there is amongst them What looseness and profaneness and wickedness and all manner of impieties Now these things will not always hold thus however men think they will do so There will a day of account come at last and Christ himself will therefore come to call men to to this account and it is very requisite he should do so God hath appointed a day in which he will judg the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained that is to say by Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul tells the men of Athens Acts 17.31 And therefore must this man come for the execution of this judgment thus ordained And then again also Christ will thus come for the accomplishment of his work of Redemption towards his Elect in the full effects and consequents of it That as he has redeemed their souls from sin so he may also redeem their bodies from corruption And as he is contracted already to them so he may further consummate and perfect his Marriage with them and as it is exprest afterwards in the Text which in its place we shall come unto that he may receive them and take them to himself These and the like considerations do enforce this second coming of Christ which is here signified to us This for the better amplifying of it to us is considerable in all the circumstances attending them First He will come visibly He will come so as to be seen Tha we had before hinted to us in the word appearing And it is sutable to some other places as Rev. 1.7 Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him even those that pierced him c. 2 Thef 1.7 The Lord Jesus shall be reveald from Heaven with his mighty Angels He shall come in state and he shall come in pomp and he shall come with great solemnity Jude ver 14. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all Thousand thousands stood before him and ten thousand times ten thousand ministred unto him the Judgment was set and the Books were opened Dan. 7.10 Secondly He will come unexpectedly He will come when people do not think of him or are aware of his coming Come perhaps before they do some of them desire or wish for his coming Behold I come as a thief says he And therefore blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame And so 1 Thess 5.2.3 Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape The certain time of Christ's second coming is unknown to us Matth. 24.36 Of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven but my Father only Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come as it is accordingly enforced in the 42d verse of that Chapter Yet Thirdly He will come quickly too There 's that also signified in Scripture speaking of his coming In Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be And again in ver 20. to put it out of all doubt Surely I come quickly Here in the Text according to the Greek which is in the Original it is exprest in the present tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do come as if he were come already So ready is he to come and as it were near at hand The Lord is at hand Phil. 4.4 And the Judg standeth before the door as it is Jam. 5.8 9. And thus we see t is coming of Christ both in the thing it self and in the circumstances of it The consideration of this Point is thus far useful to us First as it is matter of great comfort and encouragement to us in our present estate and condition here in the world That which is the scope of the Text should be the use of the Doctrine which the Text does exhibit to us Now we see what that is namely to chear and satisfy the hearts of the Disciples upon Christ's going away from them And so it should be likewise with our selves here in our pilgrimage and in our or phanage as I may so call it It is true that Christ is gone but he is not lost because he is gone cum ammo revertendi with a mind and purpose of reurning again which is matter and ground of very good satisfaction to us To part with our friends absolutely so as never to meet with them more that has some kind of irksomeness with it and we know not well how to digest it but when they promise us to return again to us we do then more easily dismiss them Why this now here is the case betwixt our Blessed Saviour and his Disciples and in them towards all his children He goes away so as to come again It is not a final farewel but only a temporary retirement and withdrawing of himself And that as we have heard before out of the fore going verse for our benefit and advantage that he may prepare a place for us This is the end of his departure The end for which And the end in which The end for which it is so order'd
if it were hardly any sight at all Surely it is not a seeing of God in his Essence but onely of what he is towards us for our particulars And the Scripture does speak of it as imperfect Thus 2 Cor. 13.12 Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face Now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known Where are three words of disparagement which are put upon this kind of sight in comparison with that which is more perfect First it is but in a Glass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we know that such sights as those are they are but imperfect because they are but reflexive As the sight of the Sun-beams in Heaven which cannot be look'd upon directly so is knowledge of God by Faith it is tantum in speculo The second is darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we conceive of things in a Riddle or Mystery which implies a great deal of cloudiness and mistiness and obscurity in it The third is but in part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which still denotes a shortness in it And this for that disco very which we have of God in a way of ordinary Revelation by the sight of Faith The second is Extraordinary in Prophetical manifestation Thus some of the Servants of God in former times had a special elevation of mind peculiarly vouchsafed unto them whereby they were enabled to have notable apprehensions of God and a glorious sight of him as in the instances above-mentioned Isaiah seeing him upon the Throne Jacob face to face Moses beholding his glory c. But yet neither did these reach so high as the Essence of God Moses that saw the most of him he is said to see but his back-parts that is some imperfect image and representation of his glory his face he could not nor might not see Ex. 33.20 Thou canst not see my face for no man shall see my face and live This imports That Moses did not see the Substance of God but onely that God did after a familiar manner reveal himself to him and in some resemblance shew him his Glory so far forth namely as Moses was capable of it which did wonderfully affect him And thus we have the second thing here considerable for the explaining of this passage and that is the Act No man hath seen God at any time that is perfectly in his Divine Substance and Essence and that as to sight in the full latitude and extent of it whether Corporeal with the eyes of the Body or Mental with the eyes of the Mind And for this latter in all its varieties also whether of Nature or Grace of Reason or Revelation not by way of Causality not by way of Negation not by way of Eminency as to the obscurity of Reason nor yet either by the sight of Faith as more ordinary or by the light of Prophesie as more extraordinary as to Divine Revelation The third and last is the Medium or Means by which That must be also here taken in for the explication of this passage to us No man hath seen God but in Christ whereby he hath made himself in a manner visible and conspicuous to us so that He who cannot be seen otherwise yet in Him is seen after a most illustrious manner Hence he is said to be the Image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 because all the Excellencies and Perfections of God they are entirely in Christ Thus even the Father Himself which we shewed before was never seen yet comes to be so according to that of our Saviour to Philip Joh. 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father namely because the glory of the Father does shine forth in the face of Jesus Christ. As it is again in Joh. 1.14 We beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father c. No ma hath seen God to purpose any other ways than as revealed in his Son And thus we have the full explication as I conceive of this present Proposition That no man hath seen God at any time No man hath seen the Father No man hath seen the Father Essentially No man hath seen the Father but in Christ There 's the Object the Act the Medium Now to give you some account of the Point there is a two-fold ground which may be assign'd hereof unto us why God cannot be seen by us whiles we live here in this world in the sense which I have now given of it the one is taken from God and the other is taken from our selves First on Gods part there 's an obstruction from the Incomprehensibleness of his Nature which cannot be fully reached unto by any Creature whether in Heaven or Earth Even the blessed and glorious Angels themselves who are in a state of Comprehension though they comprehend so much of God as the Creature is comprehensive of yet they can never comprehend so much of him as is indeed comprehended in him Our God to speak strictly of him is beyond and above all Comprehension Therefore this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here which we translate no man may be as well rendred no Creature and it agrees with other places in Scripture as Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is no person whatsoever So Rev. 5.3 No man in heaven and earth was able to open the book it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is no creature The Nature and Essence of God in the Fulness it is beyond any created Comprehension And so there is an obstruction to our perfect seeing of Him on His part But secondly There where he is also comprehensible and shall be also comprehended hereafter yet there is at present an Obstruction of it on ours and that again two manner of ways First of all from the frailty of our Nature as we are flesh and blood And secondly from the corruption of our Nature as we are sinful flesh and blood First there 's the frailty of our Nature as we are flesh and blood Who shall dwell with the devouring fire c. There is such an Infinity betwixt the glorious God and poor mortal man as there is no coming near unto him Here some even of the Servants of God when God has appeared unto them have conceived presently they should die as Gideon in Judg. 6.22 and Manoah Judg. 13.22 We shall die because we have seen God face to face Secondly As from the frailty of our Nature as it is flesh and bloud so from the corruptions of our Nature as it is sinful flesh and bloud Thus in the place before cited Isa 6.5 Isaiah bewails himself as one undone because being an unclean person and of polluted lips he had seen the King the Lord of Hosts And Job when his eye had once seen God he then says he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes in Job 42.5 6. Thus is
to help us and that 's one encouragement so he hath likewise Will and that 's another For to be told that we are able to do nothing without such an ones assistance and withall to hear that it were such an one as had no good will or affection for us nor any mind at all to help us this would be little comfort to us But now this is here such encouragement that we do not more need his help than he is willing to send his help unto us and to concur with us that so we may be the more effectually perswaded to have recourse to him for it This is done in the exercise of two Graces more especially in us to wit of Humility and Faith First Humility whereby we are emptied of our selves and any conceits of our own sufficiency Those that think they can do well enough by any power of their own they will never once look after Christ for such is that desperate pride and stubbornness which is in our hearts by nature that we care not to be beholding to Christ more than needs if we can any thing shift without him we never care to come to him But when we see that without him we are lost and that there is no help for us this will make us to apply our selves to him as much as we can Lay this then for a ground which is here the Doctrine of this Text That without Christ we can do nothing Secondly The Grace of Faith let us also stir up that in us which is that whereby we suck and draw from Christ that which is in him and apply it and bring it home to our selves Without Christ we can do nothing and without Faith we can do nothing neither even there where Christ of himself is both able and willing also to do any thing for us This is that which like the Womans touch of the them of his garment draws forth strength and virtue out of him both for the stopping of the issue of sin and for the walking in the ways of Piety Therefore let us be sure to exercise and set this on work and that according to those two great Mysteries which are eminent in him his Death and his Resurrection Fetch by Faith power from Christ's Death for the mortifying and killing of sin in us which is very agreeable and appliable to this purpose And fetch by Faith also power from his Resurreâ—â—on in the raising up to newness of life and to the practise of all the works of new obedience which are to be performed by us Now further that we may still do it more successfully let us be advised on this which is much conducing and tending hereto and that is That we be careful to keep in good terms with Christ and to walk in all well pleasing to him forasmuch as without him we can do nothing It concerns us very much to take heed that we be no ways offensive to him or do any thing which may alienate his affections from us which is the ground of his assistance of us We see how it is ordinary in the affairs here of the world such persons as men do absolutely depend upon for all that is to be done by them such without whom they are able to do nothing which is of any concernment to them they will not offer to displease them of all other persons besides but labour and endeavour to give all the satisfaction to them that possibly they can give Even so should it now also be with us in reference to Christ we should take heed of grieving him because we do all things by him and are able to do nothing without him The more dependant we are upon him the more serviceable should we be to him And especially take heed of presumption and rebellion against him to take heed of quenching the motions of his Spirit of turning his grace into wantonness of rejecting or refusing that help which he does at any time offer unto us either for the shuning and avoiding of evil or for the doing and working of good for then we provoke him to withdraw his assistance from us and to give us up to the power of Satan and the vanity of our evil hearts When Christ shall offer to heal men and they will not be healed to help men and they will not be helped this does sadly provoke him even to deny his help unto them at such time as they shall most of all desire it and stand in need of it This is a very lamentable condition if it be duly thought of when Christ shall at any time deny men the benefit of his assistance either the benefit of his Intercession and speaking a good word for them without which they can obtain nothing in matter of request or the benefit of his co-operating grace and effectual winning of them without which they can do nothing neither in a way of Christian and Spiritual performance Either of these cases are very sad and such as are to be shunn'd by us by giving all content to Christ And so now I have done with these words in both the senses and acceptions of them whether as to matter of Interest or Influence Without me that is without union to me and Without me that is without assistance from me and dependance upon me can ye be able to do any thing which is good SERMON XXV ACTS 1.7 It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power We are now this very day by the good hand and providence of God according to the common style and computation of time amongst us entred upon another new year And that after all the fears and dangers and hazards and calamities which have been upon us both in the City and divers places of the Kingdom for the year now past we have arrived to that year which hath been so much spoken of before-hand a great while ere the coming of it 1666. Many Prognostications there have been in the World concerning it many Characters and Significancies put upon it and many strange surmises and expectations have been had of it and what may be in the bosome or bowels of it we cannot tell We hear of wars and rumors of wars we hear of plagues and pestilences we have heard also of earthquakes and tempests and strange commotions These are such as do shew the World to be in a fading and declining condition and do bespeak the consummation of it But yet they are such as do not amount or come up to a full determination nor give us any warrant to make any absolute judgment or conclusion upon it They serve to awaken and humble us but they do not serve to dishearten or discourage us nor especially to take us off from that work which is to be done by us but rather so much the more eagerly and earnestly to put us upon it And therefore I have made choice of this Text at this present time as
Common-Wealth and indeed in any kind whatsoever is but a Candle lighted at his Torch It is a beam of that wisdom which is in God And that we may use it the more for him and acknowledg it the more thankfully from him it is indeed originally his thus Artaxerxes speaks to Ezra Ezr. 7.25 And thou Ezra after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand set Magistrates and Judges which may judg all the people in the Land The wisdom of thy God! To Joseph it is said The Spirit of God was in him in regard of his wisdom Gen. 41.38 39. And Daniel it is said of him that he was a man in whom the Spirit of the Holy Gods and wisdom like the wisdom of the Gods was found in him Dan. 5.11 Fourthly The wisdom of God is sometimes taken for the Scripture and word of God As Luke 11.49 therefore also to be said the wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall slay c. The wisdom of God that is the Scripture wherein this will of God is so declared Fifthly The wisdom of God is taken more restrainedly for the Doctrine of the Gospel and the great Mysteries which are contained in that Thus 1 Cor. 2.7 We speak the wisdom of God in a Mystery And Eph. 3.10 That to Principalities and Powers might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God That is that great plot and design of saving the World by the death of Christ wherein God shewed his infinite wisdom Lastly The wisdom of God is taken for the Creation of the World that wisdom which does shine forth in the Creature and the works of God in that respect And so 't is particularly to be understood here in this place When 't is said That the world knew not God in the wisdom of God the meaning is this that they did not so improve that advantage for theknowledg of God by the Creation as indeed it became them to do This work of the Creation is fitly called the wisdom of God because the wisdom of God does therein very much appear to all such persons as will take notice of it Thus Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead All the several Attributes and Excellencies and Perfections which are in God they do hereby discover themselves And amongst the rest his admirable wisdom this shews it self in the frame of Heaven and Earth Thus Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all And so Psal 136.5 To him that by wisdom made the Heavens And as the Heavens so the Earth and all things in it whether we look upon the House it self or the Furniture or the Inhabitants all are the effects of wisdom Hence it is that the Psalmist breaks so forth into the Admiration of them in another place Psal 8.1 c. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the earth And why Because he considered the Heavens the work of Gods fingers the Moon and the Stars which he had ordained c. As it follows in Verse 3. c. And again Psal 19.1 The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shews his handy-work c. Surely when we look upon the Creation and consider the usefulness of the Creatures in regard of their ends and the subordination of them one to another in regard of their dependence and the exquisiteness and curiousness of them in regard of their frame and constitution we cannot but be forced to acknowledge an incomprehensible wisdom which had an hand in the disposing of these things even no other than the wisdom of God And so much for the first term The second is what 's meant by the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And surely here as in the first term was understood the world for the frame of it so also in this second Term is understood the world for the Inhabitants of it the men that dwell in the world and have their abode here below upon earth by a Metonymie of the Subject for the Adjunct These are in this place the world and yet not all of these neither although I may say almost all And that 's the worst part of them By the world we are here to understand the wicked of the world Mundus impiorum The world of the ungodly as they are stiled 2 Pet. 2.5 There 's a world taken out of the world and that 's the world of the Elect which is commonly called the Church a people called out from the rest that live in the world But they are not those which are meant here in this place No but meer carnal and natural men considered in their unregenerate condition and that the best of them even their learnedest and greatest Philosophers That world which is opposed to the Church and shut out of the prayer of Christ when he says I pray not for the world these are the world which the Apostle Paul points here unto in sundry respects 1. Because they are most of the world in regard of their number 2. Most in the world in regard of their interest 3. Most in regard of their affections Now these are called the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First In regard of their Multitude because they are the greatest part of the World Denominatio sumitur a majori parte And so indeed it is here the greatest number of people in the World they are such as are void of true Religion and the knowledg of God the Church of Christ it is a little flock and the least society that is in the World There 's but a few to speak of of this number There 's but a little inclosure all the rest is wast and wild ground The waters where the whore sits are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations and Tongues as it is in Rev. 17.15 That is almost all the World if we divide the World into parts Christendom has the least share in it and for Christendom true and right Christians indeed have the least share in that also Universality is no note of the true Church This is one great Mistery and depth which we are unable to dive into that the greatest part of people in the world they are the least part of those which are good and which are acquainted with God the most of them they never heard of God at least to purpose and if they have yet have not closed with it the greater is Gods goodness to those with whom 't is otherwise But that 's one respect in which the wicked are called the world because they most fill the world Secondly Because they have most of the world they have their share and portion in the world and they are hereby described as Psal 17.14 Deliver me O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life whose
the first verse which I have read ver 21. in order which we entered on in the Morning and therein observed as you know two General parts First The worlds neglect c. Secondly Gods Supply c. The second General Part in this verse is Gods gracious supply of that defect which the world before had been guilty of as concerning the improvement of the opportunities of Divine knowledg Hitherto by all their wisdom and the book of the Creatures before them they had not come to he knowledg of God Now God is pleased to find out and contrive another way for them that we have here in these words It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe Where for our better proceeding in them we may take notice of these following particulars First The order of working After that c. Secondly The Affection to the work It pleased God Thirdly The Means by which the work is wrought The foolishness of Preaching And fourthly The work or design it self To save them that believe We begin with the first viz. the order of working After that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where we must note that this word After it carries a double force and emphasis with it either first of all as a restraining word after that is not before or secondly as a resolving word after i.e. to be sure then First Take it in the restraining sense after that is not before not till the world had neglected the opportunity of knowing God another way till then did not God undertake this way by the Preaching of the Gospel And thus we may conceive him to have carried it for these following reasons First That so by this means he might the more fully and palpably convince the world of their neglect let them first alone and see what they 'l do of their own accord and then come in upon their miscarriage To have done it sooner would not so fully have left them without excuse as now we find it to do It shews how much neglect there has been hitherto when as God is fain to take such a course as this is Secondly That he might the more discover the insufficiency of meer natural and carnal wisdom which did not yet reach to the knowledg of God If God should have done his best presently we should not have known the weakness of humane wit But now when he suffers that to go before and to do what it can and yet miscarry he hereby discovers how much shortness and insufficency there is in that Thus Rom. 8.23 there 's the like expression Artists come when Bunglers have done Thirdly That he might gain to himself the greater glory He that does any thing after another which misses he has from hence so much the more honour to himself especially if he that misses be one that pretends to any great matters as here it was Humane wisdom that laid claim to great knowledg God confounds it by the foolishness of Preaching For these reasons does God do it afterwards i. e. not before which is the first sense of restraint Object How after when as it was before the world was laid Sol. In Decreto non in effectu manifestativé Secondly After that is to be sure then as it is a positive and resolving word when the world had lost it self in not improving the opportunities of knowledg God would not now leave it in this wretched condition but takes another course for the helping and relieving of it This he does in singular pity and compassion to the sons of men that he might not lose such a noble creature as Man is nor they him therefore would he find out some way to bring them to him What does this serve but to magnifie the riches of Gods goodness to us and to enlarge our hearts so much the more in thankfulness to him who hath taken this care for us whiles we took little care for our selves and our own salvation These are such matters as we cannot too much nor enough take to heart or be affected withal but should labour all we can to have fastened and imprinted upon our spirits But so much for that first particular viz. The order or time of working After that The second is the affection to the work It pleased God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this again as the other carries a twofold intimation in it First It is a word of freedom and spontaneity It pleased God that is he did it of his own accord and inclination being not moved or provoked thereunto by any thing out of himself Secondly It is a word of delight and complacency It pleased God that is it was very acceptable to him he took a great deal of pleasure and contentment and satisfaction in the doing of it as in nothing more First I say it is a word of freedom and spontaneity It pleased God that is he was voluntary in it and he did it of his own accord This is the spring and fountain and original of mans salvation wherewith it is at last to be resolved The good-will and pleasure of God it pleased him and therefore we were saved Thus the Scripture sets it in sundry places as Ephes 1.5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And again in vers 9. the same word Having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself Still his good-pleasure is brought in as the ground of all He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom. 9.18 And that the purpose of God according to Election might stand In 2 Tim. 1.9 says the Apostle He hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace c. There 's the rise of All. And so Tit. 3.5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us All 's from the mercy and free Grace of God Therefore Luk. 2.14 Good will towards men â—â— This it does especially exclude two things of necessity which are contrary hereunto First Any provocation on our parts This salvation we were passive in it we did not solicite for it or look after it it came meerly from himself Secondly Any merit on our parts this Salvation it was not purchased by our good deeds as deserving it we were unworthy of it Both are excluded here in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First I say here 's excluded all provocation or beginning on our parts Alas if God had not looked after us we should never have looked after him if he had not pleased for his part we should never have pleased for ours nor much cared whether he had pleased or no we should have pleased still to have continued in our old state of ignorance and to have gone on in our old way of
which accordingly may be appliedby us to this present Verse here before us which is the Sum as it were and Reversion of that which went before and has been hitherto handled by us Wherein the Apostles going over the same thing once again was not frivolous or superfluous in him but to very good purpose There are three things especially which are pertinently considerable in it First His confidence and firm perswasion of the Truth which he had taught and delivered It is a sign he was no Sceptick in his Religion nor yet in his Ministry but was well assured of that which he both belived and imbraced himself as also preacht and commended to others Those things whichmen are doubtful of they think it is enough to speak but once and hardly that It sticks for the most part in their teeth and comes difficultly from them they do but whisper it or lisp it out as well as they can but where they are certain here they are more free and bold in the uttering of it And so it was here with St. Paul he was confident and therefore he stuck not again to repeat it And we see from hence what it becomes every one else to be upon the like occasion Those which are Preachers and Teachers of others they had need to be well assured of the Truth of that which they preach and vent in their Ministry not to speak things at random or at a venture they care not how but deliberately and upon grounds of confidence First Because they deal in matters of great importance and the highest concernment As it is in the affairs of the world where men speak upon life and death they had need to be sure what they speak forasmuch as otherwise their miscarriage will be such as is irrecoverable Even so it is likewise in these spiritual matters and the subjects of the Ministerial Dispensations because they are such as concern mens souls and their well or ill being to all eternity therefore we had need so much the rather to take heed what we say To say no more than we are able to prove and make good if we should be questioned about it especially if we shall add the threatnings which they join with it as here Let him be accurst He that curses another for not being of his opinion had need to be sure of that opinion Secondly Because there are many more whose judgments do depend upon it If a Minister or Preacher mistake many others mistake with him It is not a single miscarriage but a multiplied for which cause it concerns him to have good ground for that which comes from him For if the blind lead the blind they shall loth fall into the ditch as our Saviour himself has told us Thirdly For the better inforcing of the Truth and Doctrine it self The confidence of the Preacher stirs up belief in the Hearer and makes him so much the more ready to assent to the things which are propounded As we see Agrippa to Paul Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian Perswaded him how did he so namely from that confidence and resolution which he did discern to be in him Whereas now on the other side as he that asks coldly we use to say teaches to deny so he that teaches coldly he does in like manner teach to mistrust and makes men to call in question the truth of that which is taught by him This the Apostle Paul here in this Scripture did not do but the contrary by that confidence which he exprest in himself Indeed this Point which we are now upon it both may be and often s abused by some kind of persons for we shall find by daily experience that there are none which are more confident than those which are most ignorant Truth it is for the most part modest and ready to suspect it self whereas error is bold and dark There are some kind of people in the world which are as stiff and resolute and peremptory in the assents of their private fancies and the imaginations of their own brain as if they were Divine Oracles and the very Articles of Faith it self neither Paul nor an Angel from Heaven could take them off from them The Devil the God of this world does two things with them first blinds their eyes from seeing the truth and their ears from hearing the errors and mistakes about it But what shall we now commend or imitate such a confidence as this no in no hand at all Neither is this that which was here observable in the Apostle this confidence of his it was of another strain and tincture which was in it It was not a confidence of presumption but a confidence of well grounded knowledg It was not a confidence of fancy or conceit but a confidence of assurance He knew and understood what he said and because he did so was therefore confident about it He that heareth speaketh constantly Prov. 21.28 And this Confidence is such as is commendable in any other besides when first of all we labour to be satisfied and well-grounded in the Truths of Religion and then keep our selves to them and stand stiffly and resolutely upon them in this case we should not cast away our Confidence which hath great recompence of reward as it is Heb. 10.35 Whether private Christians or Ministers private Christians as concerns the imbracing of the Truth and Ministers as concerns the spreading of it we should both of us so order our selves in this business as that nothing may be able to unsettle us or divert us from that which we have undertaken or discourage us in the prosecution of it For though some as I said are confident causelesly yet it is not so therefore with all There is a great deal of difference in reality between a presumptuous confidence and a rational as between one which is asleep and which is awake Both persons seem alike assured but in the thing there 's a wide distance betwixt them even so it is here But that 's the first Particular here considerable namely the Apostles confidence he was well perswaded of what he delivered The second is the Apostles zeal in the cause and truth of Christ There was a great deal of earnestness which was here exprest by him not only in the expression which he used in the simple Proposition Though we or an angel from heaven mentioned in the eighth verse but also in the additional repetition of it here again in the ninth verse What we said before c. that which men often speak of and repeat their affection is much in it and that which mens affection is much in they can never have done with it and so it was here with this blessed Apostle and holy man of God his heart it was very much raised and transported now in him when he considered how the Truth of God was now in danger to be impair'd on the one side and when he considered how the people of God were now in danger
Apostle here expresses it and nothing less or inferior to it which will stand us in stead Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Joh. 3.3 And if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 The Scripture when it speaks of the goodness either of our state or conversation it speaks of them still with reference and respect had to these sometimes by walking in the spirit sometimes by walking in love sometimes by walking in the truth and by the truth of the Gospel sometimes by walkng in newness of life which is the very sam with this here of walking by this rule this rule of the new creature which is to act in us per modum principii as the byass whereby we are moved The second is per modum Metae sen Termini as the mark whereunto we are carried and so this phrase it does denote unto us the duty of Christians as to their following conversation after grace wrought in their hearts which is to live up to the power and height of those Principles in them And so therefore it is here rendred according those that walk according to this rule And these two now taken together do as I conceive make the sense compleat and the latter still supposing the former as many as are indeed made partakers of this new Creation and do walk suitably to it Peace be on them c. This is that which all Christians are to set down and to propound to themselves as the rule for the ordering of their lives and conversations the new creature and the workings of that that they conform hereunto And this is the point which may be hence taken notice of by us As many as walk according to this rule c. It is that which we shall find in its equivalencies to be urged in sundry other places besides Thus Eph. 5.8 Ye were sometimes darkness but now ye are light in the Lord walk as children of the light So Col. 3.9 10. Ye have put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new man c. Put on therfore bowels c. So again 1 Thes 5.5 6. Ye are all the children of the light c. therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober Still the new creature in the principles and workings of it is made the ground and pattern and direction for a Christians ohedience and the framing and squaring of his life which it is to be regulated by we are shewn what we should be by considering what we are as regenerate an born again And thus it may be laid forth in divers and sundry particulars by way of Explication as wherein it is to be observed by us thus to walk First As to matter of opinion and the Doctrines which are taken up by us We are herein to walk by this rule in bringing them to the new creature as to the touchstone of them that cannot be sound in Divinity which is absurd and incongruous in Christianity and therefore we should hereby examine those points which are offered unto us whether they agree with this or no if they do not reject them and have nothing to do with them The Spirit of God in the Scripture and in the conscience agree both together and look as there is nothing at any time suggested by him to the mind which is not consonant to the written word so there is nothing neither by him set down in the written word which is repugnant to his influenres upon the mind and inward man the one being the counterpane of the other and declaring what is in it and when I say the mind I mean the mind as sanctified and renewed There are some which appeal to the mind in its natural consideration and so make humane Reason to be the rule of Faith But this is a Lesbian Rule and which will not hold no it is the mind as it is regenerated and repaired whereof we now speak and the dealing of God with it in order hereunto The actings of the new creature in us are the best discoveries of such Doctrines to us Hence we read in Scripture of the unction and anointing which shall teach us 1 John 2.20 27. which places are not to be understood as some fanatical persons would have them now in these days of such a light within us as does exclude the word of God and use of Ordinances but as is consonant and agreeable hereunto There are some points in Divinity the right resolution whereof lyes not so much in our books as in our hearts which therefore not neglecting the other we should be well acquainted with for this intent And the reason of so much mistake and miscarriage in them is indeed oftentimes and most usually the want of this because we are strangers at home in our own breasts and set our wits on work rather than our consciences by want of a due reflexion and looking into our selves and observing of the manner and carriage of Gods dealing with us in this respect or if not so yet at least a mistaking of common grace for sanctifying and making that to be a work of grace which is but a work of nature and civility and education a measuring of God by our selves and making his thoughts to be like our thoughts This is that which lays a ground to those errors about free-will and concupiscence and perseverance and such as these which are abroad in the world This is the reason why many great Scholars are at a loss where meaner parts sometimes hold out because the one speaks out of conjecture and the other out of Christian feeling Now therefore the way to settle us in these matters is to lay hold on this present direction which is now before us and by reducing these points of difficulty to the common sense and experience and observation of the Saints and Servants of God in all ages and times of the Church which though in some things which are circumstantial and of less concernment may be different one from another Look as he were a weak Physician that should deliver such a point in Physick as were contrary to the experience of nature and which all men find and feel in their bodies so he must also be as weak and fond a Divine who shall deliver such a point in Divinity as is contrary to the experiences of grace and which all Christians find and feel in their hearts there being as much and as general certainty in the one as there is in the other yet in essentials and the substance of Religion are one and the same so that those which think contrary to them must deny even Religion it self That 's one thing wherein we are to walk by this rule of the new creature namely in matter of opinion and the Doctrines which are taken up by us Secondly In matter of censure and
in thine heart I am and none else besides me I shall not sit as a widow neither know the loss of children in Isa 47.8 There 's a great deal of strong presumption upon the minds of many carnal people in this particular This it is so much the more considerable according to the aggravating circumstances in which this security of theirs is in them which are two especially First Notwithstanding the greatness and multitude of their own abominations Secondly Notwithstanding the nearness and eminency of God's Judgments though they provoke God by their sins and though God threatens them with his Plagues yea not only threatens them but in some sort falls upon them yet they cry Peace and safety for all that This is that desperate security and presumption which is observable of us in the hearts of men Thus in Deut. 29.19 There 's mention made of such a person who when he hears the curses of the law blesses himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst that is though he go on and continue in sin and add one wickedness to another the accomplishments to the desires yet for all this that he shall do well enough and no evil shall befal him notwithstanding This security it may be thus far accounted to us for the Grounds of it from whence it does proceed First From a spirit of ignorance of God himself and of his ways of proceeding the men of the world they have strange thoughts and conceits of God and so of the things which are done by him Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self says the Lord to him there in the Psalm this is that which they think of him and so are mistaken in the ways of his Providence Evil men understand not judgment says Solomon Prov. 28.5 And because they do not understand it they do not fear it as they fear where no fear is because they have a guilty conscience so they hope where no hope is because they have a stupified conscience and a mind not exercised to discern betwixt good and evil Secondly From a spirit of delusion and misconstruction Wicked men they have many false reasonings and arguings in them which make them to speak peace to themselves where there is no cause or ground for it as to instance in one or two of them especially amongst the rest First Their present freedom and exemption from punishment They consider that they scape hitherto and that God does not as yet take them to task and deal with them for their wickedness and therefore they think that they shall escape always and that he will never deal with them at all as it is in Eccles 8.11 Because sentence against an evil-doer is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the ssons of men are fully set in them to do evil Secondly The escape of others whom they think to be as bad as themselves they think that such and such persons they have peace and safety in their wickedness and that therefore they shall have the like in theirs Thus they incourage one another in an evil matter as the Scripture speaks Thirdly The carnal refuges which they take up to themselves these are Grounds for this security to them they think they shall have peace and safety because they are sufficiently furnished and provided for the contrary and especially sometimes from their own wickedness it self They think themselves to be so much the safer as they are so much the viler and think they shall suffer nothing because indeed they can do any thing This is that which the Scripture it self does sometimes take notice of in others as Isa 28.15 They said We have made a Covenant with death and with hell we are at an agreement when the overflowing scourge shall pass thorow it shall not come unto us Why upon what Consideration for we have made lies our refuge and under falshood we have hid our selves But what says the Lord there to them in the very same Chapter in the 17th and 18th verses of it Lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place and your covenant with death shall be disanulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall pass thorow then shall ye be trodden down by it So again Psal 52.7 Lo this is the manthat made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness This is that which many people do this makes them to say Peace and safety many times where they have no cause to say so And that 's the first Explication of this saying of it which is mentally they say it in their minds The second is verbally or orally they say it with their mouths that is they do not only think it but utter it and speak it out This security it does not only rest in their hearts but it breaks out at their lips and they say it it not only to themselves but also to others And this they do again to atwofold purpose First In a way of triumph and vain exultation they say it that is they say it vanntingly and boastingly and in self-applause And secondly In a way of flattery and soothing and daubing of others they say it that is they say corruptingly and inticingly and in order to seducement Each of these ways do they say it as to this outward expression in words First I say in a way of triumph and self-applause and vain exultation We shall hear such speeches as these are from divers people in such a way as this as boasting and glorying in the prosperity of their sinful courses that though they have been thus and thus wicked yet they never as yet found any evil or inconvenience in it but rather the contrary but that the worse and viler they have been so much the better and happier it has been with them Thus it was with the people in Jeremiah Chap. 44.17 When we burnt incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink-offerings to her we had then plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil Secondly In a way of flattery and corrupting of others This is especially observed and taken notice of in seducers and false-teachers as in Jer. 6.13 From the Prophet unto the Priest every one dealeth falâ—ly they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying Peace peace when there was no peace And so likewise Ezek. 13.9 10. Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity and that divine lies because even because they have seduced my people saying Peace peace and there was no peace Now abundance of such sayers as these there are in the world which first of all speak peace to themselves and put away far from themselves the evil day as
have the Point in the several Explications of it wherein it holds good unto us That he that transgresseth that is rejects the Doctrine of Christ he hath not God The Vse and Improvement of this Point by way of Application First It comes home to sundry sorts of persons who are hence concluded in a very sad condition as Pagans Infidels and Jews and such as these to whom either this Doctrine of Christ is as yetnot come and so have not attained unto it or else to whom it is come but rejected and refused by them and so transgress against it these are all involv'd in this censure which we have here before us That they have not God and that in the full sense and latitude and extent of it as we have hitherto declared it unto you This is so much the more grievous as it is the less thought of and expected for these persons which we have now mentioned they make a full account they have God whatever they have else For they all make mention of God and they profess him and seem to worship him as for the having of Christ they know they have not him nor do not care whether they have him or no but to tell them that they have not God that 's very strange and perhaps unpleasing to them why but therefore says the Apostle here of them They have not God and he speaks it in a kind of frustration and disappointment of them for so we must here take it as the scope of the Text God whom they think to have and God whom they seem to have and God whom they wish to have and whom willingly if left to themselves they would not be without even this God him indeed theyhave not whiles they have not Christ whom they would not have they have not God himself whom they would At least they have him not in that way and to that purpose for which they would have him They have God to judg them and they have God to punish them and they have God to damn them but they have not God to save them and to preserve them from the wrath to come thus they have him not nor so remaining never will Therefore in the place before cited Ephes 2.12 a those two expressions are joined together without Christ and without God as we noted before so likewise are those expressions joined too Without God and without Hope without hope that is without hope of Salvation without hope of Eternal life as it is in Tit. 1.2 without hope in the ground of it whatever hope there may be in their minds and vain conceits And this is that which pinches most of all not only them but many others besides There are a great many people in the world which could as well be content to be without God as they are without Christ if being without God did import no more than a meer want or deprivation of Holiness yea but there is this further in it that it is also a want and deprivation of Happiness They are without God not only as the Author of Grace but as the Author of Salvation Those that will not have Christ to rule them and reign over them God himself will never own them to save them but will give that charge about them which we meet withal in the Gospel Bring them hither and stay them before me Bind them hand and foot and cast them into outer darkness where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth It is Jesus and he alone and that imbraced and received by faith who must deliver us from the wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 Therefore we see what cause we have to pity and to bewail such persons as these are who sit in darkness and the shadow of death in this particular and both to pray for and otherwise to endeavour the conversion and recovery of them out of this miserable condition The less sensible they are of their own misery themselves the more sensible should we be for them and do all that we can for the rescue and redemption and delivery of them We are apt sometimes to have pity and compassion upon the captivity of the outward man if there be any who are sometimes taken in Turkish slavery and in thraldom in regard of their Bodies here our Bowels are ready to rise in us and we are sometimes active for the redemption of them How should the redemption of Souls be more precious with us and not cease for ever Let us therefore do all we can here to restore men and to recover them to God from whom they are fallen by denying of Christ in whom alone God will be owned and acknowledged by us How far are those from this who do rather indeed harden them and confirm them in this their wretched condition by asserting and teaching That they are well enough so as they are and that it is possible for them without Christ or the Doctrine of Christ to come to God or that an implicit knowledg of him is sufficient without an express and actual belief and entertainment of him Such as these they do drive them off farther who in the sense and language of the Holy Ghost are afar off already Scondly Not only Pagans and Jews come under this condemnation but even many others who also profess themselves Christians as Papists and such as those who transgress the Doctrine of Christ very grosly in the corrupting of it they do not only trespass upon this Doctrine who deny there is such a person as Christ or that such an one is this person but who moreover whiles they acknowledg the person yet do either deny such perfections to him or fasten such imperfections upon him as are unsuitable and unagreeable to him which fancy and set up such a Christ as God himself never made nor the Scripture yet ever revealed Thirdly Here is likewise the misery of all natural and unregenerate persons these come under this censure likewise who though they should hold this Doctrine in judgment yet deny it in affection and practise forasmuch as they do not submit to the power and efficacy of it such persons as do not close with Christ upon the terms and conditions of the Gospel howsoever they may hold such an opinion as that there is a Christ yea moreover that this is he Jesus of Nazareth the son of Mary yet refusing to yield obedience to him and to comply with him they do in effect set themselves against him and so have not God It is not only the lot of Pagans and Infidels and Jews which do directly and professedly disown him but even of professing and nominal Christians which live within the pale of the Church and would be esteemed members of Christ these are in the same condition likewise Which therefore may serve to awaken them and to cause them to reflect upon themselves they are such as transgress the Doctrine of Christ and are deprived of God himself They are such as have
their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled There is a ripeness and maturity of sin which calls for the execution of judgment till which time judgment is delayed and put off and for a season procrastinated and then he that shall come will come and will not tarry Lastly This desire of the Church to Christ's coming and hastning of it it hath a respect to Christ himself who in a manneris hereby also perfected for the Church in the fulness of its Members is the fulness also of Christ and so it is called in Ephes 1.23 The fulness of him that filleth all in all We must distinguish of Christ in his person and Christ in his office If we look upon Christ as God and as the second person in the Trinity so he is absolute and compleat in himself and capable of no addition or augmentation but if we look upon Christ as he is God-man the Mediator and Head of the Church so he is so far forth perfected as the Church it self is perfected and compleated in the number of Members And as himself also has finished and compleated all the works which do belong to his Mediatorship which is coming in Glory This is the only remainder of what 's behind and lest yet undone as to the full work of our Redemption and therefore does the Church very properly call for it and put him in mind of it out of her respect unto him This if not so to be taken as if Christ himself would not come otherwise for that he would though she should be silent and never call for him nor yet if she could properly hasten it or speed it before its time for that she cannot neither God has appointed a day wherein he will judg the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained as the Apostle tells us Act. 17.31 As he has appointed the man namely Christ so he has also appointed the day which we cannot name nor it does not belong unto us It is not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power Act. 1.7 But the Church prays for his coming as a testimony of her affection to him and as desiring thereby to put a respect upon him because in coming his Glory and Majesty shall be so much the more revealed and discovered And that 's the last account which may be here given of this Prayer and Petition When the Spirit and the Bride say Come namely out of respect to Christ The Vse of all to our selves serves to teach us to labout for such a frame of spirit as this is whereby we may in truth and sincerity come up to this requess and desire so as to pray and to pray heartily for the second coming of Christ and the appurtenances of it It is a request which is so much the more considerable as it is such as we are taught to make by Christ himself in that Prayer which he hath left unto us whereof one branch is this Thy Kingdom come As the Holy Ghost suggests it so Christ himself also commands it and requires it of us and accordingly we should all indeavour that it may be practised by us We should labor for the Considerations above-mentioned to say Come Lord Jesus come quickly as it follows afterwards in this Chapter Where when Christ promises it the Church presently apprehends it and returns upon him with desires answerable and suitable to so gracious an intimation For this purpose let us especially endeavour to have the Spirit of God Himself in us and to be filled with that For observe how it is said here in the Text The Spirit and the Bride say Come Nature that does not say it but rather reluctates against it and puts it off no but it is the Spirit that says it and we our selves say it to purpose so far forth as we are spiritual and act upon spiritual Grounds and Principles in the desires of it There are some kind of people who now and then in a discontent and when any thing crosses them then it may be they could wish for an end of the world and of their own lives with it But that may be perhaps from the flesh and not from the spirit and so to be suspected no but then it is so as should be when it proceeds from a work of the Holy Ghost and Spirit himself in us Now there are three ways especially whereby the Spirit of God does usually work such a desire as this in us and makes us in Truth and Reality to desire Christs second Coming First By discovering to us the vanity of all these things here below What is the reason that many people are so unwilling to think of another world It is because they think there is no other but this but place their happiness and contentment here in these poor outward things which if their hearts were taken off from it would be otherwise with them Now those whom God has a delight in he does by his Spirit convince them of the vanity and Transitoriness of this world Secondly By purging our consciences from any thing which may be burdensom to them and putting us upon duty and that work which is required of us in our present opportunities When Christians shall have this lye upon their spirits that either they have been sinful or unfruitful they cannot so easily wish for Christs coming either guilt or their work yet unfinished they are great pull-backs and retarders in this particular Now therefore does the Holy Ghost take order with them to both of these purposes by not suffering his servants to lye under the power of any known sin nor yet wilfully to omit and neglect any known Duty but to be sincere and fruitful both to such Christians as are so Christs coming will be the more acceptable to them Thirdly By manifesting unto them the Excellency which is in Christ himself and the blessed and glorious condition of God's People in another world together with their own interest and concernment in it When Christ had declared before that he was the bright and moring-star then the Spirit and the Bride say Come it is ignorance of Christ that makes men no more to breathe after him nor to be desirous of him Therefore the Spirit of God may rouse those desires in us he presents these Excellencies to us and gives us some glimpses and anticipations of that glorious condition which he has provided for us And then also which belongs hereunto vouchsafes some kind of assurance of our interest in this condition and that it belongs to us for our particular whereby the more to quicken our desires Excellency is nothing without propriety it is the Spouse of Christ alone which can with joy desire Christs coming When therefore the soul is convinced that it is so with it self that it is contracted and espoused to Christ and owned by him then the Spirit an the Bride say Come When we
Professors and Embracers of it Now shall we exempt such Persons as these from being Wicked Men or from being liable to Eternal Damnation Or shall such as these think to flee from the Wrath to come Surely no in no wise they are as deeply engaged in it as any other and are as certainly inovlved in it Therefore Let none flatter themselves in this Particular or think ever the better of themselves in such Circumstances for they have no cause so to do For they are notwithstanding wicked Persons as they are here termed And accordingly shall have the Portion of the Wicked to happen unto them which is to be cast into utter darkness and to have their part in that lake which burns with fire and brimstone For this purpose consider thus much That God looks at the inward frame and temper of their Spirits more than any thing else which is considerable in that And if that be not such as it should be he has no reckoning or esteem of them as such who are little better herein than the Devil himself Take the Devil himself and If he were to live here in Humane Shape upon Earth he would not be a common Drunkard or Swearer or Whore-master or Ranting Person but would in a manner scorn such kind of Brutish and Swinish Sins as those as which would not be so much for his advantage No but he would be rather a secret Envyer and Underminer of the Power of Religion he would oppose and hinder Goodness and Piety all he could he would Scoff and Mock at Christianity and the Principles of it and do his utmost indeavour to draw men from the entertaining of it All this and the like he would do in a fair outward and civil conversation And whiles many others do no more then so and in a manner do as much How can they do other than fall into the condemnation of the Devil which is here mentioned that is To depart into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Therefore though we have Civility and would have others to have it also and to be conscionable in the practise of all the Duties that belong unto it as they are laid down in the Second Table of the Law Yet we would have men to rest or content themselves in such a state as this is without somewhat else added unto it of Repentance and Humility and Self-denyal and Faith in Christ A new and gracious frame and temper of heart causing them to hate all kind of sin considered as sin and for the forsaking of it and to apply themselves to every thing which is Good for Goodness sake To be renewed in the spirit of their minds as the Scipture expresses it To take this part which we are now upon in the full Notion and Latitude of it concerning such Persons as are wicked and shall be turned into Hell we are to take in this as in a special manner belonging hereunto and as principally intended in it namely The Sin of Vnbelief and Disobedience to the Gospel of Christ. Such as are guilty of such Sins as these are the Main and Chief Sinners which are here spoken of as exposed and given up to this Punishment This is the Condemnation says our Blessed Saviour That light is come into the world and that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil Joh. 3.19 And so the Apostle Peter seems to declare unto us in that his quick and convincing Question and Expostulation 1 Pet 4.17 If Judgment begin with us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of Christ And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appear Where by the Ungodly and Sinner he seems to intend more especially such as he had said were disobedient to the Gospel These being such as do in a special manner deserve such names to be put upon them These shall not be able to appear at the General Day of Account with any Confidence or Boldness in themselves Therefore though other Sinners are as we have shewn before included in this Expression of Wicked Persons and so consequently liable to the Judgment which is here passed upon them Yet these are more especially intended above the rest as being mainly concerned in it Vnbelief it is the great Damning Sin because all other Sins besides that do especially damn in the strength of that as giving an Actual Force and Efficacy unto them especially where it is joyned with slighting and contemning of the Mercies and Ordinances and Opportunities of Salvation Here it is damning indeed and puts those who are guilty of it into the lowest place of Hell This our Saviour intimates to us in the Case of Corazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum those Cities wherein most of his mighty Works had been done with little success as to the Improvement of them That it should be more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for them Matth. 11.22 The Tyrians rnd Sidonians and Sodomites they were great and grievous Sinners They were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly as the Scripture tells us Gen. 13.10 But yet these people which repulsed the Gospel and refused to comply with that they were wickeder and greater Sinners than those and are threatned with a hotter place in Hell as belonging unto them And so much may suffice to have been spoken of the Persons here adjudged and condemned in their Comprehensive Representation expressed in that word The Wicked as reduced to three Ranks especially that is Open and Scandalous Sinners Close and Reserved Hipocrites Carnal and Vnregenerate Persons The Second is as they are laid down Emphatically in these Words And all the Nations that forget God Wherein again two Particulars more First The Subjects of the Punishment here mentioned and they are all the Nations Secondly They Guilt which is fastened upon those Subjects as the Ground and Foundation of that Punishment and that is forgetting of God For the First The Subjects of this Punishment here mentioned They are all Nations Those if they prove to be wicked they shall not escape the Judgment of God Neither their Wealth nor Strength nor Power nor Multitude shall in this life be and security to them Why do the Heathen rage and the People imagine a vain thing saith the Psalmist Thou shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to peices like a Potter vessel Psal 21.9 In Jer. 25.17 It is said That all the Nations were made to drink of the cup of Gods fury And in other places we also read of the Destruction and Desolation of all Nations So as these as well as particular persons are concerned and involved in it And there 's a twofold Ground for it The one is the Great and Almighty Power of God And the other is the Great and Vehement Importunity of sin First Gods Peace and Omnipotency When we consider what the Lord himself is in his
own infinite Majesty and Glory what are all Nations and Kingdoms of the World Surely as the Prophet Isaiah speaks of it Isa 40.21 Behold the Nations are as the drop of a bucket and are accounted as the small dust of the ballance Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing The Lord is high above all Nations and his Glory above the Heavens Psal 113.4 He encreaseth the Nations and destroyeth them he enlargeth the Nations and straitneth them again Job 12.23 Who smote great Nations and slew mighty Kings Psal 135.10 Secondly The Importunity of Sin and Guilt that makes for this likewise Nahum 1.12 Though they be quiet and likewise many yet thus shall they be cut down when he shall pass through says the Lord there by his Prophet because their Sins call for Vengeance As we see it was with the Sodomites and tâ—â— Cities round about them whilst the Cry of their Wickedness ascended and came up to Heaven in their committing of Fornication and going after strange Flesh it is said That even they suffered the vengeance of eternal fire And so the Cananites and the rest of the Nations which opposed and fought against Gods People we hear what a quick and speedy riddance the Lord made of them for it in their Universal overthrow and ruine and destruction And so he is ready to do with many more in the like circumstances Who would not fear thee O King of Nations as it is in Jer. 10.7 What cause have all the People and Kingdoms of the Earth to tremble before this great God who is able thus to crush them in peices and to destroy them even in Hell it self if they provoke him as he here threatens them We should here learn to satisfie our selves in this great Mystery both of Prudence and Religion It seems to be a strange thing to reason that God should damn whole Nations And therefore such Persons as make Reason to be the Rule of Faith they do much doubt of it and call it into Question For which purpose they have found out salvation even for the Heathen that know not God nor ever heard word of Christ But we see here how the Scripture it self expresses it self in this particular whereby it tells us that whole Nations shall be turned into Hell That so we may not be wiser or mercifuller than God himself But submit our own reason and the Dictates of our own understanding to his Discoveries and Proposals And in the mean time bless God our selves if he hath exempted us out of the number of those Nations which shall be thus dealt withal by a more peculiar manifestation and dispensation of himself unto us Thus for the Subjects here mentioned in reference to this Punishment All the Nations The Second is the guilt which is fustned upon those Subjects as the Ground and Foundation of this Punishment and that is Forgetting of God This now does a little qualifie it and restrain it and take it in It is not all Nations Absolutely and Indefinitely and without exception howsoever qualified but under this Notion of Impiety God does not in this case proceed in a way of Soveraignty but in a way of Justice It is true he might if he pleased do the former forasmuch as all the Nations of the World they are his own Creatures and the Workmanship of his own hands therefore if he saw good he might deal with them as the Potter with his vessel And no man might say unto them what dost thou But he has thought fitting to take another course than this with them and that is by proceeding upon the account of their own guilt as it is here declared unto us Therefore this Punishment and Destruction it is here limited and restrained to Sinners And so we find it to be also in other places as Psal 79.6 Pour out thine indignation upon the Heathen that have not known thee and upon the Kingdoms that have not called upon thy name Not upon the Heathen considered Absolutely nor upon the Kingdoms considered Indefinitely But upon those Heathens and Kingdoms which have not known God Nor called upon him And so likewise here in the Text All the Nations that forget God This is a Particular Character whereby a wicked People are distinguisht viz. Forgetfullness of God as that which carries the very root of all wickedness in it For hence it is that any Persons do make so bold with God as commonly they do by offending him and rebelling against him because indeed they are such as do forget him and think not of him This forgetfulness of God which wicked men are thus guilty of to explain it a little to you it extends to Sundry Particulars First To the Essence of God They forget God that is they forget that there is a God They have heard of it it may be and have seen Habitual Notions of it yea but in such and such cases and circumstances they do it or reflect upon it They do not Actually mind or consider it which makes them so to carry it as if indeed they did not beleive it Secondly To the Nature of God They forget God that is they forget who or what manner of one God is They forget him in his Properties and Attributes and such Expressions of him as whereby he has revealed and made himself known In his Holiness and Justice and Power and Omniscience and Omnipresence and the like In these they do not remember him but plainly forget him Wicked Men they frame to themselves such a God as is suitable to themselves and their own Fancies and Imaginations As he tells that wicked Man in the Psalm 50.21 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self As if that which pleased them it were pleasing to him also Thirdly To the Word of God They forget God that is They forget what God does command or commend unto them They forget his Instructions and they forget his Injunctions and so in that respect they forget God himself for as much as he accounts himself interested and concerned in such things as these are as a Prince in his Laws David resolved with himself that he would never forget God's Precepts But this is that which such Persons as these do continually though they may seem to remember God Notionally yet they forget him Practically And though they profess that they know him yet in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16 Lastly To the Providence of God They forget God that is They forget what God has done and brought to pass in the World As it is charged upon the Israelites that they forgat the works of the Lord aad the wonders that he had shewed them Psal 78.11 His Works of Mercy they forgat them They remembred not his hand nor the day when he delivered them from the Enemy Psal 78.42 They forgat God their Saviour which had done great things for them in Egypt Psal 106.21 And