thee for the time past yet now sure I am I love thee and that love preferred Jesus Christ before his life If the heart be but upright if there be never so little at first yet it will grow it will continue the Seed of God will abide And if never so much if the heart be not right it will fall short of heaven as these Virgins they went far Well the Lord give us understanding in these things Verse 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 WE have done with the former member that is to say the foolish Virgins trimming their Lamps going so far in a profession of Christ and yet fail when all is done Now we are to consider the second member included in this general and that is that Believers are now to trim their Lamps the wise Virgins were now to do it as well as the foolish the real as well as the formal professor I will only briefly note two things from this clause of the Verse First That though a Believers profession may decline and grow low and that towards his latter end or after he hath long professed Jesus Christ yet it is not altogether extinct it wants trimming indeed but it is not out with the foolish Virgins 2. When this profession groweth thus low it is the Believers duty to renew it to trim up his Lamp Of the first in the first place wherein are comprehended three notes which for brevity sake I wrap up into one partly because some of them have near affinity with what hath been already delivered and partly because I would not dwell too long upon the Text. First then That a Believer his profession may decline and grow low and need a renewing 2. That it may come to this pass after he hath long professed or near the time of his Calling for And 3. That yet notwithstanding it is not extinct altogether as the profession of the foolish is of which afterwards A word or two briefly to each of these First That a Believers profession may decline which is somewhat of kin to what we spoke before and therefore the less here The Lamp may grow low First then The light which appears to be in the Saints may grow low It may admit of mixtures sometimes of darkness which much dimmeth the light I mean they may be much corrupted in their judgements and turned aside from the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ this is clear in the Galathians their â—ase ye did run well who hindred you what was the matter It was an errour and a gross one crept in among them to set up the Law and Moses with Christ as necessary to Justification and Salvation What aâ—mist is here about the Lamp this made it twilight with them 2. The lightsomness and joy of faith this also may wear away in great measure yet not altogether the faces of the Saints do shine by a reflexion of the countenance of God upon them as the face of Moses did when he had been with God in the Mount but alas though they walk long in the light of his countenance may it not be lost as we find the Psalmist complaining Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation he had it before but now he had lost it both which are implyed in that word restore And do we not find it in that 50. of Isaiah Who is there among you that walks in darkness and sâ—eeh no light Where is the lightsomness of the Lamp then the pleasant paraphrase upon the works of the grace of Christ in their souls so that they can see nothing at all Look what comfort it is to have a â—ight or a Lamp in the darkest night such comfort it is to have the smiling presence of the Lord. But now this is lost thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Gods face was clouded and his face was covered 3. Believers as they may lose in a great measure their joy of faith so may they lose their confidence of hope so that they may be ready to say many times their hope is even perished from the Lord and hath God forgotten to be gracious and will he be merciful no more this you may see in many cases of the Saints David I shall one day perish by the hands of Saul O I shall never see through this world of wickedness that is in mine heart but sooner or later I shall be swallowed up by it 4. A Believer may lose the degrees of those graces which are radical and which indeed more principally are like the oyl in the vessel yet that may grow low and then no marvel if the Lamp which is fed by them do grow low also As that of their faith how low may they grow in faith Indeed our Saviour hath prayed that their faith fail them not altogether but in a great part it may decline We see it in Asa one while he could trust in God when a great hoast of the Ethiopians and Lybians come against him By by when he was not so hard put to it he rests upon the King of Assyria for which the Lord reproveth him by the Prophet Where was Petersâ—aith â—aith when a little carnal fear turned him aside in so sad a manner and indeed it is the want of faith in the people of God that is the very root of all those turnings aside from the Fountain to the broken Cistern from God to the creature And so that of love as well as faith faith works by love and this also may deâ—line You find the Church of Ephesus She had left her first love and that Angel of the Church also he had it may be heretofore been full of love to Jesus Christ and that love very laborious in feeding the Flock of Christ but now his love was remitted May not every mans heart Seal to this that the Love of his Espousals to the Lord Jesus the love of our youth those springing affections are gone 5. Another is this A Believer may lose the fervor of all those holy affections that he hath had his desires his delight and joy his anger and hatred against sin loathing and abomination time hath been we could have cryed out for the living God their souls break for the longing they had to God but now the Chariot wheels drive more heavily We have felt sometimes the babe springing in the womb but now we can hardly feel in our affections languish towards Jesus Christ Solomon once had a zeal for the house of God when he laid out himself in building a house for his name but what was become of that zeal when he could build a house to Chemosh the God of the Moabites in favour of his Moabitish wives where was his zeal then So Laodicea was grown luke-warm theywere hot at first 6. The outward acts of grace they may be remitted which indeed are a great part of the profession It is not a bare confessing Jesus Christ the Lord with
away their time in the world spending their strength for that which profiteth not labouring for the meat which perisheth which will not endure to eternal life you see the world was that which kept them from coming to the Feast in the Gospel one could not have while another could not have while a man cannot have two treasures except he had two hearts two contrary treasures earth and heaven both and where the treasure is there will the heart be also therefore Brethren while men are so altogether taken up with the world they cannot but neglect the main thing and so are found unready â—et worldlings hear this word and tremble if any others be likely to be found unready you are the men Even the people of God themselves if they be unready in part it is the world likely will put them out of order off the hinges take heed saith our Saviour your hearts be not at any time overcharged with the cares of this world because there is no time but that day may overtake you and then you will be taken unawares therefore much more a man that is drowned and buried in the world he will be sure to be unready Secondly Such as do but dally with God and Religion and the things of eternity they spend themselves and their strength to feed a formality to put forth broad and pleasant leaves and there is all but for faith and repentance and the great works of a Christian they scarse ever meddle with them at all they go to the creature here with the foolish Virgins go to the opinions of others to the graces of others to their flattering parasite Preachers to be seared and daubed up such as these are likely to be found unready none in more danger then a formal professor Thirdly Such as fail in the midst of their Christian course as you see these Virgins did usually such are hardly recovered again for you see how they wandered up and down from mountain to hill from creature to creature and come not to Jesus Christ So in the Gospel when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man c. Such are like to the Laodiceans spised out of the mouth of God which none returneth to again the Dog returneth to the vomit but not a man our time is fruitful in experiences of this kind you see the door is here shut against those Virgins which failed I mean it of a total Apostacy not partial declinings such the Saints themselves had the wise Virgins but the other lost all true saving grace they had none their form their profession it went out and then they were in darkness could not expect the coming of their Lord with their Lamps burning So much for the opening of it The door is shut the meaning of this is no more but that an entrance into heaven is denyed unto them that are not ready there is no mansion made ready for them that are not made ready for these mansions the Lord Jesus he is the door into the Church the Kingdom of grace and into the Kingdom of glory as you have beard they that enter must enter in by Jesus Christ have access by him now he will shut the door that is to say shut up his bowels and tender mercies for ever though they have been opened to poor sinners here upon earth then they shall be shut up he will have no more compassion on them but when they cry and call shut out their prayers they have clapt the door of their hearts and lockt them against him and now will he shut up his heart and lock it against them for ever Time was when the Jews might have found Jesus Christ but now saith he ye shall seek me and shall not find me but shall dye in your sins Indeed Brethren the door may be shut against a man here on earth after Gods waiting upon a people to be gracious to them he sware in his wrath they should never enter into his rest which was a type of heaven And so those that were invited to the feast they shall not taste of my dainties saith the King for they are not worthy If men refuse and reject the Gospel either professedly or in practise no marvel if the Lord turn the key of heaven gates upon them and they be shut out without any more hope for ever For the Arguments to confirm this a little First Because this feast in heaven admitteth no Guests without a wedding garment without holiness no entrance into heaven no man shall see the Lord except the Lord Jesus have known them and they have known him which is life eternal for so the Apostle puts them together we know that we know him or rather are known of him else Brethren there is no entrance he knoweth no man will acknowledge none then but with a wedding-garment here in the administrations of the Kingdom of grace a person may creep into the feast withont the wedding-garment indeed for the word preached it is for all but the distinguishing Ordinances men may be admitted to haply though they have no wedding-garment as you have it in that place of Matthew but he shall not abide there but shall be cast out he will bind him hand and foot and cast him out though he â—eaveth the admittance of them into the visible Church and visible communion in his ordinances to us who can judge but according to appearance and by the rules of charity yet himself cometh and vieweth the guests and who are fit to be owned as the guests of heaven that shall have entrance there he whose eyes are a flame of fire or like it piercing into the inwards of our souls to see what our spirits are cloathed with And if he takes it so ill of them that creep into the Communion of his Saints and Ordinances here below without a wedding-garment Surely then he will never admit any to this feast of new wine to eternity without such a wedding-garment Secondly Another Argument or Consideration to make this out may be this they that are unready shall not enter the door shall be shut upon them because they have neglected despised the Lord Jesus who is the door and hath the key of David and openeth and shutteth therefore now they shall be rejected the door hath stood open all the day long all the day long hath he stretched out his hands to a rebellious and gain-saying people he would have gathered them and they would not therefore now he will not now he will despise them as they have despised him and there is all the reason that can be that they that would have none of Christ by whom alone there is access to the Father and to this glory that he should have none of them neither they have resisted the motions of his Spirit the Holy-Ghost offering to convince them and now he will resist them clap the door against them Thirdly Because
did Paul and doubtless Stephen would have hug'd them in his bosom if any of them had then had their hearts changed and what then can and will the Lord Jesus do when such as have been guilty of his blood trampled it under feet turned their backs upon him crucified him when they come to him So in Acts 2. Thou thinkest if thou wert but such a sinner if thou hadst not sinned against such love and mercy he would have pardoned he would have accepted when thy thoughts are at an end and lost then is infinite Grace beginning to be Glorious Secondly Consider this that he hath left thee altogether without excuse he hath cut off all pretences that sinners might make for their keeping off from Christ both here and in other places O saith one He hath waited so long upon me stretched out his hands all the day long to me While I have been rebelling the Lord Jesus hath been intreating me to be reconciled he hath stood so long at the door knocking that now sure he is gone he will not come to my soul nor take my soul into fellowship with himself I am an old sinner as long as ever I could arm my heart and boy up my self with any thing carnal reasonings moral services vain delights and creature-comforts I would never come to him what though the Lord Jesus is ready to receive when ever thou come to him Had not the poor Woman in the Gospel spent all upon the Physitians before she came to Christ if she could have had balm any where else she would never have gone to Gilead for it nor for that Physitian and doth he cast her out notwithstanding surely no He giveth liberally and upbraideth not he hits her not in the teeth with her unworthiness to come to him but when she cometh he healeth her distemper Was not this the Prodigals case would he ever have gone to his Father if he could have gotten husks or any thing and what doth his father upbraid him with it what thou be received now that hast stood out as long as ever thou couldst it is necessity and not love that hath driven thee home therefore take thy course I have no bread for thee O this would have broken the heart quite and for ever discouraged him for coming no he meeteth him by the way notwithstanding and how ready he is to receive him and embrace him that Parable setteth forth O but saith another I am so poor miserable have nothing at all in me but sin and misery suppose so thou hast the more need of Jesus Christ and he is most ready to reveal himself to them that need him most yea thou art the more fit to come to Christ for while thou hast any thing to subsist upon thou wilt not come off thy self clearly and fully as thou oughtest besides remember this that the Lord Jesus is able to bestow his riches upon nothing as he did at the first make a world of nothing so in the new Creation in the soul he can he will bestow the riches of his Grace upon nothing it is like thou hast as much as the Prodigal had in his returning O but he cannot but abhorr me my sins are not slight scars and races but deep wounds and festering wounds running sores bloody issues loathsom in his sight did the woman with the bloody issue in the Gospel find a repulse because of the loathsomness of her distemper or the Lepers because of theirs or Lazarus because of his surely no therein is the great commendation of his love to poor sinners that though in their blood yet he loveth them yet he receiveth them In one word for all to stop the mouths of these clamours the Lord Jesus hath said it and will he not be as good as his word he hath said That if any man come to him he will in no wise cast him out be his distemper what it will be his uuworthiness what it will he will in no wise cast him out therefore never make that an obstruction but rather an argument to put thee on to go to Christ because thy want of him is so great more then is found in others Thirdly Consider that these hard thoughts of Jesus Christ before thou hast tryed and had experience of a repulse from him are but a prejudice against the Lord Jesus how glad is the enemy of our peace if any way he can keep poor souls off from Christ will you judge a man to be so hard-hearted and unkind to you before you have tried him and shall we judge so of Jesus Christ O this is to add sin to sin and much worsens our condition daily Fourthly Consider this poor soul and add to thy own experience the experience of all the Saints ask of them and they will tell thee O never was there viler wretches then they themselves were they had as vile and base thoughts of themselves as thou and were as much discouraged as thou art and yet when they came to Jesus Christ they did obtain mercy they found Grace in his sight the Scepter was held out to them Ask of Paul who though dead yet speaketh and he will tell thee thou never wast such a wretch as he imbrewing his hands in the blood of the Saints a persecutor blasphemer injurious Ask but Magdalen and she will tell thee that she had seven Devils for one haply that thou hast And so will Peter and David O thou never hadst thy hand in blood in adultery in denying the Lord Jesus these found mercy And is not Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Fifthly Thou canst have no good evidence that thou art one given of the Father to Christ before the world began until thou comest to Jesus Christ All that the Father hath given me shall come What then shall sinners abuse this doctrine to set light by it cast off all care of their condition because if they be given of the Father they shall come no But sadly consider this if thou be not yet come to Jesus Christ thou art not as yet declared to be one that is given to Christ and if not given to the Son thou art a son of perdition and wo is thee that thou wast ever born and as yet thou art not come to Christ and how knowest thou thou shalt ever have an opportunity or an heart to believe or come to him Faith is not at your command nor Christ at your command for poor sinners O consider this ye that forget God and forget your own welfare As many as were ordained to eternal life believed the rest were hardened Sixthly A rational Motive shall be this In other distractions a possibility of relief will make poor Creatures put themselves upon extream hazards when it is not possible they should escape without such a hazard running how much more then in the business of our souls should we be willing to run an hazard if there were any
Several Works OF Mr. IOHN MURCOT That Eminent and Godly preacher of the Word lately of a Church of Christ at Dublin in Ireland CONTAINING I. Circumspect Walking on Eph. 5. 15 16. II. The Parable of the ten Virgins on Mat. 25. from ver 1. to ver 14. III. The Sun of Righteousness hath healing in his wings for Sinners on Mal. 4. 2. IV. Christs Willingness to receive Humble Sinners on John 6. 37. Together with his Life and Death Published by Mr. Winter Mr. Chambers Mr. Eaton Mr. Carryl and Mr. Manton With Alphabetical Tables and a Table of the Scriptures explained throughout the whole LONDON Printed by R. White for Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleet-street near the Inner-Temple Gate 1657. To the Right Honourable the Lord Deputy FLEETWOOD and the Lord HEN. CROMWELL My Dear and ever Honoured Lords THough you love not applause nor I can give titles to men lest in so doing my Maker should cut me off Yet must I perform my duty to God and to you in bearing witness to the truth as it is in Jesus and effectually and exemplarily dwels in you Your piety faithfulness zeal towards God tenderness to the Saints in whom is aliquid Christi your ardent love to the faithful Ministers of Christ and to this our dear Brother departed with his dearly beloved consort and children challengeth no less at my hands who was my Partner and Fellow-helper in the work of the Ministry an earthen Angel and an heavenly Mortal that I may so speak of whom I may say as the Apostle of that Brother his praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches I have seldom known of his years a head better hearted or heart better headed The enlargement of whose heart was the enlargement of his abilities He was a burning and bright shining star in the Firmament of our Church holy for Doctrine and Piety but shining with a borrowed light from the Sun of Righteousness which he was very sensible of For he did not offer to God that which cost him nought but gave up himself wholly to the Ministry of the Word and Prayer and the Lord was with him Who did not only as he said lay it on but with a warm hand rub it in I have sometimes thought when I have come into the Congregation that the Church-meeting-place was filled with the smoke of Gods presence such a power there was that went along with the word for he first did then taught and taught and did again Acts 1. Mat. 5. living over in the week time that which he preached to others on the Lords day as the Priest did of the Shew-bread which was set upon the Table which none but themselves might feed upon his life being a Commentary upon his Text and doubtless the Word is as efficacious to a gracious dispenser as to any of his hearers This is that which made his Ministry so efficacious Mat. 21. John wrought no Miracles but acting in a way of Righteousness he was more prevalent than if he had wrought Miracles for to obey is more than to work a Miracle as Luther said Hence it was that in him all Miracles almost met in one the blind see the deaf hear the dumb speak the lame walk the leapers are cured and the poor are evangelized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and turned into the mould of the Gospel not only the word delivered up to them but they delivered into the form of the word His style did piscatoriam simplicitatem olere savoured of Fisher-like simplicity as Chemnitius said he did not sore aloft in high expressions shooting over his hearers but did condescend to the capacities of the meanest which is an excellence in any A garish attire doth not become a chast matron neither doth the affectation of humane eloquence become a grave sober Minister of Jesus Christ as much affection as you will but no affectation for nothing affected affects nihil affectationum afficit aeger non querit medicum eloquentem sed sanantem We say of a Diamond quicquid absconditur perditur whatsoever is hid of it is lost those Rethorical flourishes are like the painted glass in the windows that make a fair shew but hinder the light therefore saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. because the Gospel is glorious we use plainness of speech But that which was the glory of all in this our dear Brother was this I may boldly say his labours were crowned with the conversion of many souls which is an evident sign of the truth of the Ministry by which they were converted He was sweetest as Christ towards his latter end for he was not as a staff behind the door but being planted in the House of God and enjoying Communion with many precious Saints he grew fast whereas many with Thomas Joh 20. 24. absenting themselves have fallen short of that intimate Fellowship and Communion with Christ they might have attained to But he was not like Joshuah's Sun that stood still nor Hezekiahs Sun that went back but like Solomons Sun shining more and more to the perfect day neither did he set in a cloud as many that have ecclipsed Gods glory and therefore he ecclipseth theirs but sets gloriously in this world and riseth I am perswaded more gloriously in another therefore well may I cry out bitterly lamenting his death as that Prophet did My father my father the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof or as David concerning his son Absalom O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my son my son for I may truly say it hath been no small trouble to me that the Lord should take away this eminent instrument in the prime of his daies and leave me behind being a dry barren tree and declining fast as the dresser of his Vineyard but as in the means of grace God grants them to some that will not make use of them but denies them to others that would for his waies are unsearchable even so he takes away some more hopeful instruments and leaves behind such as are less hopeful To prevent that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incident to many that we might live above all having our hand upon the stern of duty and our eye on the Star Christ My Lords I present to your serious view this piece of this our dear Brother transcribed by his beloved Consort which though it hold forth the state of the Virgin-Church to come in the latter daies yet is it very suitable to the present times in which you may see like Peters Cock he claps his wings and calls upon others to waken out of their drunken sleep When the Cocks begin to crow the day begins to dawn when the Cocks crow young and old we say its clear day but when they hasten to their roost with the sweet chirping birds Cant. 2. night draws on Now the Lord look back upon us as he did upon Peter And give us to remember our Rulers even
such as have been as appears by the words following our Rulers and have taught us the Word of the Lord again and again considering the end of their conversation c. for assuredly the living speeches of dying Prophets live for ever Zach. 1. Their word took hold that is it did pursue overtake and seize upon that generation And so will the word of this our dear Brother fasten upon many a soul if not to his salvation certainly to his eternal destruction who if he were alive again would he not speak as now though dead in this present discourse he speaketh Oh! rest not satisfied with the Lamp of profession but get the oyl of saving grace into the vessels of your hearts and go forth to meet the Bride-groom that when he cometh whether at midnight cock-crowing or at the dawning of the day you may not be found sleeping but may enter in with him It s said of Arrius that as his errour with the sad effects thereof spread after his death so his torments were increased in hell for the Lord will render to every man not only according to his doings but according to the fruit of his doings If so as I believe it is a truth O then would we add to this our Brothers Crown and make it more massie and fuller of those choice pearls another day let us remember and forget not what by him was done and taught but say as she said Lord lay up this for me that whenever I have occasion to make use of it as when not I may so remember it as that I may practise and be blessed in my deed But I detain your Lordships too long I shall conclude with my hearty prayers to the Lord that as he hath made you eminently instrumental so he would take pleasure in you both to make you more and more instrumental in the hand of Christ which next to our salvation is one of the greatest priviledges in this life and lengthen out your daies that you may return slowly to heaven which is the humble desire of My Lords Your most devoted servant Sam. Winter The Epistle to the READER Curteous and Christian Reader THou hast here presented to thy view some Sermons os Mr. John Murcot whilst he lived a precious Instrument in the hand of Jesus Christ a Workman that needed not to be ashamed And now being dead yet speaketh by these and his other labours Concerning the Author he was according to his years of an exact judgement which appeared 1. In the choice of apt Subjects with respect to the persons and times wherein he lived as he aimed at the setting up of Christs interest and the welfare of his people so he singled out arguments answerable upon the improvement whereof he spent his best thoughts as might be instanced in these and several other pieces of his 2. In all his undertakings he laboured to discover to poor creatures the vileness of sin Gods free Grace yet ne◠〈◊〉 the prejudice of Gospel-obedience in the promoting whereof he laboured very much knowing the great relactancy of flesh and blood thereto 3. His wisdom appeared in his care and tenderness in that with the discovery of sin he always joyned the nearness of Mercy as he cast down with one hand so he raised up with the other a Bonerges and yet a son of consolation and oh how tender and humble towards poor troubled doubting souls 4. In the healing and preventing of breaches among Brethren he was admirable the Lord gave him wisdom above his years 2 As he was exact in judgement so was he full of affections how warm were they lying in the very bosom of his Master which appeared in his melting frame of Spirit ordinarily and in his thirst to draw down notions that floated in the brain to the heart and feeling wherein he was exceedingly successful 3 As for conversation he was not only spotless but active in good in his studies aâ—dlabours wherein as he was abundant and unwearied which probably helped to shorten his life that when his body came to conflict with the disease he had not strength to overcome at all other times doing or receiving good of whom it may be truly said that he did Epilcopum agere vivere act and live a true Minister of Jesus Christ blessed Bradford connted that hour lost wherein he did not some good with his tongue pen or purse It was the commendation of blessed Hooper that he was spare of Dyet spare of Words and sparest of Time These things being committed to another hand we shall forbear the scope of this Epistle being to acquaint thee with the grounds of publishing these Sermons and to intreat thy candid interpretation and acceptance of our endeavours therein First The satisfying of the longing desires of several some of whom eminent not only in Place but Piety that their hearts may be refreshed their memories strengthened by reading what they formerly heard with much delight 2. The general acceptation of the Author even with all sorts in those places where he lived or was known Secondly The seasonableness of the Subject it being an Antidote against the raigning of that most dangerous evil of the times Formality the most satisfying themselves with the bare Lamp of Profession not regarding the want of oyl in their vessels and the best too apt to be nodding when the cry is made and with the Apostles most sleep when it most concerned them to be watching which renders this Subject not only of present but lasting use and benefit Thirdly The manner of handling which is solid and spiritual so that the ingenuous Reader may find in this Lamp not only light to direct him but heat to warm him when he is a cold and a Cry to awaken him when he is asleep Fourthly The Authors exactness in penning them as if Providence contrary to his approved modesty had designed them for publick view which thou hast here as they were left in his own private notes and you know First That writing and speaking have their several Graces they were publikely delivered with much advantage Secondly They are set forth after his death and you know charity is due to Orphans the Authors more then ordinary growth in a few years assures us that had he lived to have revised this Work it would have been much more digested and refined Thirdly Being left in Characters in the transcribing whereof by the most diligent and exact some mistakes are almost unavoidable so that these may challenge allowance being transcribed by the Authors dearest relation who acquired the knowledge of his Character after his death Wherefore we intreat thee good Reader to bear with what might have escaped upon that or our own accompt which we shall willingly own judging it our duty to prefer the Publike and eternal good of souls to our own names for whose sake as the Pretious Author bestowed much of his oyl in the trimming of this Lamp so we have set it up in
endeavours His late journey to London heated his blood and disposed his already-wasting body to a dangerous distemper which discovered it self on the Lords day in his forenoons Sermon which after his return from the Congregation he laboured to conceal from his wife by endeavouring to eat though it were much against his stomach she perceiving some alteration in his countenance and carriage said You are not well pray preach not again to whom he replyed away away hinder me not Whereupon he retired to his study and adventured to preach again in the afternoon though with some difficulty and apparent symptoms of sickness in his very visage It was upon the spirits of some that this was the last time they should ever hear him One seeing and observing him in his return said Thou art almost in heaven I shall never see thee more The Text which he preached on that day is considerable Psal 4. 6. There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us The former part viz. the enquiry Who will shew us any good he finished in the fore-noon and urged several arguments why men ought to sit loose from all things that are here below His expressions argued in him affections disingaged from matters dreggy and terrene One foot is off the earth already the other will be so too shortly He takes his flight from earth to heaven and in the afternoon made entrance on the latter part of the verse Lord lift thou up c. a suitable subject for him to speak to who was now about to enter into the gloomy horrours of the grave Those bright refulgent beams of heavenly light are never more seasonable then when we are upon the borders of the Land of darkness Ten glorious fruits and effects of the lifting up of the light of Gods countenance he held forth the heads of which because of the spirituality of the matter and being the words of a dying man and experienced Christian you will find in the Margin Judicious Christâ—ans plainly perceived him at that time to be wonderfully raised and his spreading sailes to be sweetly swelled with the powerful breathings of the Spirit for he spake more like one neer the Throne and in the company of Angels then one in a Pulpit and surrounded with mortalls At even the people according to their accustomed manner came crouding and thronging to Repetition His wife in vain perswaded him to dismiss the Assembly in repeating his Sermons Singing and Prayer he spent about two hours time At Supper he did eat a little with his wife and that chearfully yet complained of an unusual heaviness in his head and soreness in his eys when endeavouâ—ing to lift them up and took little rest the ensuing night The next morning seeing that he must be sick indeed he blessed the Lord that he found him in his work The Physitian being sent for and consulted with said he had got cold and was feavorish the second night is passed over with as little rest as the first A day of Thanksgiving in private for his own return from London and his wives late safe delivery was designed to be celebrated about this time the consideration of which occasioned some sadness whereupon to his wife he said This is sad love this looks as if the Lord would not accept of an Offering of praise from our hands And then he called for the Notes of a Thanksgiving Sermon preached long before by Doctor Jones on that passage of Hezekiah Who rendred not unto the Lord according to the benefit The third day as a choice Christian friend who came to visit him was discoursing with his wife he fell afleep and two or three hours after awaking he called for his wife who coming to him and kneeling down upon the beds side he fixed his eys on her and said dost thou know that place I will give them the Valley of Achor for a door of hope Who said yes He further asked her if she kâ—ew the meaning of it who expressing her apprehensions he said yea there it is and then a little nodding his head and pointing with his finger at her said Remâ—mber this Our valley of trouble shall be our door of hope About the fifth day in letting blood he fainted and with a low voyce said What means this it was not thus with me at Sir Roberts Kings To his wife looking upon him he said Now Love it is a weaning time He was more careful of Gods Service then of his own attendance causing the servants to leave him that so their duty to God in ways of worship might not be neglected The seventh day being the Sabbath he inquired who carried on the work and seemed to affect retirement and secret converse with God upon his own day Most part of the second week was passed over in a silent submission and quiet waiting on the Lord. The thirteenth day in the morning being Saturday his pains were very violent for an hour and half and extorted from him that doleful complaint Lord how long Ah my bowels my bowels I have grieved bowels this speaks much I have wanted bowels I have not been so pittiful towards others The Doctor being sent for and staying longer then was expected he said Lord give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man At night he was much refreshed chearful all night and prone to discourse and praised without any complaining and withall said I would have given the whole world for so much ease in the morning The Lords day in the morning the Doctor coming to him and looking on him wept to whom Master Murcot said How is it with me Doctor You may do well Brother I hope if you can get any sleep Master Murcot Tell me true how is my Pulse Doctor I confess it is but bad but you may do well if you can sleep which he indeavoured a while though in vain by closing his eys To his wife looking sadly on him he said Love canst thou pray for â—leep for me what saist thou to which her swelling grief permitted her not to return answer The rumouâ— of his weak condition being spread abroad a Doctor was sent from my Lord Deputy to see if there were any hope of life who speaking to him he said Doctor I am spent with sweating To his Sister he said and that without any amazement and peâ—turbation of spirit Sister I must now tell you I am not for this world and then lifting up himself he said Lord remember me how I have walked before thee in sincerity with all my might He wished the Sabbath were over that so he might do something about his Will though little were to be done His wife seeing hearing these passages said to him Now I see that you know that you must leave us He answered yes Love whereat she weeping he exhorted her to a Resignation to which she answered The Lord hath
if you could as easily put by the coming of Christ as you can make a shift to smother the thoughts of it your hearts indeed might chear you and your condition were something like But he will come and though you be asleep in the Arms of your lusts know that your judgement sleepeth not and your condemnation slumbereth not And make what haste you can to be rich or to be honourable and such persons are not innocent make what hast you can in your career of sinning it travels as fast you and will be sure to meet you at the gates of death and hell if not sooner But it may be we think we have done this great work we are through grace acquainted with the Lord Jesus and his spirit which hath effectually wrought in us to believe in his name to love him the main is done with us and therefore sure we may have more liberty then others now Is it so but is this all that must go to watch for his appearing do we not find our hearts thrusting away from us that day and our hands fail and security setzeth upon us the Disciples were in danger to be surprized as well as others Is there any of us so liveth as that we could readily and cheerfully meet the Lord Jesus at an hours warning a daies 〈…〉 and who knoweth he shall have so much to set his house in order O there is need to press this duty upon us all brethren be our condition what it will we have yet somewhat to learn of it and shall have let us hear it as often as we can But I will leave what further may be said unto its proper place in the handling the Parable A word or two to the present occasion we are many of us now called to this sealing Ordinance And though we have been often stirrd up and taught our duty concerning it is there not need to chafe the oyl in upon our hearts our affections still Alas how often have we heard that what it findeth it sealeeth And yet do we not dare to come some of us with hard hearts with covetous hearts uncircumcised hearts I would not speak brethren to grieve the heart of any the Lord would not have grieved as they that have least cause will be most sadly assayling themselves with condemning thoughts but the Lord grant there be none found among us guilty kind As often as ever we come we hear how dangerous a thing it is to come unworthily prepared to it and yet the Lord knoweth how often we have thrust in here some of us without a wedding garment And that you have not been bound hand and fooe bound up in our grave-cloaths and cast out of his sight for ever it is unspeakable mercy O that this might melt us and humble us and though blessed be his holy name I believe there are many poor trembling souls who go about these things with trembling hearts least they should miscarry and grieve him and bring his blood upon their heads I doubt there may be some of us found whose hearts are far from such a frame had we not need then to be put in mind and remembrance again and again of these things It may be we have faith and love to Jesus Christ it may be we have humility and self-loathing it may be we have a mourning spirit over our sins that have grieved the Lord Jesus put him to all that grief for us it may be we have a thankful heart but are these graces now in action are they upon the wing how often have we been minded thereof that we must be actually prepared Alas alas haply some of us have not taken the pains with our hearts which we might and which others would have done if they had had the hearts which we have haply some of us have been striving but in our own strength and have done little haply others may have been helped in the preparing our hearts to seek him herein but by our pride or carnal confidence have lost our frame again It may be some of us brethren have not been very negligent but yet not so diligent as we ought O brethren how needful are these things bear with me if I do press you to them it is not tedious to me because I hope it is safe for you O! that I could do it with such a spirit and such bowels as the Apostle did the Lord set it upon all our hearts we are exceeding dull to believe and more dull to practise and do his will revealed to us Though the good be our own the glory onely his But I will not insist any further here the Lord give us understanding and believing hearts Now for the words of the Text. The Kingdom of Heaven is like to ten Virgins which went forth to meet the Bridegroom I shall begin according to the former method And first speak concerning Jesus Christ with respect to his Church And touching him there are many things in this Parable First he is the Bridegroom 2. His delay of his coming 3. The cry before his coming 4. The coming 5. The time of his coming at Midnight To begin with the first The Bridegroom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However it be that the scope of the parable be to stir up all men that profess the Lord Jesus to a perseverance in watchfulness to stand ready for his coming which being apprehended there is no necessity of pressing each particular in the parable yet I conceive according to our Saviour His opening of other parables we may insist upon the chief things therein as where HE would let us see what need we had to take heed What or How or Whom we Hear by the parable of the several sorts of Ground receiving the seed of the Word he not onely tells us the difference of the Grounds but what the seed is and who the Sower is or else in that parable of the good seed and the Tares he tells us particularly what is meant by each And therefore I must not here pass over this of the Bride-groom The Virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom The note will be The relation between the Lord Jesus and his people He is the Bridegroom and stands in that relation to his people that this is so we need go no further then this parable for who else is it that cometh and with whom they that are ready do enter into the Mâ—rriage then Jesus Christ who is our life who appearing we shall appear with him in glory Again the foolish virgins cry to him Lord Lord open to us Who is the Lord but Jesus Christ as will appear by comparing this with that speech of our Saviour Not every one that saith to me Lord Lord shall enter but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven Many will say to me Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name in whose name but in the name of Jesus Christ and in
pressing that we are capable of indeed For he setteth before us Life and Death life if we close with him death if we refuse him reject him It is not a thing wherein we may choose or refuse and no wrong to our souls no brethren but he tells us let our condition be what it will be we as dead as we may if we close with him we shall be quickned there is warmth enough in his bosom to revive us there are spirits enough in his love to fetch us again O we shall live condemnation shall be taken away for there is no condemnation to them that are in Jesus Christ our bolts and shakles shall be removed the obligations of our souls to the Justice of God it shall cease O brethren here is the case now a poor condemned woman ready to perish the Prince hath so much compassion on her that he intreats her but to accept of him to be espoused to him promise him marriage if so he will pardon all that is past she shall have her life Is not this a pressing Argument 〈…〉 doubtless it is to such a one as this when death is even present to her before her face is ready to be turned off the Ladder and now an offer cometh O if you will but Marry the Prince you shall be saved though before she refused and the Argument had not such force in it because the thing was at a distance yet now you would think her desperate indeed that should refuse it So brethren the Lord Jesus he doth at other times yea and when the soul is as it were on the wrack upon the Ladder under strong convictions the Sentence is received and it is even going forth to execution O now here is life and death before thee wilt thou now marry me be a spouse to me saith the Prince the Lord Jesus the King of Kings Are not these pressing Arguments 2. Again another he useth is his precious blood that he hath not thought too dear for us O brethren when he beseecheth us by such an Argument as this is by the Mercies of God as the Apostle hath it will it not turn all that is within us to him If a man though but inferior to a woman should shew so much love as to expose his life to hazard for her would it not be strong a Argument when he cometh to wooe her O remember my life my blood is not dear to me that it may go well with you will not this move her there 's a heart of stone it must needs be so Why truly brother this is the Argument every time that you have Jesus Christ held out Crucified before your faces O do you not hear how every wound speaks to you as well as for you to the Father O sinners why are your hearts no more towards me have I not dyed for you my blood my life was not dear to me for your sakes If you will not believe me Behold my hands and my feet yea my sides and my heart look upon me in the Garden trace me there where it trickled down my weary body and see how I have loved you and will you still refuse me will you still think that my heart is not towards you or shall your hearts not yet be towards me Yea have I not been willing to lose the light of my fathers countenance to be under a defection to be eclipsed for you which was so much the purer though nothing so dear to me as his love and it were upon me in the greatest heat and glory and my heart most affected with it yet to suffer an eclipse for you and will you not close with me will you not be perswaded 3. Again once more in the most pressing manner and powerful he followeth us up and down with these Arguments O with what bowels how do they yâ—rn over us every step he followeth us O why will you dye why will you endure the everlasting chains to pay the uttermost further when I offer you my merits my satisfaction for all your debts Look upon him weeping over Jerusalem O Jerusalem Jerusalem O with what affection that is the edge indeed of an invitation O if he were now Preaching to you I believe brethren he would do it with bowels And so did Paul that Saint in whom grace did so abound and to him O he warned them day and night with tears O why will ye dye will ye not believe will you not close with me can you find in your hearts to slight me set light by my love that is so drawn out towards you O what love is here brethren And then with what diligence and patience often he would have done this and wayts long How many years have some of us been thus besought to close with a Crucified Christ Again secondly This may serve for ever to keep us low if love work kindly so it works it melteth down the heart the very mountains high and towring thoughts and imaginations flow at his presence you see how it humbled Abigail when David sent to woo her she bowed her self with her face to the earth and said behold let thine hand mayd be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. A Spouse to David Gods Anointed I am not worthy let me be a servant not worthy to wash his feet yea the meanest servant a servant to his servants to do the meanest offices for them to wash their feet So Ruth when Boaz took but notice of her and spake kindly of her Whence is it saith she that my Lord should take knowledge of me who am but a stranger yea thou hast spoke comfortably to me or to my heart though I be not like one of thy hand-mayds It is true the Lord would not upbraid his people with what they have been nor doth he ever do it yet they should keep it before them continually to keep them low So he saith he will betroth his people after their going a whering from him there is much in that expression and one thing among the rest is conceived to be this by Mr. Burroughs upon Hos That he would forget her former unkindness and unfaithfulness and she should be now not onely as an unfaithful wife received again but Marryed as a virgin as if she never had departed But though the Lord will not upbraid us as James saith yet we should keep upon our hearts the sense of our former vileness when the Lord first met with us in the way of his love so Paul doth I am sure God never tells them after the first time Why persecutest thou me he never told him afterward he had been a persecuter and what a blasphemous wretch he had lived But Paul by the spirit of grace and power in him he often looks upon his feet upon what he had been and that kept him in so sweet an humble frame O I am less then the least Saint Shall the thoughts of love from David
fervor of affection towards them a Bridegroom rejoyceth exceedingly over his Bride though happily afterward he is not so much affected for it is our natures the imperfection of them that new things affect us more then old now with God there is nothing new nor old but his heart is the same and so is Jesus Christ his heart he rejoyceth over his people continually as a Bridegroom over his Bride not as a man over his wife but as a Bridegroom over his Bride now surely if a man do afterwards cool in his affections towards his wife and could be content to be separated from her yet upon the day of espousal or Marriage he will not be induced to it he rejoyceth over his Bride Why such is Gods heart and Christ his heart continually to his people But so much for this Therefore the Lord help us to conclude from those promises however it be however he may speak against us sometimes and act so as it seemeth to us to be against us as Jacob saith all these things are against me yet he will not part with any soul he hath espoused to himself Ahashuerus may put away the Queen upon a seeming scorn or contempt refusing to come at his command when he was in is cups but brethren though it may be thou hast and thou dost many times slight the call of Jesus Christ thou wilt not come nor follow him when he would have thee thou shalt follow him in darkness and lament after him when he is withdrawn but he will not put away It is said in that of Mal. the Lord hates putting away it is true it is firstly intended there of mens putting away their wives but surely if he hate it in us he will not admit it in himself though it is true he is above all Law given to us yet he hath set forth this mystery of his union with his Church by the Marriage-union I shew you a mystery saith the Apostle but I speak concerning Christ and his Church And as it holds in love and cherishing and nourishing and not hating so why not in this that he hates putting away the Lord cannot admit of such a thought of putting away such a soul if Satan would move for it the Lord hates it and hates him for it Be of good chear therefore thou poor drooping soul that hast received him accepted of his love closed with his wooing and intreating thee to be reconciled and given up thy self to him assure thy self he will never put away any poor soul Ob. Alas but you will say this is little comfort though he be thus unchangeable yet I may change and break the Marriage-Covenant with him or I have done it I fear and therefore in such a case he may put me away and yet not change for the change is in me For this brethren remember It is not the back-slidings of his people that can undo the match made between him and them did not Israel go a whoring after other Gods and is not that the breach of the Marriage-Covenant he speaks there of that Church a man will not receive his wife again likely in such a case yet return again to me saith the Lord and I will receive you If that the Lord had not foreseen those back-slidings in his people it had been somewhat if Christ had not fully satisfyed the father for them as well as for other sins it had been something if upon this account there were not forgiveness laid up in store enough with God for these things it were somwhat indeed And it is very observable brethren I speak the more because I know that poor creatures in this condition they are full of jealousies and fears and all that can be said is little enough to quiet and comfort first observe that the Lord speaks over and over and over again Israel had back-sliden in that Prophesie of Hosea as appears ch 14. 4. I will heal their back-slidings Well now they could hardly believe that God would receive them again they were so confounded they had nothing to say therefore he puts words into their mouths in that chapter teacheth them what to say but observe in the second chapter I will betroth them saith God I will I will you have it no less then three or four times which speaks the certainty and ardency of affection in doing the thing in answer to their doubtings I will do it saith the Lord. Alas saith the poor soul it will not sink with me that after such Apostacy and backslidings he will receive it I will do it saith the Lord again O! I cannot believe it saith the soul I will do it saith he again Yea 2. Observe there that he will do it and espouse them betroth them again as one very well hoteth he saith not he will receive them as a man may recive his Adulterous wife again but I will betroth them saith the Lord as if they were virgins pure and unspotted the Lord will receive them not upbraiding them with their going a whoring from him so the virgin daughter of Sion you have heard they are called upon their repentance as if they never polluted themselves so that if the Lord give thee but a repenting heart thy back-slidings will be as if thou hadst never started from him and from final departing he will keep them I say he will keep them here is the difference between this espousal and those between men and women there if the mans heart continue faithful happily hers may fall off and never close again and there is an end of the matter but here the Lord Jesus his heart is not onely toward his people but he keepeth their hearts with him that they shall not depart It is the very tenor of the Covenant of Grace I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me as long as God is faithful and the Covenant of Grace stands they shall not depart let Satan and sophisters say what they will Then in the next place this being made good there is a spring of comfort ariseth from this and that is in respect of troubles and crosses afflictions and losses the fading vanities of the world Thou mayest lose thy dear husband that is as dear as thy life But thy Maker is thy husband if thou believe and thou canst not lose him nor he will not lose thee Thy dear children they are but fading flowers that even wither in the hand and perish in the using as all these outward comforts do but here is a comfort never fades thou mayst be afflicted happily with the cooling of the affections of dear relations to thee why the Lord Jesus his heart is at the same pass alway to thee it is alway a day of espousal with him he rejoyceth continually as a Bridegroom over his Bride Methinketh brethren whatever your troubles are inward or outward here you may relieve your selves by having recourse to your interest in Jesus Christ your Redeemer and
takes encouragement to lay the reins upon the neck to run to all maner of excess the very same you repeated by Luke therefore it shall suffice to name that I will add but one Scripture-more which happily may be of more use then any of these to some perceiving judgements for happily you will say this is but a bribed judgement of some wicked persons bribed and blinded by their Lusts indeed there is not such a delay which indeed is a great part true for the delay is for the most part to be measured by our weakness and shortness as afterward will appear yet somewhat there is of a delay and that you shall find in the Apostle to the Thessalonians Let no man deceive you by any means be not quickly removed or shaken in mind or troubled whether by Spirit or by Word or by Letter as from us as the day of Christ is at hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but there must first come a falling away c. which is fulfilled in the great Antichrist the Pope who sits in the Temple of God as God c. Yet the other Apostle saith the Judge standeth at the door 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grudge not one at another complain not one of another for the Judge is near at hand ready to judge you all for it So sin lyeth at the door that is to say to be near at hand It is no contradiction to that that the day of the Lord is not at hand for that is the day wherein he hath appointed wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he raised him up from the dead If this judging which is near is a temporal Chastisement he would lay upon them as if when children are envying one another quarrelling and grudging one at another accusing one another and falling out one should move them to forbear and by this Argument take heed your Father is at door with a rod in his hand and he will judge you all So he judgth the people that they might not be condemned with the world I thought good to speak thus far lest that seeming contradiction might trouble any so much for the proof The second thing will be to open the terms and First What is meant by coming the coming of Christ This will open the particle of time in the first verse then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened c. the same Key will open both To omit then any other opinion of it I understand it either of the coming of Christ to a particular soul which is no sooner separated from the body but cometh to judgement Now Christ may be said to come he cometh to put the sickle to such as are ripe for it he cometh to gather into his barn if they be wheat or else to burn them up with unquenchable fire Or else 2. And rather of the day of Judgement that great day and appearing of our Jesus Christ who is our life when his people shall appear with him in glory which day will find many alive who shall then be changed before they enter in with him and which day will find doubtless many in deep security and formality to have their work to do And for those that are then dead and shall be raised up it will find them in that state wherein they lay down in the dust either of faith or unbelief and accordingly either they shall be shut out or admitted to the Marriage And methinks this doom of our Saviour I know you not which is parallel to that Mat. 7. 23. Depart from me you workers of iniquity I know you not which surely doth agree to none except it be at the day of death or the day of judgement for any other time I will not trouble you with any thing about And so much for this first 2. Now for the delaying What is Jesus Christ more backward then the Church to this union that they go forth to meet him and seem forward and he delays his coming for what will make more hast then love will it not bring him upon Eagles wings yea riding upon the clouds and wings of the wind and how are we to understand this of his delay of his coming or what is he an idol-Christ that is taken up in a journey or any other business as to forget his spouse and neglect her to come speedily to make up the match to bring her into his Fathers house this were indeed agreeable to a poor finite forgetful Creature but not to Jesus Christ Yea more then this Is he not said to come quickly in divers places and how stands that with the delay of his coming See that place in Luke in the Parable of the unjust judge overcome with the widows importunity though he neither cared for God nor regarded man yet because of her importunity he would avenge her of her adversary how much more God who is love it self and tender of his people as the apple of his eye who is most just and most faithful and who doth indeed fear the wrath of his adversary after the manner of men being tender of his people and of his own name lest he should reproach his name and that reproach with ruin fall upon his people and besides all this being importuned by them as the souls under the Altar crying continually how long Lord holy and true wilt thou not avenge our blood upon the inhabitants of the Earth why saith the Text shall not God avenge his own Children which cry day and night to him though he bear long with them that is to say with their enemie I tell you he will avenge them speedily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speedily in a trice a moment by and by according to that of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quantulumcunque how little soever as little as may be and he will not tarry How hang these things together For the clearing of this it is necessary to say something And first I will shew you in what respect he is not said to delay or it is denied that he doth delay his coming but it is short and quickly and then 2. In what respect he is said to delay his coming and then come to the argumentss 2. Then he is not said to delay his coming in respect of his own eternity wherein all the differences of time are swallowed up and appear not at all there is no time long or short in eternity there is not prius or posterius there and therefore the Apostle in this argument speaks in this wise know saith he to them that were ready to mock because it was so long before the promise of his coming was fulfilled for the glorious liberty of the Sons of God from under their iron yokes put upon them by their persecutors why saith he God is not slack as some count slackness or
proceedings with me Though he did well to retain his integrity and justifie that before men yet it was too much boldness to offer to enter into judgement with God and so earnestly to desire that day Alas brethren when he shall bring to light the depths of our hearts that we never saw who shall stand before him at his coming thus to lay us open if he enter into judgement with us indeed 5. It reproveth another sort and those are they that when their Consciences are a little galled happily by the Word or some other way they are ready to cry out for the day of the Lord they think mans judgement and mans day is very hard and harsh and hope to be relieved by this day of Jesus Christ doth the Lord make his Ministers sometimes sons of thunder and is not he the Father the God of thunders then is your day brethren so dreadful that you cannot bear it if while he sitteth to purge as a refiners fire you be scorched with that so that you cannot abide the day of his coming do you think to help your selves by putting yourselves upon the everlasting burnings It is true the word of God is a fire and if it get into a sinners Conscience it will scorch and burn and make the soul even fâ—y again but what is this to the flaming vengeance wherewith the Lord Jesus shall be clothed when he appeareth and his coming is you think we handle you roughly sometimes and you shall find more tender usage from the Lord Jesus O he is more merciful full of bowels indeed he is so infinitely more merciful but you will find him to be infinitely just as well as merciful Sinners he hath a Go ye Cursed as well as Come ye blessed to pronounce he will handle you more weightily then Creatures can if you be not ready for his appearing If you cannot bear the smoke of the bottomless pit over which you are held it may be sometimes will it be a mending your condition to leap out of the smoke into the fire It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God therefore it may serve to reprove such as would hasten this day of the Lord and yet can have no hope the Lord knoweth in the Evil day The next Vse shall be then to stir us up every one to wait for this day this coming of Jesus Christ specially the people of God You that hope for mercy in that day as he prayeth for the house of Onesiphorus what should we do but wait for it Yet indeed it may reach the Condition of all whether good or bad If he delay his coming then wait for his coming Onely the waiting of the people of God is somewhat of a different nature And therefore let me speak a little distinctly to the waiting of the Saints of God for that day wrerein there are two or three things included as several branches of this duty 1. There must be a love and desire to this coming of Jesus Christ and this presupposeth that that day and the coming of it will be good to the people of God for we cannot love or desire or will any thing evil under the formality of evil be a good day a day of transcendent gladness of heart when the Bride shall be taken by the Bridegroom presented to his father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing when there shall never be any estrangement between the Lord Jesus and the soul any more never any withdrawing any clouding any disturbance of peace any more will not this be a good day when our grace shall be all glory then shall we appear with him in glory And therefore Job speaks after this manner I know that my redeemer liveth c. in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another therefore it is the same body by the which and not a new one which never had union with the soul before though my reins be consumed within me so we read it that is to say though inwards as well as outwards are consumed in the grave yet I shall see him but though is not in the Original and therefore it may be read without my reins are consum'd within me the reins are the s 〈…〉 of the desires therefore I have such desires after that day that even my reins are spent in them and consumed by them this is going forth to meet him indeed It is not every Christian that can desire this but such as are ready for his appearing whereof afterwards But then Secondly 2. In this waiting there is an Act of faith also to be put forth cast not away your confidence that believe there will be such a day it is certain though it be future though we see it not yet because he hath said it therefore believe it and if we so believe we shall not make hast that is to say more hast then is meet press hard forward toward the Mark Phil. 3. 13. 14. we ought to do but we should not take any indirect course to bring our selves to it so much the sooner as some by a dispatching themselves under a temptation when faith is overwhelmed or else by such cruel macerating of the body to beat it down that the frame of it should be quickly be dissolved though we should be weary of the body of sin and we cannot well be weary of it yet faith now should eye that glorious liberty of the sons of God and it maketh it present It is the substance of things hoped for it giveth it a being already and therefore this also is implied in this waiting And then 3. In this waiting brethren for his appearing which is proper to the Saints there is a patient continuance in the waiting a patient continuance in well-doing the Apostle mentioneth there should be desires not a fit and start but a Continuance in them and so a drawing out the acting of faith believing that day will come which shall put an end to all our fightings without and terrors within when we have need of patience when we have done all that we might receive the recompence the promise of temptation whether inward or outward our patience is put to it very sore yea and in a fit of ravishment with Christ then we would have no delay but in heaven we would be even that very moment and those holy flames are sweet but yet if the Lord see it good for Paul to continue in the Body and he must yet undergo more for Christ before he come to raign with him why he is satisfied and so ought we to wait patiently for this his appearing The Virgins waited it should seem and were forward and ready but their patience held not out as it should therefore labour for this But then Secondly For the waiting of Sinners Wait for this day for it will it come
a Mariner near his port rowleth up his sails or as a piece of cloth rowled up one turn more and we are turned into the grave What then It remaineth that they that buy be as if they possessed not and they that have inheritances by Lot also be as if they enjoyed them not they that have wives as if they had none for the fashion of this world the Scheme the Mathematick figure of this world passeth away Was it not this which cast Solomon into such a sleep He offended by women though the wisest King So Mat. 24. 37. They eat they they drank 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some observe It is a word used most properly of beasts living sensually in the delights of the slesh they feed themselves without fear as the Apostle Jude hath it out of measure and so in time there is a season for all things c. make not provision for the slesh c. O that there were more sobriety brethren and moderation among us appearing among us there would not be so much sleeping 6. Take heed of any sin unrepented of of continuing in it for surely that will damp the soul and cast it into a sleepe as you see in the cafe of Jonas David the brethren of Joseph O specially of such sins as stupifie and seal and harden sins of a high hand and against light against mercy with a high hand these are dangerous 7. Be often stirring up your selves as the Apostle speaks to Timothy stir up the grace of God that is in thee the gift in thee as fire under the ashes A man that is drousie had need to shake himself as Sampson did Ah brethren there is a carnal mind in us all which is death it deadens all that is good within us And except we do often stir up our selves labour to keep upon our hearts some quickning Considerations to press them home to hold them to the soul we shall do what we can we shall sleep or at least slumber And beg with David O quicken me according to thy word Alas life is his and all quickning and renewing grace is his therefore we should lye much before him for this mercy if we would not sleep indeed So much for this Use The next Vse of the Doctrine shall be an awakening word It may be brethren many of us that have this word alas are asleep and had need to be shaken and O that the Lord would even do it for us Alas It is not our word will do it it dyeth in the Ear and goeth no further as a bullet whose force is spent dyeth reacheth not the mark except the Lord add an Almighty force to it it will do nothing But I shall endeavour alittle this work by offering some considerations to you You that lye upon your beds 1. Remember in the first place that if Jesus Christ come while you are in this sleep you will be found unready what do you think that a sleeping will put your hearts into frame to meet the Lord Jesus with Surely no One of these two things will befal you either your works will be quite undone you will have your grace to get when you should enter into glory or never Or else if you have it not to get you will not have it in its brightness and lustre as Ornaments upon you ready to open to him to enter with him either your Lamps will be out or else they will be to trim when you should enter O that the Lord would inforce this Argument and his own exhortation Luke 12. 35. Stand ready therefore with your loyns girded and your Lamps burning wayting for his coming that you may be ready Do you think this can be comfortable to you 2. Do but consider seriously what danger we are in when we sleep when we give sleep to our eys and settle our selves to it when we strive not against it First The Philistims will be upon us as they were upon poor Sampson If Satan and our hearts can but sing us asleep then the Philistims are upon us as they were upon him and at last you see how sadly they destroyed him you see what danger Saul was in when he was asleep David might have taken his life from him And Sisera by a poor woman perished when asleep And so Ishboshâ—th when asleep Surely brethren the devil never lulls us asleep believe it but he hath some desperate design upon us which he cannot do when we are awake What danger were the Disciples in when they were sleeping when they should have prayed they were just entring upon the pikes and they were asleep and see what fearful work there was they were all scattered from him and Peter how fearfully he denyed him Could Satan think you ever have brought Lot to that wickedness if he had not been fast in a deep sleep It was strange sleepiness in him to drink so much of the wine Excess overthrew him Surely brethren if ever there were an hour of temptation this is one If it might be tolerable at any other time yet not at this for hell is broke loose the devil is come down and hath great wrath because his time is short O how he hunts after poor souls and who are so like to be drowned as poor creatures asleep Secondly Then God usually doth for sake a soul if he fall asleep As you see in the Canticles her beloved was gone he wayted upon her a great while she would not awake when she got up he was gone O what a sad case was Saul in When God had forsaken him answered him not by Vrim or Thummim and the Philistims were upon him it made him out of his wits almost Ah dear friends If the Lord being provoked by our unkindness giving our selves to sleep do let loose sin this or that lust upon us to worry us And himself depart and stand and see what the latter end will be this will be sad thou cryest to him he will not hear but is as one asleep to thee because thou wast as one asleep to him O what will you do in this day Thirdly Then he is least able to act grace when he hath most need of it because the spirit is withdrawn from him Jesus Christ is departed from him he cannot resist a sleeping he hath no strength A weak woman may drive a nayl through the Temples of a most valiant General then O what advantage hath Satan against us and sin against us The least temptation then 〈◊〉 too hard for us we have no strength to resist come what will come we are naked to receive the thrust And but that the Lord stays the hand of Satan that it shall not reach the heart how quickly would he give such sleeping souls their deadly wound 3 Consider yet further how we put the Lord Jesus to it to prick us and stir us up lest we should lye sleeping and sleep the sleep of death They say the Eagle will
that watcheth with us to keep us awake lest if he withdraw we fall asleep when of all other times we had most need to be awake Fifthly Then what have some of the people of God to bless him for and to rejoyce in the Lord for that he hath kept them awake specially in the time of need it is double and treble mercy You heard before it is matter of great praises to be kept awake ordinarily But in an hour of temptation to be kept awake watching and praying so that when others have entred into temptation thou hast been delivered O what mercy is this and whence is it that the Lord doth so highly favour thee more then others of his people So when he hath in his Ordinances sometimes been as I may say transfigured before us and when others have been asleep have seen nothing of it at all or very little thou hast been kept awake all the while O that we could tell how to set a price upon such a mercy as this how sad a loss would it have been if thou hadst slept away such a season as others have done that haply thou mightest never have seen again what had the Disciples lost if Jesus Christ had suffered them to sleep all the while of his transfiguration somewhat they saw of it and by that they saw they might gather the better what they had lost it may be thou hast lost something in such a time by sleeping a while but hath he awaked thee to see the rest Oh that God would help to prize our mercies to bless and magnifie him for it Sixthly in the last place then if we find our selves growing secure and slumbring and sleeping suspect there is an hour of great need to watch to be awake at hand Either the day of our appearing before the Lord Jesus which is a time of greatest need and if Satan can but get us asleep against that day he knoweth in likelihood we may set in a cloud which will be dishonour to Christ discomfort to his poor people or else some hour of temptation is coming and his design is now to lull us asleep that he may the more deeply wound us take his aim better where to hit us and if he might have his will to smite us once for all O suspect if Dalilah spread her lap for us If the delights of the world do open their bosom for us to lye in and begin to sing sweetly in our ears and charm us O take heed rouse up your selves with Sampson before hand as he did it afterward still until he was taken indeed the Lord being departed from him a sad end of his sleeping But suspect there is some design in hand upon us the aym is to get away God and Christ from us our peace our holy frame from us to bring the Philistims upon us Or else that there is some glorious manifestation of God towards us in his Ordinances he is about to cause his glory to pass by and the envious man and our wretched hearts would sain rob us of it therefore suspect our selves if we finde we are growing thus sleepy that there is some time of need neer at hand for our waking for we are exceeding apt to sleep when we have most need to wake But so much for this Doctrine Verse 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IN this Verse we have Christ his preparatory to his coming In the next verse Its influence upon those unprepared virgins towards a preparation of themselves for his coming and their own meeting of him In this preparation you have 1. A cry which is laid down first in general or first it is declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there was a cry 2. 〈◊〉 what this cry was Behold the Bridegroom cometh c. And then the season of it in the second place it was at midnight A Cry was made at his first coming there was a forerunner and that was John the Baptist and he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness an earnest zealous loud speaking prepare ye the way of the Lord. And now at his last coming there is a like preparation of his way there was a Cry made Calvin thinketh the Cry here is put metaphorically for the suddeness of his coming or that it may be understood so because when any great thing cometh upon a people suddenly they make a stir a tumult it discomposeth them Or as Children or Scholars that are all out of their places and at their sport their Father or Master cometh upon them suddenly O what a stir there is an out-cry the Master is coming the Father is coming Or when an Enemy surprizeth a place cometh suddenly beateth up their Quarters there is a Cry O horse horse arm arm they are here upon us But I know not what Reason thus to understand it of the suddenness of his coming the Effect being put for the Cause because before the suddenness of his coming is set forth in the season plainly as hereafter shall appear he came at midnight I rather therefore take this for a Cry by some messenger of God as a fore-runner of his Sons appearing or coming to his people either to take them to the marriage or shut them out of the marriage for ever The Doctrine briefly will be this The fore-runner of the coming of Christ is a Cry At midnight a Cry was made It is likely that this is spoken by way of accommadation to the Prothesis of the similitude as the manner of Marriages then when the Bridegroom was coming likely there was some messenger going before to prepare them that were with the Bride to meet him that there might be no confusion when he came so here in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the similitude the professors of Christ and the world they are unready for the most part and in a sleep And therefore this fore-runner goeth before the coming of the Bride-groom to give them warning that they prepare c. That this is so the Text it self is so express I think it not very needful to prove it further by Scripture but shew you that it is his course in all his comings to send some messenger before him to prepare his way to make way for his coming his coming to particular Judgments as with the old world he sent his harbinger Noah a Preacher of righteousness and every blow of the workmen upon the Ark was a Cry and might have been as a dreadful sound in the ears of the world he being the warning the Ark must be so long an hundred and twenty years in building the report of it then might go over all the world in that time for ought I know Was not Lot sent to Sodom before their ruin Jonah to Niniveh crying yet fourty days and it shall be overthrown But I will not stand upon this you see it is suitable to his former proceedings in coming to judge any people or deliver his own
turned away either to turn away the affliction or at least the anger which is the sting the inflamation of any affliction whatsoever if it be but an itch a scab if it be fired with the anger of God it shall be enough to consume and destroy the Lord challengeth it as a priviledge See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal I wound their comforts wound their peace lay them a gasping a dying art thou not he that kelled'st Rah and wounded the Dragon So Job he maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole Come say they let us return to the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up after two daies will he revive us and the third day we shall live in his sight Healing upon the returning of poor sinners is a choice mercy indeed and all from him their returning in order to healing and the healing unto returning Behold I will bring it health and cure I will cure them and return to them abundance of peace after be had threatened to destroy them in his anger by the Caldeans So then it may be Beloved that the trouble of spirit thou hast had for sin God hath laid his hand on thy family on thy person and all little enough to bring down the pride of thy heart and to take away the iniquity of thy covetousness and wean thee from the creature Well he will return if thou return to him he will return he will heal thee or at least take away the anger that inflameth the Visitation which is a kind of healing Brethren though we are kept under it But thus much for these particulars touching healing You see then what it is that is held forth in this Doctrine That Jesus Christ will arise unto them that fear his name with healing under his wings that is to say by his Word and Spirit and other Ordinances conveigh to them pardon and cleansing and peace and comfort and freedom from calamities or the evil of them and I hope it is sufficiently proved by the several particulars there have been many Scriptures produced to prove it in each particular therefore we will not any longer insist on that part but come to the Application which will be divers First we may take notice Brethren hence what a comprehensive evil sin is for if we speak of healing which is the main thing in this Doctrine it must needs lead us being a relative to some distemper or other that is to be healed whether it be a disease or whether it be a wound or both for diseases many times are caused by wounds that its a disease a wound might easily be proved in the first place as by that of the Prophet The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint from the Crown of the head to the sole of the foot nothing but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores O! how loathsom are these sores do we not read of the plague of the heart a hard heart the stone in the heart in that place of Ezekiel where he speaks of his people under the notion of a flock to be fed and guided the diseased have ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have you bound up that which was brokon diseased and sick I might here by an enumeration of particulars shew that every sin almost according to Scripture analogy is a disease To begin with the head Brethren is not blindness a disease and is not ignorance a blindness of the mind whereby we are alienated from the life of God Dear friends consider it how many among us poor creatures are groping at noon-day the light that is in them is darkness and O how great is that darkness and is there not also a self-conceipt and pride whereby we think of our selves above what we ought and from hence it is that we grow more in the head than in other parts a dangerous disease there is much knowledge among many of us but little heat little warmth on the heart little holy walking according unto it Obstructions between the head and the heart is none of the least diseases among us Is there not corruption of Judgement and is it not a dangerous disease if we had never thought so before our times would have taught us this the leprosie in the head a man of unsound principles is leprous and one of the worst kinds also O what a vertigo hath taken many they run round until they be giddy and fall and break themselves Beloved there are strong carnal reasonings in our heads whereby almost we will make any thing good that we would have forward we shall make it seem reasonable that we may cum rations insanire Go from the head to the heart and see is there not a stone there and that is none of the least diseases is there not a plague there O what hardness of heart and what stubborness and what frowardness of heart there is we might instance in many Brethren are there not eyes full of adultry like fleams grown over them which do blind are there not pearls in the eyes when the world is dear to us what is our covetousness else and what is envy but a blood-shotten eye which proceedeth from a heart full of vexing and is not lust a feavour yea an ulcer on the liver or a dart thrust through it and what is rotten communication which men make no more of and vain and foolish discoursing but the rottenness of a grave but the rottenness of lungs breathing forth continually O how some mens tongues are set on fire of hell can utter nothing but blasphemies and oaths at every word But we might be endless if we should go to particulars How many of us have a dead palsie past feeling commit all uncleanness with greediness saith the Apostle Sinners you little think what you are doing while you are going on in a way of sin as alas are not many of you this day in this condition you are either contracting or strengthening the diseases of your souls making fresh wounds in your consciences Ah! how lamentable were his condition that were wounded head and heart full of sores putrifying that the very sight of him and savour of his wounds were enough to make all others ubhor him yea he is so far from seeking remedy he wounds himself more and more maketh them deeper and deeper increaseth his diseases he careth not how much he inflameth them this is the condition of every poor sinner you see O! what sad creatures are we that have so many sicknesses on us and each of them deadly and how much more many then together and if we feel nothing at all he that is in the most deadly palsie or lethargie feels nothing at all would be let alone cannot endure to
all the worst when they have gotten a little peace and therefore though before they walked mournfully before God and were diligent in following hard after him now they slack their pace grow remiss they have their consolations the loaves they would have and now they may take their ease O this is a horrible abuse of this liberty for therefore the Lord speaks peace that we might not return to folly and we quite cross because he hath spoken peace to us therefore give up our selves to folly is not this to walk contrary to him and will he not walk contrary to you is not this to make our liberty a cloak an occasion to the flesh a handle for the flesh to take hold of and so to bring you into bondage again and so make more work for Christ to set you at liberty again Brethren can we make our liberty a cloak to the flesh and do you think the Lord will not pluck that cloak over our ears and shew us our nakedness again and make us know how we come by it again before we have it and therefore take heed of this I beseech you lest your liberty degenerate into licentiousness Maxima libertate minima licentia said that Antient. But yet more particularly take heed of abusing of your liberty in the use of things lawful in themselves and indifferent it is a sign of a heart that hath little fear of offending God that dare walk just at the very brink upon the very line of destruction between sin and lawful liberty if it can be assigned You find the Apostle of another Spirit rather then offend his weak Brother he would never eat meat while he lived why how would he live rather upon herbs and fruits and such things then to eat flesh as long as he lived too I tell you Brethren in our daies though there is much discourse of liberty there is little true use of it when a man will offend all the people of God and his Brethren rather then he will part with an excrement and a woman rather then sorbear her spotting and painting and bedlam nakedness If the things be lawful in themselves which I think they are not or a man will rather grieve all the people of God then cross his humor this is sad Again Brethren one man may have a greater liberty then another in this case and another greater then he in another case as for instance now Abraham might look upon Sodom when it was flaming but Lot might not because there he had his desirable things lest it should draw back his heart from the journey now commanded him and so if a man do but observe when temptations and lusts meet together where his corruption lies what is the scum of his heart and what doth use to fire his lusts there he may not give himself such a liberty as another may whose temptation lies in another thing as if a mans temptation lie to excess in eating in drinking it is not lawsul for such a man now to look upon the wine when red c. to come in the danger of such a temptation and so if a man have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease to sin he may not behold an object that another may whose temptation lies not there In a word look to it Brethren that we serve one another in love this is opposed to using our liberty as a Cloak to the flesh to bear one anothers burdens Brethren we are not at liberty one from another we may not say with Cain Am I my Brothers keeper we ought not to despise the infirmities of the weak because they see not as we see and therefore are grieved and offended at many things that we make nothing of here we ought to bear their infirmities to cover them to labour to inform them and forbear them not despise them become all things to them that we may lawfully as the Apostle became all things but a sinner to gain them this is serving one another in love and the labour of love either to God or men is a free service indeed we are rather ready to serve our selves one of another for ought I perceive generally it is so then serve one another in love Brethren I doubt there is little love for Christ sake though there may be some for our own and then all the liberty we talk of it is but bondage the Law of love is a Law of liberty indeed but enough of this Fourthly Then look to it that we being free from sin we become the servants of righteousness that is to say that you give up your selves yield your selves unto God unto Christ as instruments for the holy Spirit to play upon as instruments tools weapons of righteousness for the Lord to make use of even as he pleaseth this is the end of all that liberty held out in the Covenant of grace that we being delivered from the hands of all our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our lives Now hath the Lord then set thee free brought thee out of the horrible pit broken off the shakles knockt them off set open the prison what can we do less then this spend our selves now in his service O if men would but consider how much of their strength and spirits sin hath had while we were under that bondage Me thinks it should put us on so much the more earnestly specially considering how our service addeth nothing to him it is for our own good as you heard before and it is all he expecteth for delivering of us What poor Gally-slave would not most willingly yield to a Noble-man to be his servant where his service is honourable and pleasant and delightful so be he would redeem him why this is the very case Beside if we consider the fruit here and the reward hereafter the Apostle puts both together and I will not put them asunder the first-fruits and the harvest they have their fruit unto holiness the more we serve the Lord Christ the more easie pleasant and delightful will his service be the more our souls will shine with the beauty of holiness as the bondage groweth by continuance so doth the freedom by this service I dare say the more acquaintance any poor heart hath with a diligent close humble upright walking with God the more pleasant the waies of God are to him yea and the more holy that man groweth it must needs be so because he hath more communion with the Fountain of holiness even God in Jesus Christ and the Spirit also would you be holy Brethren would you be more and more freed from the remainders of bondage which are upon you Believe it the only way is to lay out your selves more in the service of Christ the Spirit of Christ will delight to be where he is entertained where his motions are received every hint is taken and followed and improved and the
you see the spirits conveighed from the head to the lowest parts it is by mediation of the other parts between the head and the foot before it cometh thither it passeth through some others I know the Lord Jesus is not bound up to any instruments he can teach by his own Spirit yea and always doth sometimes without means sometimes breathing in the means and this is most ordinary and therefore something we must look to it that we supply every one of us you have heard it is the end of all Christian Society to build up one another and it is the end wherefore the Lord intrusteth us with such Talents to lay them out for the good of others whereby our own Talents grow in the using and we are instruments in the hand of God to improve others hath the Lord then revealed himself to thee thou wast in an horrible pit where there was no standing thou sunkest yet lower and lower hath the Lord set thy feet upon the Rock what then wilt thou keep this alway to thy self when called to speak of it mind you Christ and David they speak of it what God had done And many shall hear and fear and shall trust in God it encourageth them wherefore doth Paul so often speak what he had been and he had obtained mercy O that others that should come after might believe and never be discouraged by their sins though never so great And so the Psalmist Again my soul shall make her boast in God the humble shall hear thereof and be glad this poor man cried to the Lord and he heard him No sooner did Andrew find the Messiah but he tels Simon O we have found the Messiah And so Philip saith to Nathaniel and the woman of Samaria she no sooner had the knowledge of Christ O she was full she was big until she was delivered O come and see the man that told me all that ever I did is not this the Christ I would saith the Apostle that your hearts might be knit together in love and comforted c. that to this end you should know what conflict I had for every one of you wherefore are we delivered out of temptation but to set up way-marks O take heed how you come there warn others that they come not neer such a temptation when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren and therefore comforted that we might comfort others and therefore indued with knowledge that we might feed many Now truly Brethren as the Apostle saith of the solemn meeting so I may say of the occasional meetings together it is not for the better many times but for the worse and how a sad a thing is this when Saints shall meet together to have so sweet an opportunity of stirring up one another to love to good works that either we shall spend the time in foolish talking and jesting and looseness and looseness of Spirit I tell you Brethren observe it you little know what hurt you do your own souls by this lightness nor what hurt you do to others do you never reflect in the evening what you have been doing what company you have been in what you have done what you have gotten methinks it should make our hearts ake to consider this day through the lightness and frothiness of my Spirit I have not only sinned my self but drawn others to it this is not to grow nor to help but hinder one another Or else we are discoursing of the world of this and that bargain or else raking into the infirmities of others and pleasing our selves with that specially of those that are not altogether of our minds whereby our spirits are imbittered not to stir up one another to bowels and compassions to them How many such opportunities doth the Lord put into our hands and we have no heart to them shall I beg of you and of the Lord this day that there might be a labouring either to do or receive some good O think every moment ill spent in the Fellowship of the people of God that is not thus improved and indeed if our hearts and mouths be not set a work thus they will be working upon somewhat which is worse to the grieving and wounding of our spirits and grieving Gods Spirit Thus much for this Exhortation also The last Vse then shall be a word of comfort to every poor believing soul that it may be from what hath been said may be discouraged If it be thus that such as upon whom the Lord Jesus is arisen they are in such a growing condition then what shall I think of my self alas I am weak am very feeble am at a stand c. For answer I shall say a few things First There are several states and statures in Christ there are babes in Christ and such as have need of milk and not strong meat as the Apostle saith ye have need of milk I could not speak to you as to spiritual but as to carnal as to babes in Christ that is to say such in whom the flesh was very strong and prevailing So the Apostle John writeth to all the Saints under three states some were babes some young men in their strength and vigour some old men Fathers of grown experience in the waies of Christ Fathers in Israel and Mothers in Israel some are but just entred into the School of Christ some are of a middle form some of the highest some are but gotten within the door of the house of God and happy it is for them that are but once within for then they shall go further and further Others are gone further into the inner Chambers and are acquainted with the Lord Jesus in the most inward manner What then wilt thou conclude that because thou art not a man the first day or presently therefore thou art no child of grace No suppose thou art but a child and weak and every temptation over-turns thee draweth thee aside yet remember thou art a child though thou be not a strong deeply rooted Cedar yet thou art planted it may be lately though yet for the time we might be men spiritual perfect as the Apostle saith to bear the wisdom of God in a mysterie and yet are babes it is matter of humiliation but not of despair Secondly Another is this that the people of God though they are in a growing condition yet it is not so to be understood as that every moment they grow they have their declining fits trees and plants you know have their Winters and children have their sicknesses and fits when they are at a stand though afterward haply they shoot out so much the more for it and so many times the people of God do they are under a distemper for a while and decline and a man would think they were even withering and dying but it reviveth again many times grace in the hearts of the children of God through corruption are like the light of a candle
transmit unto Posterity the Names Memories Gracious Conversations of eminenter Saints especially Ministers who in their several Sphears and Generations have shined like stars of the first magnitude streaming and issuing forth a more then ordinary and illustrious Light 2. The lives of morally honest Heathens are both recorded and read with profit not only by fellow pagans but by us Christians Who knows not that Plutarchâ— lives have in them many things serving for Caution and Imitation More advantage doubtless will redound by reading the lives of the Evangelically spiritually and really religious 3 We have the warrant of sacred Writ which being not only Doctrinal but in a great part Historical doth much incourage to a Practise of this Nature The 11. Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews you will find to be an Epitome of the lives of the Fathers Now where we have the Spirit of God going before we may well follow after 4. The extraordinary strictness exemplary severity unwearied industry and activity of this man of God in the waies and work of the Lord do exceedingly excite and strongly provoke to make him thus publike and to propose the holiness of his life and comforts in death for the direction and consolation of those whose faces are set towards Sion and to whom this account of him shall come 5. That God may have the glory of what he had done in him in a way of gracious discoveries and manifestations of what he had done for him in a way of clear providences and encouraging dispensations of what he had done by him in giving success unto his labours and letting him see the travel of his soul to his no small solace and satisfaction 6. That the Name of such a Pleasant Plant and fruitful Bough might be preserved fresh green and verdant in the memories of Gods people eâ—ough himself be witheâ—ed lopt off by the hand of death and foâ— a while laid in the dust As Abel so other Saints though dead may yet speak and be made known And O what a glorious thing is it when departed souls are lodged in Abrahams blissful bosom and dead bodies intombed in living Sepulchres sending forth a sweet and refreshing savour into the nostrils of surviving friends A flower may smell sweet after it is cropt and a way made for the Sun to shine after it is set Mr. John Murcot the History of whose life is now to be related was born in the antient Town of Warwick of Parents considerable for their Extraction more for their shining and pious conversation His Fathers name Job Murcot who applyed himself to the study of the Law which brought him in a competent and comfortable subsistence though since humbled by the calamitous inconveniences of these distracted times whose various revolutions have occasioned a wasting and undoing unto many His mothers name before her marriage with his Father was Joan Townsend of raised parts and eminent piety the happy mother of an hopeful son the renowned Root from whence apppeared and sprouted up this fair and flourishing Branch planted by the Rivers of water who brought forth his fruit in his â—eason his leaves did not wither and whatsoever he did the Lord made it to prosper His Parents were conscientiously careful of his education made it their business to season him with sound and solid Principles in his young and tender years which he greedily suckt in as having an early thirst after God and he who erst while hung on his Mothers breast for milk now hangs on her lips for instruction His Parents perceiving in this their young Timothy an ardent desire to be intimately acquainted with the Scriptures and in order thereunto with Academical learning were very prone to contribute their endeavours towards the ripening of these hopeful Buddings and promising Beginnings and therefore in the first place committed him to the care and tuition of an able and godly School-master Mr. Dugard who instilled instruction both with his lips and life desirous to make him not only a Scholar but a Christian It s hard to say 〈◊〉 which was more diligent and industrious the Master in teaching or the Scholar in learning Time was not mispent and prodigally expended in the eager pursuite of childish vanities he ran at his first seting out and did not lazily loiter when he should be minding his work yea when other boyes would be sporting and playing he would be studiously retired solitariness and meditation being unto him instead of recreation Being competently furnished for the University his Father sent him to Oxford where he continued his former diligence in his studies under the conduct and oversight of Mr. Button his faithful and religious Tutor in Merton Colledge About two years after his thriving abode there the Kings Forces possessed themselves of Oxford put all things into an hurry and ingaged the students in such perplexing snares that Mr. Murcot to disintangle himself out of these uncouth inconveniences fled from Oxford disguised and repaired to the House of Mr. Leigh of Budworth an antient grave able and learned man and Minister of that place and there studied hard both day and night allowing himself but four hours for sleep so intent was he upon his Book and so wholly taken up with religious Exercises The cloud being blown over he repaired the second time to the University and his former diligence which caused the eyes of many to fix and fasten on him as perceiving something more then ordinary in him and expecting more than ordinary from him Though means and maintenance were now very short yet it did not discourage and cause him to deâ—ist he did not unbend the Bow and slacken the string he still stood an end to his Oar and with wonted diligence prosecuted his studies it being his meat and his drink to do his Fathers will Having taken his degree he returned to his old friend Mr. Leigh and was several waies useful to him who now called upon him to appear in publike which he did not without much fear and trembling as being conscious to himself of his own inabilities for so ponderous an employment and loth to put to his shoulders lest he should sink under the burden But being pressed and egged on by his friends and a Call from the Inhabitants of Ashbury he entred into the Lords Vineyard put his hand unto the Plough and was ordained a Minister at Manchestâ—â— He professed to use his own words that he was drawn as a Bear to the stake complaining and often bewailing his want of a sufficient stock of University learning The Lord was pleased to own him in his first attempts and endeavours giving him a seal unto his Ministry by the conversion of two especially who being awakened by his sound Doctrine smart expression and powerful delivery sadly bemoaned themselves and mourned over their lost condition even in publike From Ashbury a call being cleared up he removed to Eastham in Woral and gained mightily upon the affections of many especially the godly
whose hearts began betimes to be knit unto him and here likewise the Lord was pleased to water his labours with the dew of his blessing But me thinks I see a black cloud arising this bright star who shined full clearly and comfortably unto others is now himself eclipsed and He who was a skilful Pilot to direct others through the splitting Rocks and swallowing Gulphs is now himself plunged into the great deep the Lord persecutes him with his tempest and makes him afraid with his storm all his waves and his billows go over him But what might be the occasion of so sad a desertion 1. The folly and the vanity of his youth though not stained wiâ—h irruptions into grosser evils 2. His too far yielding at Oxford with those impositions which grate upon conscience and scourge it with severe remorse 3 The Lord would hereby ripen him and make him the more fiâ— for himself and service He must be frost-bitten that so he may be the more mellow and his fruit of a more delicious taste There are no Preachers so experimental spiritual powerful couragious awakening convincing converting compassionate comforting as those who have passed through the Pikes and have been sorely batâ—ered with showers of Hail-stones There are none so expert at binding up the broken bones as those who have been broken upon the wheel and made to roar out by reason of the disquietness of their hearts They know how to speak a word in season unto him that is weary who have themselves been weary and heavy laden sighing full sadly and groaning full heavily under the cold hill clouding and cutting expressions of Gods displeasure They know how to speak peace unto distressed consciences who have themselves been soundly frighted with the sounding of the Trumpet and the Alarm of War There are no Trees so firmly rooted as those that have been sorely shaken and made to bow and bend with the stormy wind and tempest of the wrath of the Almighty The scales many times stick so close even unto the Seers eyes that they will not be rub'd off but with a rough hand and a sharp file But will the Lord contend for ever will he be alwaies wroth Surely no and that lest the spirits should fail before him and the souls that he hath made There is a lifting up after a casting down The Lord turns for him his mourning into dancing gives unto him beauty for ashes and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness and with a soft hand wipes away the tears from his swoln eyes The instrumental means of scattering the darkness and distress that lay upon him and of restoring the former beams of light with which he was wont to be refreshed were the reading of Mr Tho. Goodwins Child of Light walking in darkness and other of his Treatises So that now we have the Lord shining on him in a way of consolation as he on others in a way of instruction and information About the 25. year of his age being resolved to change his condition and discoursing with a friend about it there was proposed unto him Hester the daughter of Mr. Ralph Marsden Minister of West-kerby of note and useful in his generation whom he afterwards took to him to be the companion of his life But before the consummation of the marriage the people of West-kerby Mr. Marsden departing this life gave him a call which upon examination and supplication being found to be of God was complied with The seed of Gospel counsels being sown with a diligent hand did not long lie buried under the clods but sprang up and put forth it self in visible fruit whâ—ch was a farther clearing of the â—all and chearing of the heart of this pains-taking Husband-man It s no new thing for external and bitter afflictions to accompany the sweet honey of Gospel-consolations How often do dashing showers fall upon mellifluous Hives and the fairest flowers that grow in Gods Garden How often are the labouring bees assaulted with a tempest whilest abroad and bringing home provisions against the ensuing winter What more usual then Sun-shines mixed with blustring winds and wetting rains Two Villages of the Parish of West-kerby are sorely visited with the Pestilence and the Lord scatters abroad the black tokens of his displeasure the product of which was many fasts tears prayers importunate requests that the Lord would shew unto his people why he thus contended with them Mr. Murcot hath his ears opened to instruction This thundering Providence awakens him to a more exact scrutinie and narrower search into his heart and waies and is now perswaded that he had been too lax and general in the administration of the sealing-Ordinances so that he resolves to forbear and draw back his hand unless the known godly will combine which occasioned many Fasts Conferences Debates However he perseveres in preaching work and waits on Providence to see how the Lord will dispose and encline the peoples hearts An Irish Lord quartering at West-kerby being bound for Ireland was observed to be a prodigious swearer belching out most horrid Oaths in great abundance Tidings are brought to Mr. Murcot in the morning as he is going to celebrate a solemn Fast The work of the day being over Mr. Murcot being lately with God in the Mount and now grown warm in his cause and quarrel is impatient of brooking these high dishonours that were done unto his Majesty Wherefore taking with him a friend he rides the same night six miles to a Magistrate procures a Warrant the trembling Constables at first are astonished to think of approaching in such a way to guilty greatness but being animated by Mr. Murcot they serve their Warrant which provoked a new rage to the multiplying of fresh oaths even without number to the great amazement of the standers by Notwithstanding the boisterous menaces and outrage of this great man his horses were seized on and kept till he paid 20 which was employed as a stock for the poor of the Parish so wickedly liberal was this Lord unto them This exemplary Act of Justice procured and prosecuted by Mr. Murcol's active zeal so danted and overawed his Lordship that during his abode there he held his mouth and tongue as it were with bit and bridle The prsence of a siâ— punishing Magistrate hath in it a co-ercive and restraining vertue so that the most debanched and profligate sons of Belial are afraid and confined with n some bounds of moderation who if remote and at a distance they lift up their heads with a mighty confidence and finding the reins lye loose upon their shoulders rush into all manner of wickedness as the Horse rusheth â—nto the battle Mr. Murcot wanted the advantage of a Magstrate upon the place had no other sword to fight withal save that of the Spirit yet such was his Integrity Gravity Austerity and his Activity in informing and exciting Magstrates to punish Offenders impartially that the people round about him had
an awe and dread of him and durst not lash out into publike extravagant scandalous courses Great resort was had unto him to heal the Breaches and compose the differences betwixt disâ—enting and disagreeing Brethren which grateful and acceptable work did exceedingly heighten him in the peoples esteem and preserved them from greater animosities and distances by going to Law If the Peace-makers be pronounced blessed he must needs be so upon this account It was a common Practise in those parts to have Ales as they called them alias Good-fellow meetings in which the night was consumed in rioting and drunkenness the creatures abused God most shamefully dishonoured and men and women there met together drawn into singular inconveniences which disorders were a sword in the bones and a sharp thorn in the tender eye of this waking watchman One revelling night he and a godly neighbour went to the Constables ingage their assistance advance and before them entred the house or rather the den of Dragons at whose approach and presence the rabble rout scatters like a mist before the rising Sun Some run affrighted out of doors and leave their Ale behind them others hide in secret places The flight was so full of confusion you would have thought it occasioned by the incursion of an enemy and that their lives were rather invaded then their Purses and Reputations One onely of the company assumes the confidence to stand it out and having a brow of brass thinks to out-face both sacred and civil Officers and saith Shall I fear Murcot Calls for more beer and in a bravado drinks to him who pledg'd him with a stern silence and frowning aspect The names of the Ring-leaders and Capital Offenders are returned to the Justices and they constrained to pay their imposed fines But did this son of impudence who dares thus affront Gods Minister thus escape Though the sickness at that time was comfortably abated and the family to which he related not in the least tainted yet this man is very shortly after visited and by that signal stroak from the hand of the Lord hurried out of the Land of the living The following Sabbath Mr. Murcot chose a subject to treat on suitable to the preceding tumultnary agitations and transactions laid before them the blackness of guilt contracted and the dreadfulness of wrath deserved their fines being but part of payment and an earnest-penny of an after-reckoning and was so severe and cutting in his Rebukes that they caused in the Congregation strong pangs of affection and unwonted transportations The guilty shrink down into their seats like affrighted birds into their hollow trees many melted into tears of professed repentance A maid by her gastly countenance and trembling hands gave cause to think that the arrow of conviction was shot through her liver and stuck fast in her sides and indeed so it did and proved the happy occasion of her after-conversion Being still unsatisfied with the present constitution of his Congregation he had several meetings with the people and plainly told them that he could not live without the Ordinances nor administer them as formerly to which some unwilling to be brought to the Test and new-moulded replyed that he might then take his liberty and be gone Yet the godly are loth to part with him and he as loth to part with them but an amicable accord cannot be accomplished and therefore he resolves to weigh anchor and spread his sails to the leading gale of Providence An invitation from Bellfast in the North of Ireland under many hands as also from Dublin from the Commissioners of Parliament urgeth him to a removal and draws forth serious considerations of the matter whether it might not be of God and consequently to be followed with an obsequious prosecution A company of godly persons live in a Parish who are desirous to enjoy the Oridinances appointed by Jesus Christ to be observed by his people thereby providing for their comfortable growth while under imperfection being convinced that the years past wherein they have lived without them are more then sufficient and fearing the guilt of sinful neglect doth already lie upon them But yet are not satisfied to hold Communion in them with such a promiscuous Assembly but only with a small number in comparison the most being such as they see not how they can be admitted by any rule of Christ for the Ministers subsistence there is also a particular dependance upon every one in the Parish And having good ground from an earnest of the Spirits of the most of the Parish already much disrelishing any separation of them as the vile from the precious and from experience of most sad unutterable and dishonourable breaches made by the like attemps elsewhere to conclude that if all such as are unfit be deba 〈…〉 ' d they will be exasperated at least so far as to withdraw the maintenance and such as are fit will be found too few to afford comfortable subsistence to the Minister and therefore if they should attempt to enjoy the Ordinances in such a manner in such a place it would in all probability procure a sudden dissolution of them to the great dishonour of God and triumphing of wicked men The premises judiciously and impartially weighed the Question is Whether it be more suit able to the mind of Christ for such godly persons to look out elsewhere where they may comfortably enjoy these indispensable appointments of Christ or to run so apparent and eminent an hazard of dishonour to Christ by their sudden dissolution upon enjoyment of them in such a Parish Your judgement and spiritual grounds that most poise your own spirit are desired This bright star hath not long to shine in that part of the Firmament where he was at present fixed yet before his departure and transfusion of his Beams to the neighbouring Provinces there appears a formidable and blazing Comet at Chester one Mr Knowls who exercised as publike Preacher to the Garrison there and in publike Sermons private conferences and by a manuscript by him framed denyed Jesus Christ to be the most high God Several in the City professing godliness are dangerously insnared and swallow down that poison which will turn to gall and worm-wood in their bowels Mr. Marcot with others especially Mr. Eaton labour to establish the people in the truth received and to pluck up that stinking weed which began to spread and fasten its contagious roots Upon complaint made the flaming fire-brand is removed yet left behind him those unquencht sparks that break forth into fresh flames Some godly in Chester being embodied and wanting a Pastor to take the charge of them express their desires of enjoying Mr. Murcot who is sent unto and requested to preach among them by way of trial and in order to his future establishment but withal intreated not to intermeddle in the present Controversie or engage against Mr. Knowls lest his settlement should be obstructed and the desires of the godly
in infancy ought to be rebaptized when adult holding the Negative Dr. Harding refused both and nothing would serve him but his confused heap of Questions in one A known fallacy After much contest Pro and Con I was grieved to see so little Candor as I conceived in Dr. Harding and took the boldness to request of him to satisfie the Congregation that to the first of the two he would say I or no. When Dr. Worth prest him to it many times he would not answer no sooner had I spoken but he said To Mr. Murcot he would say No that is That no infants were to be baptized And to satisfie the Congregation would maintain it against me though not against him This much troubled me it being so beside my intention and against my resolution to turn aside from the main work to any thing of this nature And indeed it did I doubt through the subtilty of the wicked one put that Sermon put of the Peoples minds and prevent them of another the next week I did long refuse it telling him He did but now challenge all men and why not undertake Dr. Worth as well as me except he fought for Victory more then Truth but at last I yielded to undertake it with Dr. Worth though I must be the Forlorn The next Thursday that is May 26. as I remember was set for it the Question was agreed upon then a week before and the manner of managing it by way of Syllogism not long discourses which lead people into a maze The time came and yet notwithstanding former agreements in the face of the Congregation there was so little candor shewed as that two hours I am confident were spent before I could bring him to agree to the Question and manner of discoâ—rsing it A sad Omen what the issue was like to be All that he urged for the Negative which according to promise at last I prevailed with him to defend was That there was no Command or Example or thus No Institution Warrant nor Example for it in the Gospel ergo It was answered There was express warrant for Baptism in the Gospel and consequential warrant for the circumstance of time the age of the subject After a cavil rather then an Argâ—ment that for the time it must be in the womb or after Birth and then before the eighth day or upon it or after it which were as easily answered as said the result was he denyed my consequential Gospel-Warrant for the time and truly this was all he had to say against us there Now I was put to prove a consequential Warrant for Infants Baptism from the Gospel I first laid down Mat. 28. 19. to argue from a Scripture argued that from thence there was warrant to baptize all Disciples whatsoever and Infants were Disciples Ergo. I put not the Arguments in form in this Narrative much cavilling there was about Discipling He would have it only such Disciples as could learn and that Infants were not made Disciples according to Mat. 28. Dr. Worth urged according to that before if the word there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie all Disciples whatsoever then Infants are such as are there intended but the former is true Ergo. Here Mr. Hacket unadvisedly tore a piece of the paper upon which the Arguments were written thinking he had torn off only a Syllogism of his own which he had written not willing to appear in the dispute in writing it seems some little of Dr. Hardings writing was on the other side or of mine which Mr. Hacket saw not else I believe he would not have torn it At this the Dr. takes occasion to break off crying out of Perfidiousness which the Lord knows was nothing but an Ignorance I am sure to me it was so He knew the best time to give over even before we came to the pitch of the Controversie so the people went away as much unsatisfied as they came except it were of the want of ingenuity in carrying of it on I am sure I was not a little troubled we should tire our selves and the people in six hours discourse to so little purpose I hope it will be a warning to me for the future The Dr. being full at stomack the last Lords day in the morning at Peters names a Text Heb. 6. beginning laies it aside instead of a Sermon calls for ink and paper writes down the following 13. Arguments for Infants Baptism professing I suppose else I know not to what end he took that pains to maintain the Negative against all these grounds thus he entertained the Congregation he had to the wearying of some of them and sent the paper either to Dr. Worth or in his absence to me but with no intimation to what end as I remember the Arguments are as followeth Paedobaptis Assert 1. Circumcisi sunt baptizandi At gò 2. Discipuli 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. At gò 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 baptizandi At gò 4. Familiae At gò 5. Sancti At gò 6. Foederati At gò 7. Sanctificati At gò 8. Filii Dei At gò 9. Christiani At gò 10. Haeredes Regni At gò 11. Privilegiati seu privilegio peculiari supra caeteros the next word I cannot read At gò 12. Traditio seu consuetudo At gò 13. Promissum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At gò These I received about half an hour before I went to preach in the afternoon which though some diâ—traction to my thoughts I resolved to say nothing to but to mind that I prepared for the peoples greater edification only by way of Preface I let the people know I had received such a paper of Arguments for Infants Baptism some whereof I owned and some not but in the General I said what was said of Bellarmine That he had brought more arguments against himself then he could-answer so I thought of these and câ—utioned the people to beware what Doctrine they did embrace and gave some other suitable counsel to them And so I fell upon my intended Sermon This is the true state of the matter for the substance which I thought good to send conceiving there might be occasion for it there J. M. The allotted time of his continuance at Cork being expired he returned to Dublin to the great rejoycing of those whose very hearts were glued to him and whose thirsty souls longed after him A friend asking him in what measure the Lord had blessed his labours as to conversion-work and the gaining in of souls to God he answered That at his first coming to Cork he to his joy knew some and heard of others whose faces were set towards Sionâ— and began to enquire after the Lord till the bone of disâ—â—ntion was cast in with which the people were wholly taken up and then with a sorrowful countenance and with eyes and hands lifted up to heaven said The Lord pardon me that ever I yielded to that wrangling dispute Though Cork hath not his personal presence
husks as many do but wholsom food Careful he was to preserve the poor Lambs of Christ from infection depredation If any sheep â—as stragling from the fold he would reduce and bring it back again if weak he would take it up in his bosom and carry it upon his shoulders His bowels were rowled within him and did exceedingly melt and yern towards those for whom Christ shed his blood The Lord having fixt him in the Firmament of the Church he proved not a wandring star his regular motion kept others within compass He was not a cloud without water as appeared by the flourishing growth of many Christians who sate under the honey drops that distilled from his lips How did he thirst after the salvation of souls and how anxiously inquisitive after the success of his labours It did not satisfie him that the seed was sown fruits must appear or else his heart is mightily troubled within him and little comfort taken in the comforts of this life It was an heart-breaking unto him that the hearts of sinners were no more boken their dry eys would cause his to overflow with briny tears The Lord did not give up his Ministry to the curse of a miscarrying womb and dry breasts He was able to say Lo here am I and the children whom thou hast given me Surely in labours he was more abundant then many others as his Closet Pulpit besides many other places can well testifie Recreations he declined so loath was he to be accounted a loyterer or idler in Gods Vineyard Having put his hand unto the Plough he did not at any time stand still he looked not back he sate not down in the cool and gentle shade but was always in an erect posture and continually pressing forward contented to bear the burthen and the heat of the day as knowing that the time of refreshing was shortly to come from the presence of the Lord. So eagerly bent was he upon his work that when seriously setled to it his necessary and appointed food was frequently neglected wife children and other Relations not taken notice of If any refreshing was urged he would say This is not the way to get my Fathers work done The Subjects that he pitcht on were usually adapted and accommodated to the temper of the Times and his own condition as Preaching both to others and himself It did not satisfie him that Truth was Preached unless it were seasonable and suitable The Sermons that he Prcached he throughly digested before hand and made them his own by a deep impression of them not only on his memory but affections so that he still spake from the heart to the heart They who beheld him in a Pulpir with a spiritually discerning eye thought the place to be as it were filled with smoak and signal expressions of the Divine Presence The growing and prevailing Corruptions of the Times he strongly opposed Errors though countenanced by great Ones were not basely baulked and passed by in silence The miscarriages of those in high Places were sure to meet with a severe and sharp rebuke He often bewailed and greatly mourned for the evil and dangerous consequence of corrupt men called to the Ministry who daub with untempered morter and slightly heal the wound that is made with a faithful hand When secure and sleepy sinners are at any time awakned by a stirring and a soul-searching Ministry and complain of the terrors of the Lord that set themselves in battle array against them these miserably-mercifull men with an oyly tongue labour to lick them whole again and skin over the sore they make it their design to bind up the broken bone without putting their patients to any pain perswading them that Ministers now-adays are too severe sour strict streight lacâ— and fright silly folk who do not understand themselves with Bug bears and Sear crows For a Waspish and inraged conscience thy provide a sweet and stupifying sop and so lay it to sleep again Thus are men flattered into a good opinion of themselves when in the mean time they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Wo and alasâ— that ever men should be thus contentedly cheated of their souls and prefer their present ease before their future safety He who was chosen a Ruler in the Church was so in his Family which he ruled well and diligently instructed in the knowledge of Christ He prayed twice a day with his Family and expounded some portion of Scripture and in these exercises usually expended an hour and an half at a time In Singing he was much transported and even lifted up and delighted much in Psal 63. and 103. He was with Paul in fastings often and that not only when publickly required for he was herein often ingaged upon the account of his own personall concernments and condition In preparations for Fasts as well as in the celebration of them he was very solemn and severe as will afterwards more plentifully appear Food on such days he tasted not till late at night if any offered it was entertained with dislike in his very looks In Prayer at all times especially then he was copious inlarged spiritual powerfull to the melting of the Congregation into tears and sighs His love to the Ordinances was very great and his heart did even break with longing after that of the Supper and in preparation for it he would unbowel himself before the Lord and be very strict in the duty of self examination When his children were Baptized and had the Seals of the Covenant imprest upon them he would wonderfully rejoyce thereby declaring a sweet refreshing and full satisfaction With the Psalmist he had rather be a door keeper in the House of the Lord then dwell in the Tents of wickedness One day in Gods Court was better then a thousand elsewhere He would cheerfully chirp and sweetly warble out his high-strained Notes when with the Swallow neer Gods Alta but would mourn like a Dove and chatter like a Crane when the waters of the Sanctuary were dammed up and did not freely flow forth he would droop and hang the wing though under the broad spreading guords of carnal contentments He abridged and cut himself short in the use of the warrantable contentments of the present life He was unwilling to launch out too far lest he should lose the sight of his Harbor and a storm arise ere he got in again He was loath to swallow down large morsels for fear of an ensuing surseit and dismal dolefull distempers that might thence arise He knew that the fairest full-blown Rose was not without its grieving thorn and that a scratching Bryer lay lurking under the blooming leaves and therefore he passed over the most flowrie and fragrant walk with an hasty and trembling foot He was none of those whom the Apostle speaks of that mind earthly things His work was his wages His design was not to spread his roots in the earth
enabled me to surrender you up heartily at the â—earâ—ng of which he lifting up his hands blessed the Lord. To hâ—s wâ—fe he said haste haste Love for my time is very short and withall told his Sister I shall not reach midnight Then lifting up himfelf he said these raptures tell me I must be gone quickly The consideration of his approaching rest did wonderfully revive The Messenger of the Lord whispered him in the ear and told him his Father had sent for him home which happy tidings made his heart to â—eap for joy within him The glimmerings of the white Throne of the Lamb sitting on that Throne and of the glorious troops of Saints and Angels all in white about the I â—rone with the apprehensions and confident assurance of his bearing a part in the Musick of their Hallelujahs caused in him sublime elevations and springing exultings of spirit in a body depressed and bowed down with pinching pains and the agonies of an approaching death He is now in the Cutfields of Emanuels Land and is gotten almost to the top of the Mount and his soul impatient of delaies is ready to leap out of the crazy and declining Cottage of mouldring Flesh Paper being brought he began thus I resign my spirit into the hands of the Father of Spirits and into the bosome of my dear Lord c. To this there were but three or four lines more added for he was in haste and longed to be at home To his wife having in a very short space dispatched his Will he said Bury me in silence without Funeral Sermon I will have no manner of pomp but was perswaded to yeild to the intreaties of his wife as to a Sermon As his children were called for Doctor Winter came in to visit him who unexpectedly seeing death in his face said with a loud and lamenting voice Brother Murcot are you leaving us who with unaltered countenance said Yes and desired him to pray quickly His children being brought he said to his eldest Will Hester be a good child and serve the Lord His son being presented he expressed himself thus The Lord break thy stubborn heart When the little one hanging on the mothers brest was exposed to his sight he lift up his hands and said The Lord bless thee Being put in mind of his servants he affectionately and even smilingly looked up upon one whom he had been instrumental to convert and said Bess hath a better Master the Lord be with thee Bess The children being taken away and his wife coming to take her last leave and final farewel of him he alone lift up himself and kissed her Dr. Winter desiring an interest in his prayers he said The Lord strengthen you for the double work that now lies on you and withal desired him to pray with him which he did in a most pathetical and doleful manner groaning out his requests unto God The people though desired are loath to leave the chamber and hang so thick on the curtains bed-posts hangings doors having not the power to leave their dear and departing friend so that he is in danger of being smothered and dying before his time Drawing near his end his sister said to him Are you in charity with all the Lords people though differing from you Who lifting up his eyes affectionately said Yes She desiring him to manifest it by his last request he lifted up his hands and requested that all the Lords people might be one as his way was one Then stretching out his arms and lifting himself up he said with a loud and shrill voice Lord Jesus draw me up to thee which sweet expressions by a frequent and fervent repetition wasted his spirits so that afterwards he lay in somewhat a silent posture waiting for his change which was now neer at hand About nine of the clock he breathed out his soul into the bosom of Christ and quietly slept in the Lord. The Wednesday following being the appointed time of his interment great was the confluence of people who attended the corps unto the grave The Lord Deputy Fleetwood followed the Body after him the Council then the Maior Aldermen and Citizens in such numerous troops that the like hath not been usually seen in Dublin Dr. Winter preached his funeral Sermon on Heb. 13. 7. Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation Upon the face of the whole Congregation sate a black cloud of sorrow and disconsolation being not able to vent it on that doleful and uncomfortable occasion into showers The Body being brought unto the place of burial the sadned spectators and standers-by sighed him into his grave and mingling his dust with their moist tears departed and left him in his bed of rest Relation I would willing back with Exhortation A few words of spiritual advice in the close of the whole may be of use though from an inferiour hand And first to you my Brethren in the Ministry I address my self and earnestly intreate you in the bowels of Christ Jesus our Lord to remember That you are not only Church-Officers but Christians Spend not your whole time in reading books and studying other men you will do well to study your selves and to be acquainted with the frame of your own hearts The way which you point out unto others walk in your selves and conscientiously practise the duties which you pangatively press Beware of beams in your own eyes whilest you are diligently plucking motes out of your brothers eyes Let not your own cloathes be full of dust when you are brushing other mens backs It s not handsom for us to be alwaies sweeping before the doors of others and picking up the least offensive straw whilest huge heaps of dunghil filth lie before our own doors unremoved It opens the mouths of opposites when we are taken notice of to bind heavy burdens on other mens shoulders we in the mean time refusing to touch them with the least of our fingers Know we not the pleadings of many at the last day Have we not preached in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils whom yet Christ will spurn from his presence and cast forth as an everlasting abhorring What though Judas had the grace of Apostleship so long as he had not grace with his Apostleship It was a wise course that Paul took and deserving imitation who did beat down his own body lest having preached unto others he himself should become a cast-away What though Satan fall down from heaven like â—ightning before us if he be not cast out of our hearts We have more reason to rejoyce in having our names written in the Lambs book of Life then in having the Devils subject to us O whilest we passionately endeavour the salvation of others souls let us have an eye of tender regard unto our own One hint more at parting We cannot be too often put in
that have the name of Christians and yet altogether neglect the honest and harmless conversation among men and are altogether taken up with some small duties of Worship and shews of Religion as the Proverb hath it Angels in the Church and Devils in the House Devils in their Callings such were the Idolatrous Iews the Prophets with one voyce do testifie against them for this thy cried The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these c. but considered not that they made this Temple of the Lord a Den of Thieves a Sanctuary to defend them a cover and cloak for their wickedness and so the Prophet again This people draw near me with their mouths honour me with their lips but are far from me and the conversation also which answers more to their hearts then to their lips it is the very counterpane of their hearts usually 〈◊〉 this an exact circumspect walking do you think thus to impose upon the holy one of Israel doth not he regard think you what your dealings are between man man and how you carry it in your Families in your Shops as well as in the publike altogether this is very reproof worthy our Saviour thought it so and all the Prophets thought it so and O that he would speak this to every carnal Gospellers heart this day Again secondly There are others that are all for morality and honesty of conversation they give every one their own they are not injurious they are no extortioners with the Pharisee they are no drunkards but for the worship of God they know nothing what it meaneth to worship in Spirit and truth this is not an exact walking with God these things you should do and not leave the other undone else you follow not God fully indeed there is many a Moralist that is rather an Atheist then a Christian but I will not stand upon this Pour out thy c. Again thirdly There are a sort that neither fear God not reverence man and yet will not indure but to be called Christians for the worship of God if they come at it in the publike there are their bodies but their hearts are gone they come to see and be seen to mind faces and fashions and so sin and trifle away the Ordinances of God in their houses nothing but hellishness all their words full of deceit and poyson their accents are oaths it is all the emphasis and grace they think of their speech their lives what are they but rottenness and fraud and pride and over-reaching they have no regard to right or wrong good report or evil report all actions are alike to them being past feeling and under a reprobate sence they cannot judge of good or evil but call evil good and good evil Is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk uprightly exactly Ah surely brethren if it be exactness it is of the devils coyning when men teach their tongues to speak falsly as in Shops many do and make nothing of it and teach their hands to work deceit and wickedness this is to walk exactly with the devil to walk as other Gentiles do whose hearts the God of this world doth mightily work to their own destruction the Lord rebuke this power of sin where ever it is Again It may serve to reprove another sort and those are they who are so far from walking circumspectly or exactly that there is nothing more the object of their scorn and contempt then this it is the drunkards song as David was and so preciseness and strictness of walking is ordinary the world cannot bear the burning and shining conversations of some of the Saints they are so cuttingly reproved by them that with those Heathens they curse the Sun that by its shining doth scorch them It is no new thing the seed of the Serpent did alway persecute the seed of the Woman and he that was born after the flesh persecuteth him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now saith the Apostle and so it is now may we say Ismael mocked Isaac and is it not so still or if it be not so bold a sin as formerly it is because the times not sinners hearts are changed they malign them still watch for their halting report say they and we will report it well remember this you that are scorners at strictness and circumspect and exact walking with God you are set down in in the scorners chair the Lord be mercifull to you for few that arrive to that pitch and take up their rest in sin that are therein setled are brought on to Christ you are the Ring leaders in the way which leads to destruction this is another The next Use then shall be a word of Exhortation to us all If it be a duty so much lying upon us then to buckle our selves to it to walk exactly O see to it I charge you all and the Lord lay the charge upon mine own soul as you will ever lift up your faces without spot and with comfort at the day of your summons and appearing before the Judgement seat so walk circumspectly I know none of our hearts but they do or may accuse us of much unevenness in our walking do you know it brethren and will you dare to continue in it I may not descend to particulars but do not your hearts smite you for looseness of spirit towards God hanging back often neglecting shuffling and cutting with God putting him off with any thing and is not this a cursed thing to do Gods work negligently to bring a female when he have a male doth not your hearts smite you for this you do not take heed to your ways lest you sin with your tongues there is much falshood therein lightness and foolishness if not poyson and destruction there nor to your feet they make haste to vanity you shun not occasions of sin as you would an infected person or family O surely if it were not so an importunate duty the Apostle would not so charge it upon Christians that make Christianity their business to walk so exactly but a little to move us to it I will add some few Considerations and then some words â—f Direction which you may look upon as an Appendix of this Use or else as a distinct Application of this Point First Motive Consider that the way wherein you walk is all overspred with snares and nets to trap you and that your ways 1. To trap you in sin 2. To trap you for sin First To trap you in sin had not the Bird need to he wary and heedfull and make good use of her sences to discover where she may light without danger when every place is full of Limetwigs is there an hook under every fair baite and had not the fish need to take heed how she biteth or nibleth lest she be taken this is the case there is a truth and a great one in it there is nothing we
fore-runner or harbinger of death that cry from the Rod hath a voice and that voice is Gods voice he speaks in it and it is not an ordinary voice but a crying voice the word it whispers the loud crying of the word is but a whispering in comparison of the voice of God in the Rod it cryeth hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Mind it if a Judgement be upon a City is there any evil in a City and he hath not wrought it it cryeth to the whole City louder then Jonah did repent repent for you may perish and come to the tribunal within less then 40. daies or hours So every disease in a family cryeth to the family cryeth to the person prepare make ready that we need not such a message as the Prophet Isaiah brought to Hezek the voice of God in the Rod cryeth prepare make ready for he is coming here is a blow that the Tabernacle of Clay is ready to tumble and then soul where wilt thou appear if thou be not ready Or else Thirdly by cry it may be meant as Chrysost Theophyl Jer. Hilary Aret. and others understand it of the last trump of the arch-Angel Arise ye dead and come to Judgement this will be such a cry Brethren as will make all the world ring of it indeed that will pierce to the bottom of the deep to make it give up its dead to the bowels of the earth to make it give up its dead Then shall all arise the dead in Christ shall rise first Well this cry goeth before or accompanyeth this coming of the Bride-groom Fourthly Then he cometh For the heavens now must contain him until the Consummation of all things and then he will come to judge quick and dead he that shall come will come though he seem long to the people of God he that shall come will come then mockers shall know where the promise of his coming is they shall know their Judgement lingers not nor damnation slumbereth not He will come soon enough for all too soon for many poor creatures the Lord grant none of us be found in our sinful condition Fifthly The time is at midnight The Jews have a tradition that the coming of Christ to Judgement will be at midnight and hereupon the Primitive Christians it should seem did use to watch all night the Eve of the Pass-over expecting his coming as Jerom reports saith Beza but to be wise above what is reason you see whether it leads men in the dark for what is more directly against our Saviour his own words Of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in heaven but my father only At midnight with respect to the solemnity of the marriage that is to say later then usually and therefore unexpected when all was silent nocte intempestâ when deep sleep useth to seize upon men The man of the house at midnight his eyes are sealed up with sleep and when he least dreameth of the thief then he cometh and surprizeth him So the Lord Jesus like a thief in the night when men usually are least aware most uncomposed and unfit for his coming for the most part The rest of his actions in this Parable will come in under the other part which is the Church for you have in the general First the subject of this comparison the Kingdom of heaven and what that is I shall not need here to speak much of it hath various expressions in Scripture It is not I conceive here taken for the Kingdom of glory for there are no foolish Virgins members of that Kingdom No nor the Kingdom of grace which is within the Saints for the same reason Nor yet for the Administrations of the Kingdom as sometimes it is taken But it is taken here for the visible Church of Jesus Christ wherein some are wise some are foolish Some hold out some fall short of heaven and the glory of God and some are crowned enduring to the end and thus much for the opening of that expression Second thing in general to be noted is the time Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened compared or shall be like then when even when the Son of man shall come Brethren to solemnize the marriage with such as he hath here espoused to himself then when we come to appear before him all together it shall most evidently appear to be so But in a sort it is so in every mans particular Judgement at his death or dissolution there is a Specimen given to the truth of this parable and this appears from the connexion of this Chapter with the former the last ver of the former Chapter he speaks of cutting in sunder that evil servant that presuming upon the Masters delay should beat his fellow-servants and eat and drink with the drunken he shall cut him in sunder and give him his portion with hypocrites where is weeping and gnashing of teeth for ever Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened to ten Virgins And though then the spirits of many just men be already made perfect and many hypocrites already in the everlasting chains of darkness yet because they have been members of the visible Church in a sort all such may come under such a consideration at the great and terrible day of his appearing when the sheep shall be set upon his right hand and the goates on his left hand as you have it in the latter end of this 25. Chapter Now for the Church visible compared to ten Virgins There are two sorts brethren in a visible Church such as are Saints indeed and do enjoy the Lord Jesus and have that Kingdom of God even righteousness peace and joy in the Holy-Ghost within them and such as are only so nomine tenus they go for such with men who cannot search the heart ought not to judge the heart immediately but tenderly and alway with the greatest favour to judge of men Now such is this Kingdom of heaven here mentioned And therefore we will consider what is said of them two waies cast it two waies haply it may appear the more clearly and distinctly to our understanding First We will consider what in the parable is common to them both to Hypocrites and Formal Professors with real Saints who possess and enjoy Jesus Christ Secondly We will consider what is peculiar to either of them and set contraria juxta se they wil give light each to other and this briefly First then for the things wherein they agree or which are common to Saints indeed with Saints in appearance only or seeming and real Saints They are all of them called Virgins not in commendation of virginity as Jerom did childishly conceive as Calvin noteth But to Virgins they are compared either only because in the marriage solemnity the Virgins used to go forth to meet the Bridegroom and bring him to his Chamber So here they must go forth to meet the Lord Jesus Or else
there is more in it and I know not but we may consider Virgins according to their state and condition here Now the Church is so called or compared to Virgins not in respect of their glorious unconquered outward condition as sometimes in Scripture even strange Nations yea Idolaters are called Virgins as Zidon thou shalt no more rejoyce O thou oppressed Virgin daughter of Zidon arise pass over to Chittim there also shalt thou have no rest So Babel Come down and sit in the dust O Virgin daughter of Babylon thou that as a Virgin hast hitherto abode in thy fathers house in a glorious beautiful condition thy pomp and glory now come down And so Egypt go up to Gilead and take balm O Virgin daughter of Egypt in vain shalt thou use many medicines thou shalt not be healed though the Papists make this a note of the Church the glory and outward splendor of it that is quite cross to that of our Saviour in the world ye shall have tribulation and how often have they been scatterd by Persecution Nor yet are they called Virgins because of their priding themselves and setting forth themselves as Virgins with their Ornaments Nor yet in respect of the first Constitution of the Church of Christ when they were all or most of them Virgins There were 12. and but one of them a Devil But I conceive It respects the condition of the visible Church as then it shall be specially And what is that how are they compared to Virgins Specially in these two things First Because all that profess the Lord Jesus and become visible S t s they profess to renounce their Idols the Apostle saith that he turned them from Idols to the living God Now Idolatry in Scripture is counted you know whoredom if they have been married to the Lord owning his Covenant or else fornication nothing more ordinary it is enough to hint it to you and therefore when there is a renouncing of Idolatry there the Scripture looks upon them as Virgins So when Judah and Israel had played the Harlot that is to say had worshipped and served Idols God chargeth their spiritual whoredom upon them But when they reformed as Judah did you know in many Kings daies Jehoshaphat Hezekiah c. And in the daies when Sennacher came up against them and blasphemed them the answer the Lord gave to Hezek by the Prophet was this the Virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee now having renounced her Idols he so calls her and having betaken her self to the shaddow of his wings alone from thence from the hole in the rock she despised the Assyr And secondly Because also now taking upon them the profession of Christ they escape and forego the pollutions of the world then gross scandalous sins they forsake even Hypocrites as well as others in which respects they may be called Virgins though their hearts be not right with God Secondly they had all of them Lamps they took their Lamps saith the text they have all of them a Profession of Christ they make a shew before men The Lamps I cannot take for any thing inward but meerly somewhat outward appearing unto men they are Christians outwardly all of them Even those really believers with the heart they do confess Christ with the mouth to salvation they are not ashamed to own him before men and their light of good works and knowledge shines before men that the world may see it there is the light of the Lamp And truly herein hypocrites may go far they have a form of godliness and as glorious a form as any others and they do as many good works materially good as others do and so they have a light shining before men as well as others So the Pharisees you know they made as many prayers did as much Alms fasted as often as others made a glorious shew here are Lamps Thirdly their lamps it seemeth were burning all of them Concerning the wise Virgins there need be no Question of it But for the foolish I think it will be gathered from that where they complain that their Lamps were gone out extinguished though it is true they were not fed with a right principle and therefore they went out yet they did burn they made a shew of heat and light also before men as Jehu you know did he seemeth to make a greater blaze in his zeal for God then Elijah himself did And so for light also knowledge aboundeth many times brethren in an hypocrites head a clear head and a muddie heart a sound head as the notion and a rotten heart may be together well this is the third I hasten Fourthly They all took them and went forth to meet the Bride-groom they all have their faces Zion-ward heaven-ward to meet Jesus Christ only the hypocrites they have faces one way and row another way as the Mariners do this I take to be their seeming to make for heaven all of them and the one to be as fair for it as the other for they go as it were hand in hand to meet the Bridegroom yea a hypocrite may go far indeed in externals as far as a child of God as afterward we shall have occasion to say you may have your faces Zion-wards and seem to go forth to meet the Lord Jesus and yet miscarry Fifthly When he delayed his coming until midnight they all slumbered and slept We must not understand this of giving up themselves to security and the wallowing in the sinful pleasures of the world the pleasures of sin for a season For this cannot sute with the truth of grace and therefore cannot agree to the wise Virgins he that is born of God sinneth not cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not work sin but his work is righteousness though he may have many by-blows in his work many mis-carriages yet his work is righteousness Nor can it for a great part stand with the very profession of a hypocrite to return again to the pollutions of the world which once he had escaped secretly haply he may rowl a sweet morsel under his tongue and be loth to part with it but the pollutions of the world which are open like wallowing in the myre will not stand with their profession therefore this is not meant by slumbering and sleeping but either Secondly Is meant by it the sleep of death in part for death is no more to the Saints though it be a sleep and a killing sleep to hypocrites our friend Lazarus sleepeth or else Thirdly Also partly a security and heaviness which groweth upon the Saints on this side death and me thinks the words seem to carry much for this there are two words they slumbered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they slept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the latter seemeth to be more then meerly Expository of the former The former signifieth only a little drowsiness when a man doth nap or nod a little as a man
manner to come with a rod if there were need Again there is much wisdom to be used in the dressing the same truth again and again for the truths which you are necessarily to know they are not for number infinite and you will easily find if you consider the Scripture how the same truths are proposed to us in the Scripture an 100. waies several waies because the Lord knew our frame that naturally we would have somewhat new and were affected with variety therefore he giveth us the same truths under divers dresses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle the Preacher chose not acceptable words though It would not feed that itching humor that is in some yet I would allow as much as love and prudence examined together would advise because of the weakness and frame of men and if one therefore diversly dress the same truths omne tulit punctum will the Lord seal this instruction to such of us as it concerneth And Brethren pray for us that we may be wise-hearted and know how to fit our selves and bait the hook so as it may be most drawing Thirdly It may serve to humble us for our dulness then and those many other defections which are the rise of this necessity to beat the same things upon us again and again Dear friends we swallow much every Sabboth every opportunity how little doth incorporate with us how little abideth with us what pains is the Lord fain to take with us line upon line and precept upon precept here a little and there a little in season out of season and yet Brethren how little the better are we for it May we not all of us lay our hands upon our hearts is it not matter of humbling we should put the Lord and his Messengers to so much pains with us and be yet little the better for all O let us magnifie the long-suffering of God and bless him for the long-suffering of his servants with us that he is pleased to follow us up and down with this and that necessary truth It may be thou hast heard some things which now thy soul hath the experience of thou wouldst not loose for a world and many a time thou hast heard them but it hath been like water spilt upon the ground and at last the Lord hath fastened the nayl to the head if it had had but one blow it would not have stuck Fourthly It may caution us brethren against nauseating Divine truths because they are so often beaten upon us it may be the same things It is safe for you brethren it is good for you if you know the things belong to your peace say not then occidet misâ—ros crambe repetita Magistros What shall the Disciples say to Christ because he so presseth them to watch for his appearing here is nothing but harping upon one string nothing but watching and watching prest upon us we would have somewhat else we are weary of this No but rather continue O sure it is needful our dulness calls for it and it is much tenderness that he will not give us over until he hath wrought it upon our spirits Should the Philippians cast it in Pauls teeth he had told them often of those unruly masters that they had heard enough of that O no now he tels them with tears with more melting then before the same thing in a more affected manner they had no reason to lothe It was the great sin of the Israelites you know they had manna every morning this was their daily bread at last they grew weary of it nothing but this manna our souls loatheth this light bread for a while it was excellent and delightful but after a while they loathed it It seemeth it had not a taste to suite every mans palate what was most delightful to every one as some thought then they would not have loathed it but they might dress it divers waies and yet they loathed it this was a lust which put their mouthes out of taste and so far as that they prefered Garlick and Onions before it It is nothing to be taken with the word when a Teacher is as one that plaies skilfully upon an instrument toucheth every string and in such a manner as the variety maketh sweet melody but this harping upon one string is not so pleasant here is a tryal of your love to the word as it is the word whether in its nakedness and simplicity you can love it and though you have nothing but the word and the word the sincere milk Another Caution shall be this to take heed of that humour which reigns in abundance among us all affecting novelties O such itching ears would not have suited with our Saviour his manner of Preaching they have the same again and again from him A new light though it be but a Comet draweth more eyes after it then the Sun because he daily runneth his course this is a great vanity in mens minds and truly it is so in spiritual things A new Doctrine Oh how it bewitcheth men as that did the Galathians it is more then ordinarily taking with us else the power of darkness and errour had not been so great in our daies as it hath been and truly when we begin to be weary of the eternal Gospel which never waxeth old and cannot away with the same things after we have once heard them which argues we receive not the love of the truth imbrace it not because of it self but its dress or its novelties or some such accident we are in the very high-way to delusion as the Apostle saith I am sure Antiquity was the commendation of the Apostles Doctrine even to the Romans themselves he brought no new Gospel but what was from the beginning Is it not the same spirit surely that works so mightily among us whereby men would commend any thing for its novelty It is horrible pride both in Preachers and Teachers Lucifer-pride and a strong savour of the old Adam that rather then we will be confined to a course and dwell upon such things as have been received as truths in Jesus we will have somewhat new or else we will to our own inventions for it the Lord deliver us from such a spirit And lastly brethren it is necessary that the same things be thus inculcated upon us then surely we may hence learn that there is somewhat more for us to learn still in every truth we hear it may be often we have heard such a duty pressed such a sin descried there is somewhat in it that God meeteth thee it may be everywhere with the same message they spoke with one mouth the same thing to thee Is there not cause to fear Surely that is one consideration and the Lord in mercy to thee will not let thee alone but one Bell in Aarons ring sounds louder then all the rest in thine ears Surely surely there is somewhat unhealed that every one thou comes near
and ruddy the chief among ten thousand either his divinity and Humanity or his fulness of Grace and his bloody Merits in a sweet exact mixture O how beautiful do they make him he is fairer then the sons of men If that beauty will carry it he is the very Paragon of Heaven 3. For Riches there is none like to him This is a great allurement you know indeed for the most part men do marry the gold and riches of the world rather then the person though this be a madness an Heir to a great estate likely will not need a wife Why the Lord Jesus is heir of all things all things in Heaven and Earth He is the onely Son of God the heir apparent of heaven he is being the Son of God so that what ever we want it will be abundantly supplyed in him Abraham his servant wooing saith his Master was rich and had onely one Son and he heir of all Gen. 24. 35 36. 4. If Honours will do it for that is somewhat which much takes with men he is no less then a King and no mean one he is the King of Glory a glorious King indeed as he is called in that Psalm Yea the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 17. 14. A most high and eminent Kingdom who hath all other Kings at his command a hundred seven and twenty Provinces were a great Dominion but not onely all the Kingdoms of the earth are the Lords and his Christs but by him Kings rule and Princes decree Justice it is by his permission any of them exercise their power 5. For Power as well as Authority and Majesty he it is that can do what he pleaseth he is indeed the Mighty God and what then can stand in his way He is our Maker and there is much in that thy Maker is thy Husband thy Redeemer the Lord of Hosts is his name thy Maker he that gave thee thy beeing when thou haddest none by a word of his mouth O here is power indeed he that could give us a spiritual being by the same word there is yet more power for in the first there was no repugnancy but here there is he is the Lord of Hosts It was much to Israel to consider who was their Husband even the Lord of Hosts he that could Redeem them out of Egypt sink all their enemies in the Red-Sea go as a Captain before them drive out the Canaanites notwithstanding their Iron Chariots the Anakims that were a terror to them He now was their Husband He is a man of war and a most mighty man of valour for that Goliah himself which defies the Armies of Israel is nothing in his hand the roaring Lyon is nothing in his hand he can tear him in pieces and bruise him under his feet even as a Lyon tears a Kid. It is very much brethren this to commend the Lord Jesus to us he can fight our battels for us so that if we can but stand still we shall see the salvation of the Lord. 6. For a lovely sweet disposition which is none of the least desirable things in a Husband O never was there like to Jesus Christ for disposition he is love it self and tenderness it self bowels and compassion it self there is many a one though they have beauty and riches aâ—d honours and birth and power in an Husband yet if there be an unsuitable disposition there be rigidness and harshness it imbitters all O do but observe how sweet a disposition he was of so far from harshness to his people that he melteth over his very enemies that refused him Ah that thou haâ—st known in this thy day c. O how he is touched with our infirmities afflicted in our afflictions A woman that hath such a husband what a sweetning is it to all her afflictions If love will do he â—â—ll never take any other course never any estrangement of himself from a soul here is a Bridegroom indeed But I will not speak any further Brethren you have heard much and much better of the excellencies of Jesus Christ then I am able to speak to you this onely for the second thing There are yet to be considered the Causes which according to their several influences concur to the making up of this relation between Christ and the Church of a Bridegroom and a Bride whichwhen I have spoken somewhat to I will proceed 1. Then The Father he giveth them to his Son and the Son to them This is above comparison though the Father of the Virgin give her give his consent and so the Parents of the Son they give their consent But here is God the Father who doth all he giveth his son for his people and to his people as you have it in that place he so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but might be brought in to the nearest unity with him might have life everlasting in communion with him If thou hadst known the gift of God saith he to the woman of Samaria and who saith to thee give me drink or And he giveth us to his Son that is to say as many as were in his purpose of grace thine they were and thou gavest them to me they were thine not so much by Creation for he speaks of many that yet were not created nor are to this day likely created but in the purpose of grace they were hâ—s and as absolute soveraign over all so they were his to do with them as he pleased to have made them vessels of dishonor if he had pleased as Ananias was it not thine own mightest thou not have done with it what thou wouldest So here we were the Fathers as Soveraign all of us and his Christs not onely so but in his purpose of grace he gave them to his Son to be his Spouse his wife 2. But yet Alas they would be under the hands of sin and Satan inslaved in an Iron Furnace hard bondage he must redeem them if he will have them they are sold under sin and Satan the Prince of this world therefore he must pay the price they were obnoxious indeed to his Justice or would be in time and therefore he must provide a satisfaction or else they could not be set clear It was the manner in some Countries brethen to give Dowries for their wives to buy them before they had them quite contrary to what is among us Ask me never so much dowry saith Sechem and I will give it he was now in love with the Virgin and nothing was too much for her now so here the Lord Jesus as well as his Father he before the world was foresaw what a happiness it would be to poor Creatures and what a glory and joy to himself and them for ever one in another and therefore he delights now in the habitable parts of the earth in the sons of men O now what
as the soul is ready to say O O sure he will not look upon me such a one as I yea I will I will saith he yea notwithstanding all your mis-doings I will your unkindnesses I will your jealousies of me I will your back-sliding I will betroth thee to me 3. It is done with that wisdom and Council that it will never be overthrown Counsel is so called from a word signifying to Found because it is the foundation of actions that which is done rashly and unadvisedly many times men are fain to come off with a non putaram to retreat with shame or when through weakness they cannot see through things Now this is not to be thought of Jesus Christ Brethren for he is the wonderful Counseller the wise God a God of understanding and wisdom and by him actions are weighed yea his own actions are weighed his choice of some persons to life and glory it is the counsel of his will not onely his will but the counsel of his will he doth it with such wisdom as foreseeth all the events It was not a rash thing that God brought Israel into the Land of Canaan no he did it with Counsel and therefore he saith that he knew what they would do before hand Ah! may a poor soul think the Lord Jesus indeed hath made love to me but did he think I would be such a wretch under all this his love I would carry so unkindly towards him yea he knew this and considered it before hand He did sit down brethren from eternity consider what it would cost him the bringing of such sinners as thou art to glory that many a grief he must have many a slighting of his love many a kick in his very bowels Jerusalem would wax fat and kick against him he knew this and yet notwithstanding he resolved upon it he would go through with his work if he could not have born these things brethren and covered them he would not have made love to us if he could not have taken us with all our weakness and imperfections for he would undertake nothing that he could not bring to pass that were weakness therefore he is said to do it in judgement also 4. It is with that faithfulness that the Lord Jesus will not onely not c 〈…〉 st off when once he hath taken a soul so near him in this relation but his heart being once pitched it is never removed more it is not with him as it is with men for however when once we have betrothed persons we are ingaged by the Law of God to take them and our Consciences do bind us though it may be between the espousal and marriage though there be not a casting off yet there may something intervene that may carry away the heart so that the heart is not so towards her as before and the person could be content to be loose if it were not that he is intangled i such â—ands he cannot break but now it is otherwise with the Lord Jesus his heart if once pitched is never removed more if he loveth he loveth to the end It is for ever that he betrotheth when he betrotheth Alas there is little comfort or sweetness in injoyment of such near relations if their hearts be not towards one another It is true they may live together and do duties one toward another outwardly but if the heart be gone there is little comfort in it so it cannot be with Jesus Christ He may indeed sometimes suspend the outward acts if I may call it so and withhold himself sometimes and not give that free communion of himself to the soul but yet his heart all that while is never the further off his heart is never gone which is indeed all in all One of the Churches eyes at any time will ravish his heart that he cannot well hold longer from revealing himself again to the soul after he hath withdrawn 5. For after-sinnings there is also a treasury of pardoning mercy laid up there is a treasury of Merit which he hath expended to purchase mercy for us which is alway before the father not only for the sins past before we believed but for all after since the pardon is purchased already though it be not applyed nor the sins pardoned before they be committed yet there is forgiveness with God there it is and ready to be issued forth as occasion serveth And he himself at the right hand of the father continually i 〈…〉 eceding for the Application of it Whereby he is able to save us to the uttermost Brethren if we could say thus far or thus far he can help and save and there is forgiveness indeed our hearts might fail us but it is to the uttermost to all perfections or all end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet let not graceless sinners abuse this but rather fear him so much the more there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared not that we may wax wanton under it Againe on the other hand He maketh the soul also to close with him and give it self up considerately and in truth sincerely First Considerately and not rashly the soul giveth it self to Jesus Christ promiseth to be his the love of J. Christ Constraineth us because we thus judge if one dyed then were all dead It is the act of the judgement convinced that Jesus Christ is the chief of ten thousand that he is onely lovely altogether lovely of our necessity of him of his all-sufficiency to answer our wants and onely sufficiency his willingness to accept of us No depth of earth no judgement no rooting in it self Mat. 13. There is many a poor creature for a flash a sudden motion hath some velleities some wishings and wouldings but this is a serious and judicious closing with him promising to be his to take him for better for worse to go through with him in all conditions if he go to prison to go with him to death to go with him And he only can work up the heart to this Then secondly It is in sincerity as well as thus judiciously he loveth truth in the inward parts and therefore looks at the heart more then at the outward Alas how often did Israel turn to the Lord but fainedly not sincerely But now the Lord his people indeed give up themselves to him cordially though it be but weak yet it is in truth their resignation of themselves to him and taking him for theirs not for by-ends or reports but for himself not for riches honours a name any thing but for himself no not onely for peace but for himself who is the Prince of peace no nor meerly for the grace and glory which cometh by him but for himself To love a man and choose him meerly for his wealth or his honor which a woman shall have by him it is false and dissembling she loveth him not indeed no it is the person that she
day put on your Ornaments and make ready for his appearing for while your hearts are out of order your Spirits out of frame you are not fit to meet the Lord Jesus and therefore you will hang back but so much of this Exhortation The last Application will be a word of comfort to such as through grace have yielded up themselves to the Lord Jesus or are desirous or do so to be espoused to him according to the several conditions of such creatures there may from hence be a various and strong consolation administred from this Doctrine First Then alas you will say withal your souls you close with Jesus Christ there is nothing you more gladly undertake but you know he is a righteous God most just and most pure of eys and therefore he will surely be displeased with you and you shall have little comsort yea you do finde that your fruitlesness of walking doth provoke him and therefore you are afraid sooner or later he will cast you off before you come to enter with him into the marriage O I shall one day fall by the hand of this Pride of this uncleanness of this lust or the other For Answer to this remember 1. That the Lord when he doth betroth he betretheth forevâ—r and he doth it in faithfulness so that if the saithfulness of Jesus Christ could fail who hath espoused thee thou mightest miscarry Men indeed after espousals if they discover any deformity which they knew not before may be apt to change their minds yea sometimes where there is no cause at all but their own fickleness and changableness but there is no variableness nor shadow of turning with him hath he spoken it and will he not perform it I will never leave thee saith he to Jacob until I have performed all the good which I have spoken concerning thee But a little more fully to open it 1. I say by way of Concession he may sometimes be angry with his spouse or at least withdraw himself properly he is not angry at all nor subject to any passion but he may behold that in his people for which he may sometimes put them to a little grief and make them believe that he will cast them off as you have it in many of the Psalms he may frown and hide his face from his people but as on their part every withdrawing from him is not a breach of the marriage-Covenant so neither is every withdrawing of his refreshing presence a breach of his Covenant yet when he doth so withdraw brethren alas his heart works towards his people as to Ephraim I do earnestly remember him still he may give his people sharp words sometimes which will be a cutting to the souls that are deeply in love with him but they go to his own heart as well as they do to theirs here is the difference brethren between our withdrawings from him and his withdrawings from us that are his people our hearts are many times gone in a great part to sit loose from him though not altogether for the Church when she slept her heart waked but now with him it is otherwise his heart is never gone in the least from his people onely he may speak sometimes a bitter word to them but all this while his heart is full of sweetness and love to them this is one 2. Remember this also as a pillar of the former that he hath builded and founded this espousal and union between him and his people so sure as that it can never be shaken upon the freeness of his grace and therefore it cannot be moved Upon his full knowledge of what we would be indeed if the Lord Jesus had not known what fruitless froward creatures we would prove how unthankful how unkind it had been something for a poor doubting soul to have fed his fears with but he knew long before brethren and if he had seen that he had not had bowels enough to swallow up all our unworthiness he would never have made love to us for he is God and his work is perfect he would never have begun except he had been able to lay the top-stone Again the satisfaction of the Justice of God is to the full this is that which amazeth and alrighteth many a poor soul they forget themselves and look upon their failings as those which expose them to divine vindicative justice which is a great mistake for that was once fully satisfyed in Jesus Christ and he is well pleased in him with all that can bring him in their arms if we can but come to God with Jesus Christ in our arms he hath no more to say to us all is made even in Christ there was never such a declaration of the Justice of God as in giving his own son to be a ransom a sacrifice once for all and the Apostle saith it was to declare the righteousness of God therefore he was given to be a propitiation for the remission of sins there God appeared righteous indeed that the flames of hell must kindle upon his son yea and burn to the lowermost hell in a sort that he might be satisfyed that justice might for ever lye still and be silenced as to his people it is more that Christ suffered then if thou and ten thousand such as we are should suffer to eternity we could never have paid the utmost farthing which he paid to the uttermost else he could not have saved us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides we should have been long paying that we payd he at once payd all and therefore this Marriage is so founded brethren upon this satisfaction of Jesus Christ that it cannot be shaken Yea 3. As to that of afflicting his people and frowning upon them he is not forward to it he is not strict to mark what is done amiss to take notice of every slip and failing if he were we should never have comfortable moment no he is rather strict to mark what is good in us what beauty there is in us if there be but one beauty or fair place in the midst of many spots his eye and his heart is rather upon that as some observe in that of Sarah there is but one good word in her speech calling Abraham Lord all the rest savours of unbelief and yet the Holy Ghost takes notice of that So Rahab Jos 2. 4 5. Heb. 11. 31. Alas what miserable mangled Services do we offer up to our own eys there is not any thing desirable that is ought Well if there be but one sigh one groan in sincerity he is more ready to take notice of that then of all your failings and therefore is not forward to put his spouse and people to grief O he is full of kindness and tenderness to us Yea 4. It is observable that he is said to rejoyce over his people continually as a Bridegroom over a Bride not onely his heart is constant to them but it is constant in the same
world between the Sheep of Christ and dogs and swine Is it nothing to have the body and blood of Jesus Christ openly prostituted to such as though indeed they have the name of Christians yet their lives to every one that knoweth them deny that they have any thing to do with Christ No purging out the old Leven and therefore no likelihood to be a new lump O that we were sensible what a guilt is contracted every where by this means Alas Let the people of God take the greatest pains with their hearts to draw near to such an ordinance as the Lords Supper and they shall have cause to pray with Nehemiah The Lord spare us according to the multitude of tender mercies And with Hezekiah The Lord be merciful to every one that hath prepared his heart to seek the Lord though he be not prepared according to the preparation of the Sanctuary but when without any care it shal be promiscuously given to Drunkards Swearers openly prophane wicked wretches to the bane of their souls to the provoking God to bring wasting judgements upon the place and people where such things are done Surely it is time to look about us O! that we who can do no more but mourn for these things had such a sense of the dishonour of the Lord Jesus and abuse of his love and grace upon our hearts as to mourn And O that such of us as have power in our hands to command a Reformation in this kind the Lord would perswade the heart that there is such a power Hezekiah and Jâ—siah not only commanded the true worship to be set up and turned the people from their Idols to the trne God but they commanded the purifying the Temple a type of the Church of Christ and purifying of the Priests and People that they should not pollute the Ordinances of God And this example of theirs is commended and surely it was done as they were types of Christ except they were types of Christ as they were Magistrates and if so it would follow we should have no Magistrates at all For Christ the substance being come the thing typified what should we do with the shadows any more 2. Then on the other hand they are to be blamed also who are stricter then the Lord Jesus would have them in their admissions to Christs fellowship and communion All visible Saints he would have admitted to communion and fellowship with his people in their several societies that is to say they seeking to joyn themselves to them Now here indeed there is a difference of apprehensions and I purpose not to enter into disquisition of such things at this time and in this place Mens charity may do something indeed to moderate them but it s not that which is to be the judge but the Scriptures what rules are there laid down according to which we ought to own persons as belonging to Christ his visible kingdom that is to say such as profess and contradict not their profession But surely it is blame-worthy if that upon niceties and trifles in comparison we shall dis-own such as truly fear the Lord so far as we can judge of them And truly Brethren I desire to speak it with a spirit of tenderness to them they are injurious in this respect who do deny Infants of Believers any room in the bosom of the Church for they are holy they are external Saints and separated to God and it is apparent that once they were members of the Church of Christ aâ—d by vertue of a Covenant of grace I will be thy God and the God of thy seed which he that denyeth any more to be comprehended in then a temporal blessing when God saith he will be their God I would pity them and pray for them that they might come to themselves again for then sure they would judge otherwise Now if they were such once members of that Church with which we are one now for so saith the Apostle plainly the Gentiles are made one with the Commonwealth of Israel we are graffed in among the branches how cometh it to pass they should be all cast off and cut off from the Olive and not a syllable of it mentioning any such thing in Scriptures no account given to the world of it and that it should be in such a time when the fulness of grace was revealed in Jesus Christ for grace came by him and now there should be less grace come by him and narrower priviledges to the Church will hardly be understood I think The third Doctrinal from the words will be this In the visible Church there are some good some bad Ordinarily they were not all wise virgins that the kingdom of heaven is compared to but five wise five foolish All within the visible Church are not wise to salvation Five of them were wise five were foolish The proportion of the wise to the foolish five to five in the Parable is not concluding that there are as many good as bad in the Church there may possibly be a visible Church where there are none bad but I doubt there is none such found there were but twelve Disciples and one was a Devil and all the parables whereour Saviour holdeth out the nature and state of the visible Church to us is we find there is a mixture So in the Parable of the Sower there are four sorts of ground to which the kingdom of heaven is compared and but one of them brought forth fruit to perfection the stony Ground it was quickly scorched from the sandy ground springs up quickly and withers as soon the thorny ground holds out longer and endures happily the scorching of the Sun the Persecution and yet is choakt when all is done And so the Parable of the tares sown in the field they grow up with the Corn and it seemeth by the ancient report even Jerom are so like it while in the blade that they can be hardly discerned from it but there they grow and partake of the juice of the earth and fatness of the soyl and are green and flourish and yet at last are singled out for fire And so the Barn-floor there is wheat and there is Chaff lying together until he whose fan is in his hand shall throughly purge it and then the separation being made Woe to the Chaff but at present c. And so the draw-net though it gather together somewhat naught which is to be cast away yet while under water it is hidden And so the Apostle All are not Israel that are of Israel Some are Israel that are of Israel but all are not Some are of Israel though they be not the Israel of God that shall inherit the heavenly Canaan I hope it is needless to waste more time in heaping up of Scriptures to make it good The ground may be because the Church here below the visible Church which admitteth of members hath not an infallible spirit to discern the
as our end we grasp no-thing but sin and emptiness wind and misery to eternity 2. Then for the means which you see what they are immediately Jesus Christ closed with mediate the ordinances wherein he is held out Alas herein they do fearfully miss it though they profess him As will appear in many particulars 1. They do not choose the right means for the attaining the end wherein a great part of their wisdom lies this is life eternal to know Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent this is the means and the way to it and indeed a part of it the suburbs of heaven Now alas brethren there are so many things which are so like to Jesus Christ and so many acts like to the embracing of him that they are deceived and so they miss of the main means and fall short of the end simile mater erroris A man misseth his way and takes another way lay near it and was like it and he runs and takes pains to come to the journeys end but alas it never will bring him thither he is out of the way Jesus Christ is the way as wel as the life now there are false Christs which men make to themselves there is much bad like to good and much error like to truth one man he thinketh a drunken Christ will serve his turn a covetuous man he thinketh Christ and his secret lusts will stand together though his profession and open sinning will not stand together he thinketh he may have Christ in his heart and sin regarded there though he cannot have holiness in his profession an appearance of it an open prophaness there as if sin would better agree with Christ then his profession Some think they have a Christ made up all of pardons no matter for holiness at all let them live as they list no matter for walking in him yet he is so merciful if they can but cry have mercy it will do the deed though they wallow in their uncleanness all their lives some they are on the other hand that make to themselves a holy Christ not minding his pardoning mercy O if they can but do this and that they walk uprightly with men they serve God none more constant at the ordinances then they private and publike and therefore surely Christ is theirs not remembring with Nehemiah the Lord spare me according to thy great mercy or multitude of mercy even when he had done so eminently for God Alas brethren what pitiful mistakes are these Many are ready to think if they have but now and then a little affections stirring at a Sermon O sure they have Christ if they have but a little velleity sometimes a wishing and woulding this must go for Christ how prone are we to substitute any thing in the room of Christ Now a man that would live and shall eat dirt or coles instead of bread you would think that man a fool or a man that would be rich professeth that is his end and he bags up indeed but what is it dung and dross stones and trash would you not count this man a fool this is the condition of every formal professor of Jesus Christ they do indeed fix upon something but it is trash it or if any thing better their duties their holiness it is trash it is dung instead of Christ this is the first Now for the secondary means the means of getting Christ which is the more immediate means and way to his enjoyment of God which is the happiness of the Creature herein indeed most ordinarily the folly doth appear and therefore I shall here consider several particulars 1. To use means to get any thing and not seasonably is folly to use them too late for a man that is deadly sick he will not be perswaded to take Physick untill he be past recovery such a man is a fool that so long will lean to his own understanding and so for meat a man that will fast so long until he cannot eat at all this is the very case in this place you see they did not ever neglect to get oyl in their lamps in their vessels they were very inquisitive sought it of the wise virgins and went to buy it of them that sold but alas it was too late Would you not count that man a fool that hath provisions to make for his family the week following at the Market and he goeth but it is when all is done and shops shut up and there is no more place to buy any thing So here and so the Manna if they went to seek Manna upon the Seveath day there was none to be had yea if daily they went not to seek it in the morning but staid until the Sun were hot there was none to be had it was gone there is a season for every thing the wise man saith and every thing is beautiful in its season he that gathereth in Summer is a wise man saith Solomon he that maketh hay while the Sun shineth It is a sad piece of folly that a man should have his grace and his Christ to get when he should use them when we come to dye and have five times as much need of Christ as in our life-time for the most part that then we should be to get Christ and have triâ—led away the day of grace in flourishes and shews in taking of Christ and had him not in our hearts 2. To have means for the getting of Christ and never make use of them there is folly indeed wherefore is there a prize in the hand of a fool and he hath no heart to it he is a fool that hath an opportunity to make himself for ever and hath no heart to it to improve it redeeming the time saith the Apostle that is to walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise what would many a poor Creature in hell give for such an opportunity of grace as we have Yea if the Gospel were preached to Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago saith our Saviour but you have the opportunity in your hands but you have no heart to it at all this is sad To see a man feed upon husks and dirt and so perish when he hath no bread to eat is a pitiful sight but this is necessity not folly but here is bread to eat that we might live and yet we neglect to gather it or to eat it content our selves with husks and trash is not tl is folly and this is the condition of every formal professâ—r 3. They rest in the means short of the end and that is grievous folly the means of grace whereby Christ is to be gotten and Christ in us revealed to grow and increase if we rest in these means whether we have Christ yea or no it is great folly what man is there that would so do But there is more in this for this preferring and prizing and lifting them up above Christ will be our condemnation setting
vigilancy there creepeth a security on a people which is a main ingredient into this spiritual sleep as the virgins here they were all secure they looked not for the coming of Jesus Christ And so when instead of a fervency of spirit in serving God a deadness a dulness creepeth upon men they pray as if they prayed not if it be but for an act it is slumbering now they are dead and then they are lively it may be next time and then they are dead again this is slumbering napping and nodding Now they can act their faith and then they cannot now they can avoid this sin and that and then they cannot but are overtaken by it this is slumbring and alas brethren are we not all of us lyable to this Yea it may be these things seize upon us more violently we not onely offend in many things but continually lying secure continue in such a dull listless frame little or no actings or strivings of faith or love or fervency or wayting for Jesus Christ and his appearing this is sleeping Well I wish we had not too general and too good proof of it by our own experience You have had already in this part of the discourse the general reason of this sleepiness of the Saints respecting our selves and that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seed of that Poppy-seed which lays us so often asleep a filthy heart streaming continually filthy gross vapours which clog and seize upon our graces and hold them prisoners as I may say for a time that we cannot act them But I will a little more particularly descend to speak to some cases Not to speak of that vindicative hand of God upon some when in vindicative justice he sendeth upon men a spirit of slumber and of sleep for I hardly think that is competent to the Saints though to hypocrites it may yet those are not they I am mainly to speak to in this discourse but of other causes And First A cause of it may be this sloathfulness it casts men into a deep sleep It is so in naturals and it is so in spirituals a sloathful man that will not labour the vapours gather and becloud and bemist him that he cannot break through them but they seize upon his senses and hold him prisoner a great while and if he be stirred yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep that is the slothful mans guise and as the door turns upon the hinges up and down so the slothful man doth upon his bed Labour and pains taking it dispels the vapours scatters them and so they clear up so it is here a sloathful spirit is the immediate forerunner of this sleep therefore the Apostle exhorts them not sloathful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord. And you shall finde brethren when he that had one talent given him he improved it not the Lord calls him a wicked and sloathful servant Alas his soul was asleep and his talent laid tosleep in a Napkin well this is one cause if we have opportunities in our hands to do good and we do it not as the Apostle exhorts us to do we are sloathful A man that is idle shall have very much ado to keep himself from sleeping a wonder brethren if we be not all asleep we have so many opportunities to do good such talents put into-our hands some of us most of us and yet do so little with them Secondly Another cause of sleeping may be wearyness you know the sleep of the labouring man is sweet so you see Sisera after he was toyled and spent with his fighting and flight he was ready to lye down to sleep presently so brethren it is in this case when we have run a while in the race that is set before us or fought against our corruptions toyled hard if we sit down when weary we are asleep presently O saith the Apostle be not weary of well-doing if you be you will fall asleep this we find in the case of them in the Hebrews they were harased and persecuted grievously their faith and patience were even tyred out alas their hands therefore were weak and knees were feeble their members began to languish and sleep to seize upon them Sometimes when we toyl all night and take nothing we spend and are spent we are apt to be weary brethren and then it is two to one but we fall asleep That is another cause of this sleep Thirdly Another Cause may be the false questions which men make the mistaking of things a man mistaking the day for the night he slumbers it may be and thinketh it is night or the day is not at hand he sleepeth this is clear I think in the present case What made the virgins thus to give sleep to their eys and slumber to their eye-lids they thought their Lord would not come yet he delayed his coming and likely they thought he would do so still and therefore thought they might sleep or else atleast they might think while he delayed his coming it was no great matter whether they slept or waked it would be of little availment to them and therefore they even laid them down formally to sleep O how easily are we lulled asleep with such mistakes as these now how false was this in the mean time for there is much to be done while he tarryes to wayt for him to have our lights burning our lamps trimmed our ornaments ready to wait for him until he come for we shall be paid for our wayting as well as for our our working and then we should be ready to open to him whenever he comes this another Fourthly Another cause or occasion at least of this sleeping what is it but a letting down our fear and care if we served the L. continually with a holy trembling as the Psalmist cals upon us we should hardly sleep a man that hath a trembling heart sleep passeth from his eys or a man that hath his head fâ—ll of cares and his heart also they will keep him waking so Jacob his sleep departed from his eys O the care he had of Labans sheep he slept not Ah how far short are many of us that have the charge of the slock of Christ purchased with his precious blood for we sleep let the Wolves come sleep and let the envious man sow tares Paul O how watchful a man washe how diligent he warned them night and day with tears what was the matter O the care of all the Churches were upon him Why brethren we have every one the care of our own souls yea and of one anothers we ought to watch over one another tender one another to walk fearfully lest we be stumbling-blocks one to another hurt one another we are our brothers keepers and if we have this care upon us lively of our own souls and others it will keep us waking The rich
do which may advantage himself or others how can a man pray when he cannot act his faith nor act his love nor his zeal and fervency of Spirit but all are a sleep Ah what weak service hath the Lord from many of us upon this account 4. Another Consideration shall be this the unseasonableness of the thing Every thing is beautified by the season and if it be out of season it is uncomely It is not a walking honestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honestly or comely to sleep now brethren it is enough for â—inners that are of the night that never â—aw the day-star appear nor the Sun of righteousness arise upon them for them to lie sleeping now it is something suitable for they that sleep saith the Apostle sleep in the night and they that are drunk are drunk in the night the night was for sleep naturally and therefore man goeth forth to labour and to his work until the evening So in spirituals it is most unsuitable to sleep in the day-time brethren if you believe you are of the day and not of the night as the Apostle saith We count him a Drone a Lusk or Lurden that shall sleep in the day-time It was David his fault to be upon the bed in the day-time And so likely Isâ—bosheth except the Custom of the place being hot might excuse it Well then hath the Lord in in finite riches of grace brought thee out of the dark night made it day with thee when it is night with many families and poor souls about thee and wilt thou make it â—ight by sleeping it is unseasonable it is enough for them that are in darkness to sleep Again 2. Consider It is the time wherein you are called upon to act for God and for your own souls It is not only the day but the time for work It is our harvest brethren wherein should lay up not for many years as the fool in the Gospel said but for eternity treasure up grace for eternity lay up a good foundation for the time to come O how richly laden are some of the Saints over others are that have made a profession of Christ as long as they live what is the reason why they have slept while they should have gathered he that gathereth in Summer is a wise son but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame there the one is opposed to the other that soul will cloth himself with shame and Confusion one day that sleepeth in harvest in the time of labour wherefore doth the Bridegroom tarry but to give you space to repent to work out your salvation in and instead of working shall we sleep out this time and will it be Comfortable in the end will it be comfortable if instead of labouring in the vineyard we sleep all the heat of the day what account shall we make when we come to receive the recompence 3. Yet more unseasonable it is also If you consider that usually the time of this falling asleep is after a good while converse and walking with God then men fall a napping the wise virgins they had their oyl and their Lamps burning it is true they had provided for the main and it is likely went forth to meet him but in the way the nearer they came to their journeys end for there must be some good competent time sure before they would conclude that the Bridegroom tarried and then they lay aside all and fall asleep Remember that of the Apostle knowing the season saith he that now it is high time for you to awake for now is your salvation nearer then when you believed Now is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to awake out of sleep now is salvation nearer What is the meaning of this the meaning is now is the most unseasonable time of all other for you to be asleep now you should press hard forward now just at your journies end as a Traveller or a man in a race holds up his head all the way and maketh speed and when he is near the journies end and should lay hold upon the goal that then he should sit down and sleep this is unseasonable and utterly unsafe if he expect to obtain by his running Ah brethren sure you would obtain else why did you run if you expected not a reward Now may I not say with the Apostle you did many of you run well but who hindred you how came it to pass you dropt asleep or are you inclining to it O take heed it is not safe at the end of your race the night is past the day is come or the night the time of this ignorance for our life is compared to the vision of God in heaven may well be compared to a night and that to day well this day is at hand it is nearer then when you began to believe for that is the meaning of that Phrase as such a King reigned that is to say began to raign ordinarily in Scripture Well then it is utterly unseasonable therefore let me beg of you brethren and the Lord prevail with our hearts to take heed of it Fifthly Another Consideration shal be this that while you lay your selves to sleco you lose God and Christ you lose their presence when the soul open to Jesus Christ he cometh in and the father and Holy Spirit with him and they bring their dainties with them and abundantly refresh the soul with his love which is better then wine and as long as the soul doth give him entertainment and followeth to improve its Communion with him he will sâ—ay but truly brethren if we sleep he will not then tarry but he takes his leave and leaveth us sleeping and alas before we are aware we have lost him and know not where to find him It was Sampsons case alas his strength was in the presence of God with him when he departed he was as as another man he lies down upon Dalilahs lap and then he fals asleep and at last he was robbed of his strength God was departed from him he he had many forewarnings but he was bewitched with a Lust it did so imprison his reason that he could not see what he was to do at last he wist not that God was departed from him he went thinking to shake himself as at other times but alas his strength was gone Ah brethren if a man have a Dalilah it is sive to one but sooner or later it will lull him asleep and if it can but get him asleep it is easie to get away the Lords presence from him and he know it not untill afterward Sixtly Another Argument shal be not only that not only when we fall asleep we not only lose the Lord Jesus and the presence of his Spirit but we then shall keep him out also the senses are locke up A Servant fast asleep when his Master cometh home he may knock long enough before he open to him why alas
of Jesus Christ there should be a greater desire to be with Jesus Christ knowing you are absent now where there is such a desire and such a groaning surely that day will not come upon them so unexpectedly and terribly If we have not this assurance brethren methinks then the fear of this day of Jesus Christ should hold us in such bondage all our lives-long it should so keep us awake we should have little mind to sleep if we labour to keep upon our hearts fresh our own Condition but we should be up and working to make our calling and election sure and so we might be found doing and surely brethren that poor soul trembling that thus follows hard after Christ if the day come upon him before he have this assurance yet shall it be more comfortable to him then to a man that hath had more peace and fals asleep in the lap of it and so is overtaken Verse 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. IN the former Verse we have a preparative Cry behold the Bridegroom cometh In this Verse we have the effect of it in part which is general to them all both wise and foolish then when that cry was made that dreadful sound was made in their ears it startled them rowsed them out of their sleep they arose from their bed of security and one as well as another all those Virgins those he had been speaking of all those that slept which were wise as well as foolish and foolish as well as wise And that it is thus generally taken it is further plain because afterward he cometh to divide them and the foolish said unto the wise while they were both asleep the one could not speak nor the other hear but now they were all rowsed they universally particle they all arose and trimmed c. It hath influence upon both parts of the Predicate The words are a plain Proposition the Subject is the Virgins the universality of the Subject all of them those Virgins that were asleep before That which is spoken of them is double they arose and they trimmed their Lamps And we have also the time when they did this then then when the Cry came they heeded not what Condition their Lamps were in before There are two things mainly noteworthy in the verse according to the two sorts of Virgins which divide this universal all those Virgins they were wise and foolish some of them were Virgins in deed the other in profession and appearance such now it is very considerable concerning them both That the Hypocrite should ever arise out of such a deep sleep considering that his heart was never awake is a matter worth our noting and that he that had nothing else but a Lamp and that even now wearing out yet should be trimming of it up for heaven On the other hand and it is as observable that the Child of God hath his Lamp to trim now at such a time as this is when the Cry is come he is summoned to meet the Lord Jesus who is near at hand Accordingly I shall take up a double Observation from the words That an Hypocrite a formal Professor may go very far towards heaven and salvation And I think this droppeth like honey from the comb without crushing or wrong to the Text. That a Child of God may have his Lamp to trim when he should use it The first of these A Hypocrite may go very far his Profession may carry him a great way and yet fall short at last You see here in the Text God doth not pluck away the vizard at first but letteth them proceed he could have discovered them when he pleased they take up their Lamps and they go forth to meet the Bridegroom more then many will be perswaded to that will hardly stir a foot for Christ they continue so doing until the Bridegroom tarried so long beyond their expectation then indeed they fell asleep then they rowsed again and trimmed their Lamps All these put together which are in the Text will make it appear that a Hypocrite may go far and fall short A Doctrine never more need for to be pressed then now And therefore though you have heard not very long since much concerning it and much more then I am able to speak and better for the matter yet let me also put you in remembrance of these things brethren and the Lord open all our eyes in a thing so nearly concerning us all I shall therefore propose what I have to say by way of proof of the Doctrine in several heads or degrees whereto a Hypocrite may reach the Lord give us all understanding in them First then a Hypocrite he may have much knowledge much light a head full of notion and this is one thing necessarily imported in the Lamps which the foolish Virgins had Some have thought their Lamps were dead they had no flame no light nor heat at all but I see no reason of it for it is said their Lamps were gone out which argues they were in before but I think this will hardly be denied but a Hypocrite may be a man of much knowledge do you not see it in the Pharisees were they not men of much knowledge and understanding able to teach others they had Moses's Chair and so the Scriptures the Doctrine of the Law men of great knowledge and yet our Saviour brands them for Hypocrites that is an aëry religion that lies in the head So the Jews the Apostle speaks to them by way of concession yielding to them what they had but shewing them where they fell short thou art a Jew and restest in the Law and makest thy boast of God as we do now make our boast of Christ that we are Christians and cannot bear it to be accounted otherwise and knowest his will and approvest the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the Law there is the principle of their knowledge not a light within them by nature but to the Law and to the Testimonies they had their light from thence and so well grown in knowledge that they were confident that they were guides to the blind and therefore had no need to be blind themselves a light to them which are in darkness an instructer of the foolish a teacher of Babes And not only he is confident of it but the Apostle yieldeth it that he had the form of knowledge and of the truth in the Law and then he reasons ex concessis thou which teachest another teachest thou not self c. We glory in these days as much in our light as ever they did never such times of light though for my part I cannot see but much that passeth for light is gross darkness but suppose it be so there may be light enough a shining Lamp and yet but a foolish Virgin surgunt indocti rapiunt coelum nos cum doctrinis c. I know it is true where a people are void of knowledge they
seeth not his disease 2. It is so like to uprightness of heart that it is scarce discernable to the Physitian that should be instrumental to heal it Morbus vix sanabilis saith one qui sanitatem imitatur and then when it is discerned there is much more goeth to the healing of an hypocrite then another sinner he must first be emptied of himself whereof he is full he must be untaught before he can be taught any thing of Christ 3. If he do see his disease he is usually unwilling to have it healed he liketh it better to keep his lusts secretly to have the delight of them and pleasure of sin secretly and yet the shew of godliness Like a sâ—urdy Rogue he hath a sore and he knoweth it well enough but he careth not for having it healed because it is his Plow it is that which brings in his profit or advantage by moving others to commiseration but many times such persons as these dye of their wounds and when theâ— would have them healed they are fostred so and corrupted there is no healing of them The Lord grant it prove not the case of our souls Why but you will say how should a man know then If a hypocrite be such an one that may go so far whether he be an hypocrite or no for it may be you will say for ought I perceive an hypocrite is gone so far that I doubt I shall hardly reach it For answer to this I shall say these few things First then for matter of affection for knowledge I think we can hardly make that Characteristicon because it is common to both and when men speak of it as a practical knowledge an humbling knowledge a warning knowledge c. These are the effects of it But knowledge considered as knowledge it is alike though the Spirit of the Lord do shed it abroad upon some mens hearts and affections so that it works there mightily and remaineth imprisoned in some mens heads and understandings Therefore for the Affection I cannot stand to give account of every affection spoken of before but for That of mourning for son which is specially considerable you have heard a heart may be troubled for sin and it is questionless true But how shall we know then whether our trouble for sin be right or no or whether we be hypocritical therein Truly Brethren If ever we could look upon Jesus Christ crucified by his sins and for them with such an eye of faith and so mourn over him crucified by us and yet for us this surely none else can work but the spirit of grace it is a special fruit of it in that 12. of Zach. It may be thou hast been a poor creature much vexed with thy sins and weary by reason of them and weary of thy groa 〈…〉 ing and trouble but hast thou ever had a sight of Christ crucified and mouraid over him whom thou hast crucified This is the bitterness indeed that a hypocrite cannot reach unto Secondly Though an hypocrite may avoid many sins yet he will have some lust some Dalilah some little one and his soul shall live Now if a man regard any iniquity in his heart be it never so plausibly maintained have he never such fair pretences for what he doth that man is a hypocrite and God will not hear such a mans prayers If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear my prayers Judas must have his covetousness he could forego all other Herod must have his sisters daughter all else he can forego If there be any one lust wherein thou sparest thy self keepest it under thy tongue be it never so secret thy heart is not right It may be a man would think that the sin of his constitution he may give himself a little liberty in and this is thy plea It is my temper to be vainly merry a mans temper to be wanton to be foolishly jesting and men will plead their nature for it why truly so might Job he made a covenant with his eyes David I kept me from mine iniquity whether the sin of his nature or his present condition that is to say revenge upon his enemy when he had him in his hand So the sins of a mans place Job kept himself from them all he did not oppress wrong his man servant despise his cause oppress the poor when he had his help ready in the gate to have sided with him If men shall in any case though they have never so urgent temptations allow themselves in any sin surely such men are hypocrites and no better Thirdly an hypocrite will do much but he will not do all he never hath respect to all the commandments of God Why but you will say No more can the most upright man upon the earth do all Not Legally but Evangelically he may he may aim at all though the Commandment be exceeding broad he may search after all that he may do them he may endeavour it though he cannot reach it I have a respect to all and where he cometh short that is his burthen that is matter of mourning to him Take it in two or three particulars that I enlarge not too much 1. It may be an hypocrite will be wonderful strict in the duties of the first table which we call ordinarily religious duties as praying reading hearing c. But you shall find him very slight and slack in the duties of the second Those in the 7. of Matth they would Preach and Prophesie in Christ his name but yet they would work iniquity with both hands Judas would pray with Christ Preach for Christ receive with Christ but he would then couzen and defraud made no conscience of secret thievery And it is very plain in that first of Isaiah who were more forward then they in their sacrifices abundant in their worship multitude of their burnt-offerings and solemn assemblies but in the mean time their hands were full of blood they made nothing of that And is it not so with some of us we are frequent in hearing frequent it as much as others and yet notwithstanding make nothing of the duties of the second table drunkenness is nothing though wine be raging make nothing of railing reviling of covetousness which is Idolatry he will hardly make a Covenant with his eyes as Job did maketh nothing of uncleanness if not outward in act yet contemplative of a wandering eye and wandring heart and so of deceit O this is dreadful let not that man deceive himself certainly he is an hypocrite and though he may go far yet he will be sure to fall short 2. An hypocrite in his obedience he will be much about little inconsiderable things Some ceremonious things or the like more then the weighty matters of the Law so the Pharisees they forsooth would not come into the Judgement-Hall because it was the preparation to the Pass-over lest they should be defiled and not fit for the
but yet it shineth more and more the Sun runneth his race though now and then a cloud intercepts his comfortable beams from the earth And that of the Psalmist his leaf shall never wither the leaf is the profession he shall not wither but be green An hypocrite indeed like a Bull-rush will wither as we shall see by and by when the mire and the water fails but a child of God withers not There are two Conditions which usually wither mens profession but the child of God stands it out in both 1. In a prosperous state that useth to choak the word they that will call upon God in the day of distress in their afflictions wil seek him earnestly yet when his hand is taken away they no more remember the Lord their Saviour but a child of God now in his prosperous condition he loseth not his profession altogether though the Lamp may be damped yet not extinguisht And 2. For adversity that indeed is a trying time all this is come upon us yet have we not dealt falsly in the Covenant will the hypocrite alway call upon God he will not call upon God alway nor wait for him Yea the time of affliction usually is an advantage to the people of God if ever their Lamp burn brighter then another it is in the dark and cold night of persecution and affliction a Torch the more knockt against any thing the more it burns Secondly Because they have within them a Spring of oyl that feeds the Lamp therefore it goeth not out It is set forth in another metaphor in that place of John out of his belly shall flow Rivers of water springing up to eternal life Now where there is this within the flame will live while there is oyl to maintain it It is like fire in a mans bosom he cannot carry it so surely but it will discover it self as fire in the bones as the Prophet speaks of the word of God And 3. Because that cruse of oyl is continually supplyed by the Spirit and from the fulness of Christ therefore it never fails If the oyl in the vessel could fail then the Light in the Lamp might fail but it faâ—ls not and why not because it is not perishable in its own nature being but a creature but because it is kept by the power of God we are kept by the power of God to salvation alas if it were in our keeping we should quickly with the Prodigal run our selves out of all as we do in a moment lose the most precious frames the Lord is pleased to put upon us but it is kept by that power none is able to pluck them out of this hand of the Father the Son Sin is strong indeed strong lusts and Satan is strong a Lyon a Dragon a Prince of the power of darkness and Armies of lusts he hath warring in our members a great strength and all these pluck at us but they cannot pull us out of this hand of Christ And thence it is that their Lamps are not put out in obscure darkness O how fain would Satan blow out the Candle that we might walk in the darkness not knowing whither we go but it is held in the hand of Christ and it is above the reach of his poysonous breath to do it A damp of lusts from our own hearts if any thing would do it this would and it maketh them burn very dimly and blew many times but yet cannot overcome the Lamp may want trimming but it is not out For the Application then of this Doctrine If it be so that Believers are subject to such declinings yea when they should be at the best in their latter end when they should bring forth fruit in old age that then they may be ready to wither or in a great part the leaves their profession may change colour and lose its greenness What should this teach us all in the first place but to take heed of placing our confidence in any thing which may fail us If any thing on this side the Lord Jesus himself might be trusted in it might be grace for there is not any other so near approach to God without which Angels were but Devils the very perfection of Saints and Angels And yet because it hath its imperfections therefore it is not to be trusted to Nothing indeed is more spiritual then grace the choisest communications of the eternal spirit to the Creature but yet considered in comparison with the God of grace it is but flesh if it be rested upon the strongest mountain that a man would think should never be shaken yet sin and Satan if the Lord permit can get under it and blow it up Yea if our grace were perfect yet we might not rest in it because yet it hath its comparative imperfections it self being but a derivative and dependent Being upon the God of grace at the best it is but a stream a beam though nearer the Sun and nearer the Fountain and but the water of a Cistern and if whole before yet this resting upon it would make it a broken Cistern Well then bretbren if our profession flourish never so if it be spring time with you trust not in it for there may come a fall after this spring there may come a time of scorching heat may make you wither in a great part at least Though your Lamp burn and shine never so gloriously and the light be great which ariseth from these sparks of Gods kindling you see it may come to want trimming to burn more dimly therefore trust not in it 2. It should teach us then to live by faith in respect hereof Alas brethren we are withering every moment if we have not waterings every moment what would become of us now whence must this come but from the fountain of Israel the eternal spring and fulness which is in Jesus Christ Of his fulness we receive saith the Evangelist What made the difference between the rest of the Disciples their profession of him and Peters all their Lamps were damped in that hour and power of darkness it was so great and gross but his was almost gone and giving up And for those acts the flame was even out but that the Lord blew it in again by the breathing of his spirit O Labour to live by faith in Jesus Christ for preventing grace then that we may not be removed from our stedfastness The Apostle had a strong perswasion that neither life nor death the intisements of the one nor the terrors of the other should separate him from the Love of God in Jesus Christ O it was that love he hung upon You see that grace it self which is the oyl in the vessel which seeds the Lamp is loseable and therefore much more the external fruits and effects of it Now if the power of God do not keep us we are gone therefore we must hence learn to live by the faith of the son of
loiâ—â—r nor stay in what he had received but pressed hard forward toward the mark of the priâ—e of the high calling he that aimeth short even at so much as will serve his turn and compass his design when he hath done that there is an end But I aâ—m at perfection saith the Apostle and so should we if we would keep our Lamps alive never rest 8. Be much in prayer pray hard for the supplies of his Spirit he hath promised them if we ask importunity will prevail if we be Strangers much more if Children it is the spirit that keepeth all alive and therefore pray for more and more of this Spirit of Jesus Christ See how Moses followeth the Lord with request upon request when he had been in the Mount and seen him face to face one would think this was enough to have stopped his mouth for a great while no sooner was he come down but he is praying for the guidance of that good Spirit O Lord shew me the way where in thou wouldst have us to go well God grants him this this satisfieth him not but he must have Gods presence with him an Angel would not serve his turn but his presence he must have and when this was granted this would not serve his turn neither but then O Lord shew me thy glory Prayer is the richest trading for heaven Build up your selves praying in the holy Ghost Ah it is the prayer of faith that fetcheâ—h in rich supplies from the Lord continually 9. Take heed of grieving this good Spirit then when we have his presence by any willing transgression this grieveth him our unthankfulness and slighting of him minding the world grieve him not for if he depart be sure our Lamps will be but in a sad taking 10. Then every day we must be trimming the Lamps of the Sanctuary were drest or trimmed every day he made them well as the Original word signifieth they were disordered burning every night there was somewhat wanting oyl and raising the week likely and removal of dross from them which they might contract he drest them and made them ready every morning the morality implied in this Type surely is this that we should daily dress up our Lamps they will need it every day renew our repentance renew our resolutions our walking clos 〈…〉 r with God to love him c. daily endeavour to draw nearer to him neglect your Lamps but a week or so and see what fearful work there will be Again such then as can say with Moses they have lived thus long and their sight fails not nor their strength c. They have great cause to bless the Lord. But though a Child of God is thus apt to decline his profession thus apt to grow dim his Lamp to want trimming yet it never goeth altogether out And what use should we make of this 1. It reproveth that opinion of falling away utterly from justifying and renewing grace the condition of all believers is here set down by the state of the wise virgins their Lamps indeed did decay and suffer an impairing but not altogether dye No this spring of grace once sprung in the heart springs up to eternal life though some interruptions there may be did he pray that Peters faith should not fail him and did he not pray for all believers indeed his faith did as near fail him as ever mans did but yet it revived again and so David and others 2. Yet do not abuse this Doctrine of grace as our hearts are exceeding apt to do If we cannot fall away utterly then if once Be sure we have the root of the matter in us if once we have Oyl in our vessels it will never be altogether spent our Lamps will never be blown out This is dangerous and next to desperate and therefore the Apostle in a like case with a kind of abhorrency at the thought of such a thing speaks thus shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid because he hath made us partakers of the sure mercies of David that will never fail shall we therefore neglect our worthy walking of them it argues a very ungodly frame of heart where this is to be found We should the rather be encouraged our hands strengthened to work out our salvation with so much the more earnestness were it not a very unchild-like and wretched frame of heart for a child to say Well I know my fathers heart towards me let me do what I will he will not cast me out of doors his inheritance is sure he may haply be mistaken and prove himself a Bastard and not a Son And so it is here Gods Children have all of them such child-like dispositions in them as they will hardly dare to make such an use of such a rich treasury of grace Or if they do they are like to smart for it 3. A word of strong Consolation to many a poor drooping soul If once thou have but grace in thy heart the oyl in thy Vessel it is never lost again though in its own nature it be loseable Thou art afraid some temptation or another from Satan the world or thy own heart will blow it out some blast or other will wither thee O thou shalt never be able to keep thy Lamp burning in the midst of so many contrary winds of lust and corruption but though thou canst not keep it alive the Lord can do it and he will do it Indeed while the Virgins slept for any care they took of their Lamp it might have gone out but the Lord kept it burning though it were but low and needed dressing Be of good courage then poor drooping foul and he shall strengthen thy heart didst thou ever know of any that had this oyl in their vessels that had the real work of grace upon them that did quite extinguish and dye surely thou didst not If the Lord do but seal it up to thee that thou art one of the wise Virgins believe it for thy everlasting comfort thy Lamp shall never be put out in obscure darkness 4. What shall we render to the Lord for this unspeakable grace towards us how hath he lifted up our condition above innocency it self in Adam he was made liable to fall away and the Lord did not engage himself to keep him we are made now in the second Adam in a surer Condition we have a better tenure in Jesus Christ which is the root of our stedfastness and standing because he liveth we shall live If Jesus Christ could die any more then might the Saints that are in him dye again altogether when once they are implanted into him O he liveth for ever and that Spirit of Christ which liveth and dwelleth in his people it never dyeth and faileth and he hath made it the very tenure of his Covenant he will put his fear into their hearts that they shall never depart from him We it may be that
endure every profession will not abide but it overcometh them But haply they may go down quietly and go away with confidence in their conscience a strange confidence have many poor blinded hypocrites whose consciences are seared Yet Thirdly Be sure brethren It will not carry them through the Judgement after the death the Judgement we may make a shift to pass through this world and haply delude our selves and think all is well and through death and yet never dream of our misery but if we be hypocrites be sure that a form will not endure to appear in Judgement before the ever lasting burnings the consuming fire There the Lord will examine mens hands what ever their professions have been and their hearts as it is said of Tiberius when he examined a fellow that pretended to the Crown he was so confident and cunning he could not trap him in his words at last he examined his hands and finding them hard with labour he found him to be but a servile mechanick fellow he was then so startled saith Mr. Caryl that he had no more to say So the Lord will examine mens works then and the principles of their works from which they acted and they shall be forced to confess they are hypocrites and their mouthes shall he everlastingly stopt depart from me ye workers of iniquity you tell me ye have preached in my name or prophesied c. let me see your hands you are workers of iniquity For the Application then What a terrible word to all formal professors who have only a Lamp a form of godliness but deny the power of it in heart and in their conversations Let all such if any such be here present know First Your profession will fail you sooner or later You think when you have done so many duties you have acquired such gifts and such supposed graces of the spirit and 〈…〉 w all is well these are enough to lift you up to heaven a Tower a Ladder that will reach to heaven But alas it is not so it is but a Castle builded in the air they are lying words you trust in who cry The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these You are his people and have his Ordinances a fine web a spider weaves takes great pains spins it out of her bowels but alas it never cometh to any thing it will not make a garment to cover their nakedness from the Lord Jesus Hypocrites rest in a formality and some observances of the Law as if it were their hope that should secure them from all storms and injuries whatsoever but alas it will not these things will fail Secondly Is it not worthy observation also that an hypocrite if he go to decay in this life his hypocrisie be discovered he decaies quickly suddenly more suddenly then another man ordinarily therefore he is compared to a Bull-rush that withers before any other plant when they are once blasted cursed as God doth curs them many times alas the next day they are gone and withered as the tree that was dryed up by the root which the Disciples wondered at a sad thing to-have leaves without fruit a form without power the withering curse doth light upon them soonest sooner then prophane persons and how quickly are they withered they are like the grass upon the house top that withereth before it groweth up Thirdly It will be sure to sail a man when he hath most need of it as in the hour of temptation the hour of affliction the hour of death and the hour of judgement in all these usually it fails as a man standing him in no stead◠as the brooks run in the winter when there is no need of them but in Summer when the traveller is ready to perish for thirst then are they dryed up in that place of Job Like the Apples of Sodom if a man come to touch them would be refreshed by them they turn to dust poor creatures think they have faith until an hour of temptation or affliction when they should act it then they have none So they think they have love and bowels but when an opportunity is offered and they have most need of them then they fail like the house there in Matth. 7. It was builded as fair to see to as another as the wise mans house and served him while it shone upon his Tabernacle but when once the storms arose the winds came and the waves beat against it alas it fell and great was the fall thereof Fourthly that which will set an edge upon all the former is the sad disappointment of the hypocrite or formalist in all this for his hope is cut off like a spiders web there are two Pillars he leans upon as Sampson upon the Pillars in the house the Jachin and Boaz What are they but the good things of this world and life eternal and alas both fail him For the good things of this life they many times leave him the mire and the water which made the Bull-rush to grow they are dryed up what is become of his hope then he leans laies hold on his house and is loath to let it go but let him hold it as fast as he can yet down it must go when the Lord cometh to manifest his displeasure against him Secondly For things eternal those he expecteth and is as high until he be discovered to himself in his expectation of heaven as any other but alas he is but in a golden dream all this while as an hungry man dreameth he eateth c. but it is nothing but a fancy when he awakes he is never the fuller but rather vexed so much the more being disappointed for a man to have his hope cut off is the greatest cut in the world nothing breaks the creatures heart more then this O how great hope may a Minister be raised to being an instrument in the hand of God to save others that he also shall be saved they themselves have means to castout the Devil and shall they go to the Devil It is indeed the very emphasis of damnation to be cast down from such a height of hope to be so near to heaven in their hopes and yet miscarry O how should this make us afraid of hypocrisie and formality which is ready to creep upon us how bitter a thing is it in the end to hypocrites yea to the people of God in their way when God opens their eyes to behold it in its colours therefore let us be exhorted every one of us to take heed of it lest it be found in such prevalency among us as to denominate us hypocrites believe it brethren If we be hypocrites our duties will not commend us to God be they never so many never so plausible because our hearts are not changed which is a notable sign of an hypocrite he doth much duty but never reacheth to a better heart is not changed
say some of them lave such misgivings which though they be not so clear as to amount to a knowledge condition and to put them on to a recovery out of it yet they may be enough to make them loath to search A man is loath to search his coyn he suspects he shall find many bad pieces there and haply thereby prove himself but a beggar finding all brass instead of gold A man is loath to take up the grave-stone he may suspect what he shall find within which he is not very willing to see it may be nor to endure the stench of it and therefore pleaseth himself with the paint and outward beauty of it and therefore no marvel if it be hid from his eyes Fifthly It is a righteous hand of God upon hypocrites they are even paid in their own coyn that since they have deceived others with fair shews and pretences and endeavoured as I may say to deceive the Lord himself that they should deceive their own souls and should be hid from themselves that they may go on the more securely until they see by woful experience that they are tumbled into the pit And surely this was one of the things which were hid from Jerusalems eyes the things which belonged to her peace the first iâ— not the chief thing was the knowledge of her self Luke 19. 42. is a choice place of saving as well as moral knowledge now they had neglected their time implyed the hypocrites drew near God with their mouths when their hearts were far from him thinking to put off God with such Idol-worship as if he had not been a God which searched the heart and could find it out therefore the Lord tels them well saith he now the things which concern your peace are hid from your eyes and this is one of them among the rest the knowledge of Christ the remedy is the other main thing O it is a fearful hand of God brethren when he giveth them up to blindness of mind so that they shall discern nothing which concerneth them and so not know their own conditions if the Lord hide who can find as if he search who can be concealed But so much for this first thing Secondly At last he shall be discovered to himself He shall see himself to be but an hypocrite this is many times so I mean not only in hell mens eyes shall be opened but at death or before death many times the hypocrites eyes are opened to see himself what he is It is true sometimes he may go down in peace to the grave such a peace as Satan and an hard heart and seared conscience gives but yet you see here in this Parable that before the coming of the Bridegroom they saw their Lamps were gone out and that they wanted oyl the great work the grace in the heart which before they cared not for I will not press it too far and say that because all the foolish Virgins here see that their Lamps were gone out therefore all hypocrites and formal professors before their death are discovered to themselves as well as to others that they are but hypocrites but it is so many times and ordinarily surely else I know not what can be the meaning of this part of the Parable was it not so with Judas was it not discovered to him when he was detected and his conscience so wounded that he could not but go and proclaim himself a wretch a traytor to his Master before all the Court if he were so blinded before by lust by covetousness as not to see what he did yet now his eyes were opened he saw what his condition was and the terrour of it was such that he went and hanged himself But how and when doth the Lord discover hypocrites to themselves Why truly brethren haply in the hour of affliction then the Alchymie gold being not able to endure the seventh fire discovers it self what it is so the hypocrite will he pray alway Or in the general by any other means whereby the Lord blasts their profession and maketh it wither then they come to see it was but a gourd under whose shadow they delighted themselves so you see God doth blast their profession Here it was not until their Lamps were gone out that they saw it that they wanted oyl while they could sparkle walk in the light of their own sparks think all is well with them while they can maintain their profession and keep up duties c. haply they see not the hypocrisie lies hid under those broad leaves but when they wither they become as trees twice dead then haply they come to see it Not that alway those whose professions wither do see theÌ„selvs to be hypocrites neither for they may turn down right prophane as many poor creatures have done and returned with the swine washed to the wallowing in the mirâ— and grow past feeling the conscience much seared and hardened but yet many times this is a means whereby God doth discover hypocrites to themselves sometimes they have had somewhat of a presence of God and now they have none now their leaf fals now as Saul they have no answer from God neither by Vision nor Prophet and now they see the woful case they are in now they are pluckt as I may say of their plumes their nakedness appears Not that a child of God may not want his presence and a great while too but there is then a sickness of love for him a mourning after him ordinarily or a sad complaint that they cannot mourn after him but an hypocrite he findeth a want of the former presence and his heart is little or nothing troubled for it he is contented to let it go Secondly It may be sometimes without any such affliction yet the Lord may discover to an hypocrite that he is no better that he is rotten at the heart though the guilt wear not away yet he can shew the soul that it is but Alchymie though the paint of the Sepulchre continue and be not washed away he can shew a man that he is an Hypocrite not but that a Child of God may think himself an Hypocrite sometimes under temptation but he is not so but when God revealeth it to the soul he setteth it on with an evidence indeed that it is so But why doth the Lord then discover Hypocrites before the day of the discovery of all things why truly it is First That they might have a taste of that bitter Cup which they are to drink the dregs of to all eternity the Hypocrites Cup if any be more deep then other this is it and if any more deadly dregs in it this is it Now God will kindle a beginning of hell in their consciences that as the Saints have some fore-tasâ—s of heaven and the joyes to be revealed to sweeten their Cup of affliction so Hypocrites might have some of the gall and worm-wood to imbitter all their delights in this
world What comfort had Judas of his thirty pieces of silver when God opened his conscience and let him see his condition what an hypocritical dissembling wretch he had been to betray the Lord of life and glory with a kiss a sign of love and a bloody traiterous heart to sell his Saviour whom he had followed so long and acted by commission from him so long and his Master that had never done him hurt but good to sell him the Lord of life and glory for thirty pieces of Silver O this could not but gall and cut him to the heart the Devil helped him to a booty indeed but God added this sorrow with it Indeed of all sins God hath not revealed himself so terribly against any in Scripture as this and therefore when the soul cometh to see it that hath any knowledge of the terrors of the Lord displayed against it he must needs be for the present in a hell above ground this shall they have of my hand saith the Lord they shall lie down in sorrow Yea and sometimes he anticipates their death and they live in sorrow and wo and misery God doth as I may say set a mark upon them as upon Cain Secondly That they might be warnings to others for ever to take heed of Hypocrisie for when men that regard the work of the Lord and consider the operation of his hand shall behold a Judas hanged up in Gibbets being made a Magor Missabeb to himself doth it not preach aloud this Caution to take heed and beware of hypocrisie these things saith the Apostle were written for our ensamples that we might not do as they did so are these things acted for our ensamples that we might take heed or if they have not such terrors but their professions are blasted only and wither and they prove fearful creatures their latter end worse then their beginning is not this a warning written in Capital Letters that he that runs may read O take heed of rottenness at the root for all our fruit will give up as the dust as the Apples of Sodom we shall wither and come to nothing and go out like a snuff as well as them if we be not sound at the heart Thirdly It may be a stumbling block to some others who are ready to receive any prejudice against the ways of Christ and therefore they shall have a block to stumble upon O here you see what becometh of this preciseness and flourishing profession of Religion it is all but rotteness at the root it is better to take on fair and softly a soft pace in religion saith the Moralist or civil honest Man as good continue in a meer wallowing as being washed to enter into it again yea better saith the profane man and therefore he satisfieth himself in his carnal state which is wosul for suppose some professors wither yet do all Some they keep their leaf it shall never fail some lose their verdour but recover it again and what if some wither will you therefore offend against the generation of the upright saying they are all of the same stamp God forbid It is a sad thing to consider how many poor hearts are hardened in sin upon this very account which addeth to the Hypocrites doom but what if a discovered Hypocrite be so vile the condition so dangerous is not their own as dangerous if thou be prophane and a worker of iniquity there is no more entrance into glory for a Dog or Swine then for a Goat no more for workers of iniquity that professedly commit iniquity then for them who profess longer do much in his name and yet when all cometh to all they are found but workers of iniquity though secretly but so much for the second The third and last thing considerable in the Observation is That many times it is too late when Hypocrites are discovered to themselves this is plain in the Parable for the foolish Virgins all the time of the getting oyl in their vessels they complain not not see their want of it nor the going out of their Lamps but only when it was too late for before they could get it the gates were shut We must not here understand it generally of all Hypocrites as if none might be discovered to themselves while there is hope and so as to recover themselves for then it would follow they should none of them be pardoned for the Lord Jesus is the Prince exalted to give repentance and remission of sins Now if they never come to know themselves to be guilty of this great evil even their hypocrisie how should they repent of it and if they repent not of it how should it be pardoned It is true indeed there may be hypocrisie in a Child of God which he may acknowledge only in the general among his secret sins which he knoweth not of but I think where hypocrisie is so raigning a sin as to denominate a man an Hypocrite he must surely come to the knowledge of it and acknowledge it before the Lord or else how can he hope of pardon for it now I say there is pardon for all manner of sins only that against the Holy Ghost excepted and therefore sure some Hypocrites God doth uncase and unmask and rip up and shew them the abominations of their hearts that they may mourn over them and mourn after Jesus Christ and loath themselves for it and so be pardoned therefore remember this lest if God should come now and open any painted sepulchre any rotten-hearted Hypocrite among us when we see our wound we should faint away for though many times it is so that God discovers it not to Hypocrites until it be too late yet sometimes he doth and the sin in it self is pardonable therefore there is hope concerning this thing in Israel But for the making good this assertion consider either they are discovered not until judgement or else not until death or else not until their day of grace â—e expired many times though it be before death 1. If they be not discovered to themselves until judgement God never reproveth them of their hypocrisie and sets it in order with all its circumstances and aggravations until the day of judgement when the secrets of all hearts shall be displayed and all the nasty corners of sinners souls all the hidden things of darkness then surely you will all acknowledge there is no remedy it is past help there remaineth nothing then but a fearful looking for of their doom and some may go down in peace to the grave that is to say not a peace of God but of Satan a security and stupidity of conscience knowing nothing of their fearful condition which others also which are not so much as Hypocrites may do 2. If it be not discovered until the day of death or the time of deaths approach then though not alway yet ordinarily I believe it is too late and that is not a time that ordinarily God is
all as we have heard then no man surely hath any grace to spare For the Application then It is a reproving word to as many as are ready to think they have enough The Papists tell us of works of supererrogation and I believe that piece of Popery may cleave to some of us faster then we are aware but let us take heed of it when we begin to be so full as we think we run over and could spare any of what we have and we may therefore sit down and breath us Believe it this is the way to make the Cruse of oyl give over running as long as they had an empty vessel the Cruse ran but when all were full it gave over God will not in vain pour out this precious oyl of his Spirit to have it lost upon proud Creatures and bury the Glory of his Grace in an unthankful proud heart That Ancient could say and likely by experience Si dixisti sufficit periisti and may not many of us say so did we ever get good by it it is the ready way to go backward to tumble to the bottom again when we think we are got high enough higher then this or that Christian the Apostle saith God resists the proud but he gives Grace to the lowly The Heathen could say even Plato that a proud man is void of God without God God is far from his thoughts and he is far from the favour of God and indeed so it is God knoweth such a man afar off at a distance he shall have no close familiar communion with God Well the Lord reprove us as many as are guilty in this kind 2. It may serve then to press with the Apostle forward toward the mark of the prize c. O how lazy are most Professors who walk as if they never cared whether they reach perfection or the fulness of the measure of the stature of Christ as if we were unwilling to grow too like heaven for fear we should be taken from this earth sooner then we are willing to depart O what earthly heavy drowsie spirits have we how slowly do we drive What is heaven nothing in our eye the enjoyment of Jesus Christ nothing to us that we make no more haste toward him O then as the Martyr said haste after as fast as we can Take heed of such a thought you have been diligent long enough you may now slack your pace you are pretty well for one believe it brethren nothing will sooner quench the spirit then this nothing will sooner damm up the fountain and shut out the light you can never have too much It may be you have through rich mercy what carrieth you in some measure through your present condition you know not what you shall meet with believe it before we die we shall have exercise for every degree of our Grace our Faith our Love we shall have nothing over It may be with thy measure which is less thou maist make a hard shift to get to heaven but why should we not all press after a more abundant entrance into Glory which will be much more for the Glory of his Grace and much more for the comfort of our souls Well then place that behind you brethren which we have attained as Jehu in his furions march caused the Messengers as he reached them to turn behind him still and so went on let not our eying what Grace we have received be any further then to thankfulness take heed of poring on them to pride for that is the way to decline who knoweth how much one thought of pride doth cast us behind hand if the Lord take the advantage for he resisteth the proud above all others cast them behind then stay not rest not until we come to the resurrection of the dead And then In the last place It may be an encouragement to some poor trembling hearts who it may be when they hear this word are ready to lament themselves If this be a truth that they that have most grace have none to spare what a condition then are such as I in who have so little If they have occasion to use all and little enough sometimes What will become of me who have so little like a grain of Mustard-seed If the Cedars of Lebanon have no strength over much but are ready to be blowed up by the roots all they can do is but to stand to the utmost What shall such a bruised reed as I do in the contrary winds of temptation and corruption First then do not judge amiss of thy condition thou thinkest such a one is so so eminent for grace an Oke of Bashan a Cedar God judgeth not as man judgeth thou mayst have more humility and more love to Jesus Christ there may be more sincerity truth in the inward parts in a poor creature that hath little parts or gifts to make a glittering to dazle the eyes of men Herein lies the strength or weakness of the soul indeed Look to this then and gaze not so much upon glorious outward appearances 2. Remember that thou are not accepted for the greatness of thy grace inherent God doth not give his Spirit and such graces in a greater and a smaller measure to some then to others and then accept accordingily he accepteth in Jesus Christ and every poor believing soul doth enjoy whole Christ his righteousness fully imputed to them Therefore this is your acceptance and herein you are alike blessed be the Lord that in this which is the main thing he maketh no difference between the strong and the weak though one man may more strongly and clearly apply him and have more of the comfort yet thou mayst with a trembling hand hold him as surely or rather he will hold thee if thou canst not hold him for the imbraces are mutual between Christ and a poor believing soul 3. If thou have not so much as another thou shalt not likely have so great tryals so great things to do with it thou shalt not be tryed above what he will enable to bear and he will make a way to escape also If his grace be sufficient for thee in all conditions what matter is it only press hard after more and more whatever thou hast reached too and at last thou shalt attain the end of thy hope the salvation of thy soul and in due time thou shalt reap if thou faint not Verse 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HEre is the third part of the answer of the wise Virgins to the foolish Virgins question Which is not to be understood as a serious advice from the wise to the foolish directing them to the ready course to procure oyl to themselves except we could understand by them that sell Jesus Christ or Father Son and Spirit who selleth and would have us buy of him without money and without price Isa 55. 1. for the Bridegroom Jesus Christ seemeth to be distinguished here from them that sold
your refuge now go and shelter your selves under them now go and see whether your gourds will shade you from the scorching of the everlasting burnings O how this will grate and gall a guilty conscience every such word will speak confusion and hell to the very heart of a sinner and this is that you must expect You that now cannot down with a searching powerful Ministry can abide the shining but not the burning of a John Baptist that will deal faithfully with you but you must be daubed and bolstered up you must have such as will speak peace peace to you right or wrong the time will come when God shall shew you that this hath been the ruine and undoing of your souls and then in contempt and scorn you shall be sent to them Go now to your Parasite-Preachers when the consoience is all on a flame and you see your Lamps are gone out and the Bridegroom is ready to come and there is but a step between you and hell Ah the woful condition of such a soul then may the Lord and his people say Now go to your daubers now see if they can heal your breaches see if they can bind you up if they can cool you and quench you you shall have it of Gods hand to lye down in sorrow and then see whether your daubers with untempered morter shall lull you asleep O how grievous will this be from the Lord when they shall have nothing but derision from him and from his people Now the people of God will pitty you and pray for you but the time may come if you know not the things which belong to your peace in this your day that they shall laugh at you they shall in a mock a holy scorn send you to your false refuges for help Go to them that buy go to your flatterers see if they can comfort you 2. This then is a comfort to the people of God that are now guided by the holy Spirit to go to Jesus Christ to the Fountain indeed to hang their souls upon him replenish themselves still from his fulness as it is in that first of John because Brethren there will come a day of distinguishing between such as have made the Lord their hope their strength and such as have dallyed and trifled and as the one shall have a mock from God and from his people the Believer that hath been used to make the name of the Lord his refuge he shall then find acceptance find a free access What time I am afraid saith the Psalmist I will trust in thee dost thou not love to be flattered wouldst thou have thy soul dealt faithfully with and not gently as is said concerning Absolom happy art thou when others shall be sent to their broken Cisterns thou shalt be admitted to the Fountain to the fulness of Jesus Christ to which thou usually hadst recourse as the wise Virgins here they trimmed their Lamps they got a new supply of oyl but the foolish are sent to them that sell to their flatterers their Mountebanks their money-changers to see what they can afford them In such a time as this thou shalt come to the true Physitian to the high-treasurer of heaven c. Verse 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HEre it seemeth they had no more wit then to go to buy of them that sell How difficult is it to beat a man off his creature-confidence and refuges which he hath for his soul For these foolish Virgins here they had kindled sparks of their own and walked in the light of their own sparks a great while and all that while it was an exceeding hard matter to perswade them to the contrary but their penny was as good silver as other mens to perswade a painted hypocrite while his paint lasts that he is but a Sepulchre and full of rottenness and no resting in that conditlon is as hard as to perswade a man that looks upon his money baggs he is a beggar But now a man would have thought when this Lamp had gone out and they saw their sparks of their own kindling would not endure to eternal life that then they should have bethought themselves of a higher born flame a higher principle that would endure to get that oyl and that fire from heaven that would aspire and never rest until it reached heaven my meaning is that when they saw the profession and form which they could by their industrie and parts work out of themselves went out and failed them they should have thought of going to a higher principle but what do they do they go to the creature you see to the wise Virgins for oyl there they have another repulse they had none to spare for them By this a man would have thought they might have taken a hint that sure it is not to be had then from the creature we must look higher if any creature could furnish us tht wise Virgins the Saints indeed could furnish us but we have knockt at their doors and it is not to be had there And do they now bethink themselves of going to Christ no not at all Let it be considered yet further that they had a very sharp blow to rap their fingers off the creature which a man would have thought should have made them afraid of ever laying hold upon an arm of flesh again for this Irony or holy mock of them go to them that sell if they understood it so was a reproof as full of Vinegar as can be As that of our Saviour sleep on now saith he take your rest now they are at hand let us go hence they had little list to sleep after such a reproof as that and yet we see these foolish Virgins are so stupid that this mock of them it beateth them not off at all but to the Creature they go still to try whether there be any oyl to be had among them that sell the flatterers and merit-mongers they think not of going to Jesus Christ And whence doth this appear brethren but first From our corrupt nature which hath departed from the Lord and is now ful of enmity to him and is loth to return to him so proud we are that as long as we can find any thing in our selves we will go no further but when we see our own gourd is withered our torrent is dried up such is the enmity of our wretched hearts to God in the way of his Grace that we would go any whither for succour rather then to God to Christ the Jews would not come to Christ that they might have life they might have it for coming for but they would not they would take any pains in their own works men will rather put themselves to any pennance mortifyings and maceratings of the flesh as the Papists some of them do will be at any charge for their indulgences from men rather then they will go to Jesus Christ Thus the Lord complains of his
people that they did wander from mountain to hill expecting help here and there but forgot God their resting place The Raven would not return to the Ark if she could get a place to rest any where upon the earth though the Dove had no rest any where else but in the Ark. Ah what woful natures have we brethren so contrary to the God of love and fulness of bowels and compassions surely we can see nothing in him wherefore we should be so averse but the pride and rebellion of our own desperately wicked hearts how should this exceedingly humble us 2. Not only nature but it should seem they were accustomed to it also and that increased the natural inclination to it at first their sparks were of their own kindling they would have fire out of their own flint and oyl from within well this failed you so they went to the wise Virgins and were habituated in it it was a rooted evil and well watered and therefore no marvel if at the very last they thus go to them that sell Can the Ethyopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots no more can ye that are accustomed to do evil learn to do well here is a first nature and a second nature nature upon nature and what is harder to carnality then nature while it remaineth unchanged naturam expellas c. You may keep a Woolftame and train him up like a Dog to follow you but he will retain his woolfish nature still and if he have occasion will manifest it where a Creature hath been used to betake it self for refuge thither will it go in time of need the Chicken to the wing the Conies to the rocks the Fox to her holes and the Child of God to the rock what time I am afraid I will trust in thee as before and poor Hypocrite to the Creature this or that somewhat in himself or somewhat in some other as you see for this he is accustomed to to go to his prayers to the opinion of flattering persons c. 3. Another reason may be this in Professors that have long rested in a formality and now at last come to see their nakedness God plucks off their plumes letteth them see they are naked and yet they go not to Christ it may be because he holds their eyes hideth this wisdom from their eyes alas if the Lord shew us not the path of life brethren we can never find it out our selves we shall grope at noon-day though we have never so much glorious light about us and Christ be held out never so plainly to us we shall grope and wander and never have a heart to come to him as it is said of the Israelites God did not give you to this day a heart to understand O saith the Psalmist Teach me thy way and I will walk in thy truth Now God and Christ in a just displeasure against us in such a case may hide himself from us aâ—d will not be found either we shall not have an heart to seek him at all or else not an upright heart to seek him and therefore though we seek him he will not be found As this should teach us all to be humbled before the Lord for wickedness and averseness of our hearts to Christ that we will not come to him so long as we can get a drop out of our dry Bottle we will not come to the Fountain but wander up and down and weary our selves to seek rest anywhere then in Jesus Christ Hast thou been a Prodigal and hast thou known this by experience hast thou shifted and shuffled and lickâ— thy self whole as often as thou couldst and born it out by head and shoulders the Convictions thou hast had sometimes when thy Lamp hath been dying O how should this teach thee now if the Lord have notwithstanding this shewed thee the path of life shewed thee the Fountain the Olive whence the oyl is to be had indeed this should teach us I say to loath our selves Ah wretch wretch that I am that should carry such a heart toward Jesus Christ 2. It may serve to advance and magnifie the justice and mercy of the Lord on Hypocrites justice and severity that since they have loved to wander from Creature to Creature and would never come to Jesus Christ Now at the last when they must come to close with him or never he should be hidden from their eyes Is not this a righteous a severe hand are they not paid in their own coin the Lord grant we fall not any of us under this stroke of Divine justice to be left and given up to a wandring heart because we love to wander O methinks this severe hand of God upon them lying upon them to the very last should affright poor Formalists that have nothing else but a few broad leaves to be their refuge when these wither what will you do what must shadow you from everlasting burnings you will say Jesus Christ but do your hearts say so indeed and why do you not now make sure to close with him for if you wander thus up and down from Creature to Creature who knoweth whether he may not make you examples of his displeasure and suffer you yea give you up to wander as those foolish Virgins that you shall never be able to look after him because he will never look after you again And then it serveth to magnifie the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ that notwithstanding this be the natures all of us and we practise accordingly and have made many a poor shift likely to quiet a guilty accusing galled Conscience sometimes with one sometimes with another shift sometimes with a duty a prayer or tears O if we could but weep for our sins all would be well this would make a calm and we are at peace sometimes the opinion of others or sometimes our own opinion of holiness and our selves to which we have done all that we have done it may be Well that after all this now the Lord Iesus after so long being slighted and such forms and duties and fig-leaves and any broken Cisterns empty Bottles and husky vanities preferred before him that yet he should manifest himself to such to any of us and give us that true oyl of Grace in the heart whereby the sinfulness and emptiness of all our former shifts have been discovered to us O what shall we render to the Lord for his love behold what manner of love is this that will overcome all our slighting of him that will not let us alone under our fading gourds until he bring us under his own shadow and never suffer us to wander up and down from him any more have our souls tasted of this his love O bless him magnifie him make your boast in God let the humble hear thereof and be glad live his praises what can you do too much for him who hath thus loved you but so much for
King did Arauna give to the King liberally freely it was a great gift freely given So here it is a King that maketh this feast Kings usually have larger more noble spirits as they have larger purses and therefore at their feasts they use to shew the Magnificence and glory of their Kingdom And so doth God here Brethren A King yea the King of heaven the King of glory the King of Kings and King of Saints he will shew the glory of his Kingdom and his magnificence the excellency of his greatness in making this feast therefore surely there must needs be fulness of love and joy 3. It is a feast not an ordinary but a Marriage-feast and such used to be more then ordinary also being a time of greatest rejoycing you see the Marriage feast at which Christ was what an abundance of wine there was turned from water by our Saviour if you compute it it will appear some 300. gallons full six water-pots holding three measures a piece or two and each measure an hundred pints very great store indeed 4. It is a feast a Marriage-feast not only for a servant or friend being married but for a Son the only Son a Son and heir of all a beloved Son most dearly beloved all these surely will exceedingly heighten the considerations of the fulness of the feast brethren the fulness of that love which shall there be manifested and of the Believers joy in that love these things are heightned to us in that place of Matthew Indeed the very feast here in the Gospel is heightned by these considerations but much more then this Yea 5. Consider yet further It is a Marriage-feast for which preparation hath been making from eternity God hath been providing for it Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the world in these things he would have us surely to understand the decree and purpose of such a thing And withal we may note the greatness and magnificence of the feast You know men if they would royally entertain a Prince they make provision long before and as long as they can to get all about them the rarities that the earth or Sea affords specially if a King be the provider O Brethren the Lord hath been laying in as I may say this wine preparing it for us from eternity therefore surely it will appear in an unspeakable fulness Lastly It will be more constantly without interruption and lastingly without any end No interruption at all here we have our vicissitudes now we have a sweet cup a draught a full draught a flagon it may be to stay us when we are sick of love by and by we have nothing but our wormwood and our gall to chew upon now we can behold him have a glorious view of him and our hearts ravished with it by and by he is upon the Cross nailed by our sins and we cannot but look upon him with a mourning eye But there Brethren shall be no interruption nothing but eating and drinking this Love of God in Jesus Christ All his thoughts will be love to us and all our thoughts love and joy no room for one sigh for one tear of sorrow for one groan any more and then it is not for a term and then to end but it is for ever at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore For the time when and the place where this shall be It will be at that day in the Kingdom of the Father It will begin at the souls going to the spirits of just men made perfect it goeth to Christ this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise it goeth to the bosom of the Lord Jesus to Abrahams bosom and beginneth this feast But the fulness of it is not until the glorified body shall be united to the glorified soul and then both together shall be filled with this fulness of love and fulness of joy to all eternity For the place It is in heaven where Jesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father There Stephen saw him and there he abideth where he is there the Saints will be some think this is typified probably by the upper Chamber where they did eat the Pass-over and the Supper but no more of that Now the second thing cometh under hand that is to say That they go in with the Bridegroom to this feast Wherein these things will be considerable First How he brings them in unto the feast And then Secondly Why it is so And then somewhat to the Application First then he may be said to bring them in and they to go in with him into the feast because he is the meritorious cause of their entrance into glory As he is the entrance of a Believer into the grace wherein we stand as the Apostle speaks so also into the glory There is no acceptance with the Father no access but in and through Jesus Christ as a poor creature hath no admittance into the presence and table of a King but that the son takes him by the hand and leads him in the Lord Jesus then is the meritorious cause he went to prepare a place for us Secondly he doth now as I may say when a soul is brought to heaven after the manner of men I may say he doth receive it and so present it they go in with Jesus Christ But Thirdly And chiefly at the last day at that day he shall come again with his glorious Angels to gather all the Saints together and so to bring them to his Father to deliver the Kingdom up unto him to present them as a Spouse without spot or wrinkle or any such thing thus he shall appear the second time without sin to them that look for him and so they shall for ever be with the Lord. Fourthly He brings them unto the Marriage they go with him even into those joyes unto that eternal bliss and glory he leads them into and there sitteth down with them at the Marriage-feast eating drinking with him this new wine in the Kingdom of the Father It is not only his bringing of them or their going in with him into the place where these glorious manifestations of God shall be for ever but even into the very depth of those discoveries and there he sitteth down with them For the Arguments Besides that none else could do it for us as you heard First His faithfulness to them requireth it He hath promised he will never leave them until he had fulfilled for them all the good that he hath spoken now this is spoken that he will give them glory as well as grace that he will give them eternal life and raise them up at the last day else he were not a faithful High-Priest nor a faithful Saviour if he should leave them short you know it was his last Will and Testament in that place of Ioh 17. and will he see his own Will and
Table as his Spouse for ever as the poor man in the Parable his wife is compared to an Ewe Lamb which did lie in his bosome and eat and drink with him so shall the Saints surely because of this relation of theirs to the Lord Jesus Ah blessed are ye Believers ye that are ready for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Again Now the Saints are made ready for this glory now we are not able to bear it old Bottels will not hold this new Wine that he will drink with them in his Fathers Kingdom strong Duties were too strong for the Disciples then in their minority as I may say how much more the Duties of heaven everlasting Hallelujahs and admiring of God in Christ therefore they must be changed before they can be fit for that feast a little joy now would swallow us up so as to unfit us for any thing Alas the Apostle like a wise Nursing Father would not give strong meat to babes they could not bear it and so our Saviour when upon the earth they could not bear many things therefore he fed them with milk if you should give strong meats to children and wine what would sooner ruine them therefore saith the Apostle I speak the Wisdom of God in a Mâ—sterie among them that are perfect yet he had some things which he saw in his Vision that he could not or might not utter to them likely they could not bear them You see Israel could not indure to behold Moses face when it had but a beam of the divine glory within the cloud reflected upon him and the glory of the Angel astonished Iohn so eminent a man in saith and love and holiness therefore I say we shall then be fitted for this Communion the old Bottles be made new the capacities of soul inlarged the mouth opened wider then we can conceive and the body raised in power It must be an extraordinary stomack brethren that can continually sit at a Feast and dâ—gest it and never be satiated therefore it is that the Marriage feast the fulness of it is reserved for heaven and heaven is so compared in Scripture For the Uses of the Doctrine First then Behold what maner of love the Father hath loved us with that we should be made the Favorites a people so near to him that he will take any of us with him into the Marriage The Apostle admireth the condition of the Saints for what they have in hand already What manner of love is this that we should be called the Sons of God that is to say made such his Word is operative he cals things that were not as if they were but saith he this is not all it doth not yet appear what we shall be until Christ who is our life appear then shall we appear with him in glory the Saints in heaven though their apprehensions as well as the rest of their capacities shall be inlarged heightened perfected yet shall not be able to comprehend the depth of the river of pleasures at the right hand of God no more then a Vessel that is put into the Sea can comprehend the Ocean and therefore they shall admire it then the Lord Jesus shall come to be admired in all the Saints their fulness will be unspeakable greater then that of the Saints here though sometimes they are filled with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory yet alas in both conditions far short of comprehending it therefore we should admire it Such things as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can enter into the heart of man God hath prepared Do you not see how Haman glorieth in it though he had little cause if he knew all that he among all the Courtiers was invited to the feast of Wine to the Queen he accounted it an high favour a significative testimony of his especial love to him above others Ah brethren you that are Saints indeed let me speak to you all in the words of the Angel to Mary you are highly favoured of God you shall all be admitted to this Marriage Feast be thou as poor in outward condition as may be and as poor in Spirit as may be never so low in thine own thoughts thou shalt enter into this Marriage Feast thou thinkest with the poor Publican Thou art not worthy to come near the place where his honour dwels nor lift up thy eys towards heaven nor be reckoned among his people nor come to his Table here below Well be thou as vile as thou canst in thine own eys thou shalt enter with the Lord Jesus into the Marriage Feast if thou be ready for his coming O admire this Love the Lord help poor weak creatures unbelief in this point that they may admire it what will he admit such a one as I such a vile creature such a grieving creature to his holy Spirit yea such as he hath once pitched his heart upon to love them they shall enter with him into this feast Saith Mephihosheth What is thy servant thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I c. 2. If this be so that the state of Glory or Kingdom of glory into which the Saints enter with Christ is such a Marriage-feast it shall be an invitation then to poor sinners to this Feast this Marriage Wisdom hath builded her house hewn out seven Pillars killed her beast mingled her wine made it ready a cup of mixture that is to say a cup made ready and now sends forth her Maidens to cry turn in ye simple ones c. O that the uncircumsicion of our hearts that are the Messngers may not hinder but the Lord Jesus by us brethren doth invite you sinners to this feast he would fain have his Table full of guests how welcome would he make man woman and child if they would but come he would cast out none that cometh to him no no in any wise whatsoever as I have told you sometime from the Text. But for the better understanding of this Exhortation I will note two things and then a little further press it upon us First then That we do not invite you to this Feast this Marriage in heaven to enter in with Christ continuing such as you are in your blood and uncleanness but we do first invite you to come to Jesus Christ here on earth that so you may enter in with him into the Marriage your union with Christ and your communion with him must begin upon earth though it end in heaven and this communion here is two-fold though both spiritual it is internal and external internal a fellowship with the Father in the Son a fellowship with Christ in his death the power of it that we may dye to sin and be free from the condemnation God will not have this Marriage-Feast for his Son in heaven filled with Goal Birds condemned creatures such as have their bolts and fetters upon them the nastiness of the prison upon them
the evil savour of their sins upon them such as have their prison cloaths their rags by the exactest righteousness that ever creature performed upon them no no you must first come to Jesus Christ have these bolts knockt off He it is that looseth the prisoners you must first have your â—ilthy garments taken away from you and be robed with the royal apparrel such as is put upon them whom the King of Heaven delights to honour with so near an aporoach to himself for ever you must have the savour of his Oyntments anointing â—our head his Spirit poured out upon you first brethren as they used to annoint their heads with sweet oyl at their seasts before you can come to that feast sinners do not think you shall croud into heaven in the condition you are in but be perswaded in the Name of Jesus Christ first to come to him to get your hands and hearts and all washed in innocency it self in the blood of the spotless Lamb else believe it there will be no entrance for you 2. There is an external communion also which men that have no more but a profession may have eating the spiritual bread and drinking the Sacramental feast brethren which the Saints ought to come to have communion with the Lord Jesus and his people will until he come again it is not an indifferent thing Do this in remembrance of me and as often as you do it ye keep in remembrance the Lord his death until he come Now brethren we do immediatly invite you to come to Jesus Christ to close with him that you may be washed and cleansed through faith in his blood and have your hearts purified by faith in him and then to this Sacramental Communion with Jesus Christ which is a sign and pledge of this Marriage-feast in heaven as plainly our Saviour tels his Disciples I wâ—ll henceâ—oâ—th drink no more of this fruit of the Vine until I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom Well this is but the first Secondly brethren that by your now coming in to Jesus Christ you do as I may say take up your room in your places before hand at his Table in his heavenly Kingdom In which respect the Saints now are said to sit together in heavenly places and hereby you will come to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus in his Resurrection and Ascention and his Work in heaven which is to prepare a place for his people and as I may say to keep it for them and as one sweetly expresseth it wriâ—ing as I may say every ones name over his Mansion over his Place even with his own blood that none shall take it from them over their heads If Jesus Christ prepared not a place for you in heaven now brethren you will find no room at his Table Therefore now brethren Let me press this Exhortation upon you that you would come to him now even now while it â—s called to day it is his voyce brethren that speaks to you O that your ears were bored to hear the fatted Calf is killed the Lord Jesus is Crucified for sinners the Wine is mingled all is ready there wants nothing now but your coming to Dine and Sup with Jesus Christ yea indeed but your opening to him he knocks he will come to you to feast with you bring his royal dainties with him and his wine of the Kingdom his Royal Wine with him O his love which is better then wine if you will but open to him O do not nectere moras now can the Lord Jesus brethren find in his heart to have his blood poured out to become royal Wine indeed full of spirits sweet and cordial to a poor fainting soul to give his own flesh to eat which is bread indeed it is virtually all dainties therefore the Scripture setteth it forth by Wine and Milk and Honey and Bread and Marrow and Fatness the fat of the Kidniâ—s of the Wheat by Apples and Flagons Is he willing brethren to be the Feast to be fed upon and shall we not come O therefore come where the Carkass is follow not your Carrion any more the stirâ—king loathsome delights and pleasures of sin for a season Be ye no more drunk with wine but be ye filled with the Spirit of Christ saith the Apostle be Inebriated as some read it abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his House and with the flowings of his heart towards you poor sinners But me thinketh now I hear the returns that sinners make to Jesus Christ to this invitation say some I have a feast already Stoln waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant and shall we forsake these delights we have in the world for we know not what Ah poor souls you know not what you say if this be the language of your hearts If you mouths were not much out of taste you would never judge sin a sweet thing a poor child of God that hath his taste healed though but in part he drinketh nothing in the world so bitter to him as sin that which goeth down so merrâ—ly with many Were not the Israelites mouths much out of taste when they preferred their Onions and Garlick stinking things of Egypt before their sweet their heavenly Manna their Angels bread fit for them to eat or which came by their Ministry 2. Remember this brethren though it be sweet to the taste it turns to bitterest gall as the Wise man speaks of wine that moveth it self aright it sparkles is lovely sweet to the taste at last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adâ—er Behold such are all the delights of sin and whether you believe it or no now you shall be sure to feel it after a little season for your pleasures are but for a season So that you know not what you say if any thus excuse himself for coming Again Shall you change for you know not what Indeed you do not know for eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive before he hath had experience of it himself O that I might but perswade you brethren to make a tryal and if you do not find one days communion of Jesus Christ be not worth a thousand with your companions in sin then believe not this Gospel any more there is much sweetness indeed in the breasts of the world to a wordly Pallate O what drink golden drink do poor Earth-worms drink and this is their Nectar Believe it brethren if the Lord do but bring you and set your mouths to the wounds of Jesus Christ set your mouths to the sweet promises of pardoning grace and purging mercy to draw from them strong consolation you will find the other but Gall and Wormwood to you O let them perish saith Galeac and his money with him that preferreth all the world before an hours communion with Jesus Christ I pray you therefore do not
excuse your selves with them in the Gospel I have bought this and that and I cannot come I have so many Custodiums I cannot mind these things I have so much to do in the world and it is to be minded A poor ditch-water that is preferred before this Wine of the Kingdom will dross and dung meat and husks which is Swines meat nourish your souls to eternal life make as much account brethren of these things as you will to slight now the matters of eternity time will come when you would give all the fruit of your labours if it were a thousand times more for one sight of Jesus Christ one taste of his love one hours communion withhim before you go hence and be no more Alas But some will say I am a poor sinner the vilest filthy creature lame and blind and have all my life time been feeding with Swine upon husks and swill and trash these delights of sin and pleasures of the world O my days are consumed in sin and doth he invite such as I and may I come Yea brethren you find the poor lame and blind from the hedges and high-ways side were invited to his feast if you come but to Jesus Christ he will open the eys of the blind he hath eyeâ—alve for you and he will be legs to the lame and cloathing to the naked if you do but come to him put on Christ It is not any other infirmities which will abide upon the best of Gods people in part that can exclude us or cast us out but only the want of the wedding Garment if a man be never so well furnished otherwise as he thinketh O therefore come Brethren the Feast is made for such as you you are invited to it the simple the man void of understanding that is to say the sinner for sin is folly in Scripture-phrase you are invited to turn in this day to the Feast the Marriage-feast which is begun here upon earth but will end in heaven therefore be not discouraged Ah but you will say I have no such appetite to the Feast to hunger and thirst and is there any invited to come to it but such as have an appetite what shall they do there I answer no marvel thou hast no great appetite until thou hast more communion with him if thou hast had any And no marvel if thou hast no appetite if thov hast never been with Jesus for thou hast so long lived upon trash that it takes away the stomack to the sweetest and wholsomest food in the world But withal remember this who ever will is invited to come brethren and take freely It may be thou dost not find poor sinner such a strong desire such a breaking of soul for longing but hast thou a Will wouldst thou have Christ wouldst thou have his body this meat indeed this blood this drink indeed this wine of the Kingdom and begin this Feast this Marriage-feast upon earth why dost thou not take him then come and take it freely O that this might be the day of his power to many of your poor souls that you might become a willing people that you might have a heart to close with him to take him upon his own terms that you might begin your heaven upon earth your communion with Jesus Christ I will but add one word more and that is this It is no indifferent thing whether you close with this invitation or no there is a necessity lies upon you to come to the Marriage-feast except you resolve upon it to perish for ever God he was wroth and sent forth his armies to destroy c. Ah what gnashing of teeth will there be to poor sinners in hell when they shall see their neighbours who heard this Gospel with them sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob at the table of Christ in his kingdom and themselves cast out Ah brethren I beg for you a believing heart you must either feast with Christ or starve for ever with Satan and his Angels and then not a drop will be had to cool your tongues now flagons are tendered you now wine and milk without money and price now rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand and fulness of joy is promised you is held out to you cometh a begging to you Ah then then brethren shall you beg for a drop and shall not have it rivers of burning brimstone will be your bathing when the Saints are swallowed up of those rivers of pleasures at his right hand then will you be chewing upon your gall and wormwood then will you be breaking your teeth upon your gravel when the Saints are drinking this new wine in the kingdom of their Father with Jesus Christ Ah think of it brethren think of it you have now your good things many of your eyes stand out with fatness you spend a world upon your lusts live like Epicures wantonizing in the abundance of your enjoyments how woful will that sentence be Son remember thou in thy life time hadst thy good things and now thou art tormented hadst thy wine and drinking unto drunkenness now the stings of it abide upon thee the Saints have their worst first and the best kept until the last but you have your consolation in this world and the wine of astonishment will be your portion for ever if you will not be perswaded Therefore take your choice brethren I set life and death before you and consider of it How will you escape if you neglect this great salvation you may now be received to the Feast the door stands open it will not alway be so it will be shut against you O how will you answer it another day before the Lord Jesus if you now trample under foot his blood and precious offers of his Grace though by the hand and mouth of a poor worm like your selves Thirdly Then Brethren let as many as have received power to believe in the Lord Jesus and so are admitted to the beginning of this Marriage-supper upon earth to inward fellowship with Jesus Christ in the Graces of his Spirit and merits of his death and resurrection labour brethren to prepare your selves for this Feast in heaven by feeding heartily upon these dainties upon earth the more men eat and drink the more their stomacks are extended usually and the more they will receive surely it is so in spirituals the more a soul feeds upon Christ and the more abundantly he drinketh the more he may it enlargeth the desires Hitherto saith our Saviour you have asked nothing little or nothing Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full the more abundantly the soul is satisfied with the goodness of the house of God the more will the mouth be opened to receive now as our capacities do enlarge so much the more fitter are we for this Marriage-feast O therefore let us not come to the table of the Lord brethren this sign and
in this we may understand two things 1. That they do work iniquity some sin they live in if not many notwithstanding their profession of Christ and therefore they are workers of iniquity 2. That the very form of godliness and all their shew is but a working of iniquity First then they are workers of some iniquity or other and that either in an outward gross manner as gross hypocrites or else more closely and inwardly as close hypocrites and yet they are workers of iniquity and the Lord Jesus will not know them nor own them First then for gross hypocrites such as have their hands full of blood full of bribes their houses are builded by wrong and their chambers by unrighteousnesâ— and yet they bless themselves in being a people to God surely the Lord will not away with this such are the gross hypocrites among us that will all the week long make a trade of lying in their shops in their callings of sweaâ—ing forswearing of drunkenness and adultery and come and wipe their mouths with the Harlot and say hey have done no wickedness they are pure in their own eys yet not washed c. come upon these days and sit before the Lord as his people as if they were delivered to do all these abominations the drunkard will not believe nor the swearer but they are as good Christians as any though all have their infirmities and theirs are no more well th 〈…〉 e are lying words you trust unto they will deceive you for saith the Lord I will not hear when you make many prayers your hands are full of blood God doth not regard the services of such a people he examineth mens hands to see if they be hard with labouring in their iniquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if so it is not your words that are smoâ—ther then oyl that shall serve your turn Quid verba cum sacta videam to cry Lord Lord and yet go and serve and drudge for the Devil as if he were their good Lord will not the Lord search this out O surely he will not know such a person as this 2. It may be it is more secret there is not an hypocrite but he regardeth iniquity in his heart and in heart he works wickedness if not with his hands it may be he may wash his hands with Pilat but not his heart O how do mens mouths water after the pleasures of sin the stoln waters and bread eaten in secret if they durst do it for fear of being discovered and ashamed before men or for a galled conscience a secret lust a secret wound which bleedeth inwardly is not so visible is as deadly as any other now I say be it never so secret let Judas cover his Treasury never so close and Ananias and Saphira their double dealing their covetousness it is to no purpose burning lips and a wicked heart are like a Potsherd covered over with silver dross it maketh a glorious shew burning of lips with love much love shewed with it but the heart is wicked and therefore base as a Potsherd a vessel of dishonour fitted to distruction and shall never enter into glory but be dasht in pieces But Secondly the very form of godliness though in it self materially it be good yet as they use the matter to make it a cloak for their sin a fair skin over a belly full of Garbidge and filthiness it is iniquity it is iniquity saith the Lord even your solâ—mn meetings Incense is an abomination to me I am weary to bear them What was the matter why they did but flatterwith their mouths their hearts were not with him therefore the Lord hated it this is working iniquity working out a form of godliness with much pains and sticking there the prayer of the wicked is sin it is an abomination it will amount to no more then to filthy garments filthy rags and in these brethren the Lord will not know us O no workers of iniquity shall not dwel with him Dine and Sup with him in heaven the feast of new Wine he will not open to them and what greater iniquity then hypocrisie Simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas an hypocrite when he thinketh he is at the best is at the worst then his hypocrisie is at the height and God will not admit any he knoweth them not Thirdly Not our part of the Conclusion that at that day it shall be declared openly to hypocrites that the Lord Jesus knoweth them not that is to say that he owneth them not notwithstanding all their seeming delight in his ways and their following of him in a profession yet this is the doom they are like to receive He knoweth them not this is also plain from this Text and also from that in Mat. 7. At that day that is to say the day of general Judgement or the day of death which is every particular souls Dooms day they shall say Lord Lord c. and then will I say to them Depart from me I know you not I never knew you First then Why is this so that at that day many Professors shall have this doom I know you not I never knew you it shall be thus declared from the mouth of the Lord Jesus himself it may be taken from the Office of Jesus Christ to be Judge God hath appointed to judge the world at that day by one even by Jesus Christ and therefore he shal pronounce the Sentence either with his own mouth or the ministration of Angels but rather me thinks with his own mouth this word shal go forth which shal be as a flaming two edged Sword to enter into the bones bowels of sinners and divide them in sunder for ever here sinners are shut up under sin they have chains of darkness upon their hearts already and hypocrites are lyable to this condemnation and are held with the cords of their sins and then shall be the time of the doom therefore then it shall be declared a Prisoner feareth what the sentence may be before he cometh to the triall and so hypocrites sometimes may have some foretaste some fearfulness may surprise them but they skin it over again but now it shall be declared by the Judge himself he knoweth them not and therefore they must depart from him Secondly For a confirmation of the words of his servants and an everlasting rebuke of their unbelief of his Word by them for this hath been the message of Christ to formalists in the mouths of all his Messengers your form of godliness will not carry you through all conditions it will fail you sooner or latter your fig leaves will not shadow you from the everlasting burnings the hope of the hypocrite shall perish and give up the Ghost God loatheth no sort of sinners more though they take themselves to be highly favoured yet they are deeply abhorred of God yet alas there is scarce an hypocrite but hath his shifts to put by an hundred
think it is for carnal end for your corn and wine and oyl that you howl upon your beds you little think when you pray and seek after God it is for ends meerly that you might spend these things upon your lusts that you may appear to be some body be esteemed among men be of esteem among the Saints Well Brethren carry it as covertly as you can so that your own souls are juggled into a delusion it may be yet be not deceived God is not mocked men are apt to be deceived and think that their secrets of sinning their bread eaten in secret their morsels under the tongue shall never be discovered but the Lord seeth all this he knoweth you throughly he searcheth the hearts and tryeth the reins of the sons of men Secondly because he knoweth you therefore he doth not know you he approveth not of you it may be men do approve of you your praise may be among the Churches among the Saints but yet your praise may not be of God he loveth you not savours you not with that favour that he bears to his people indeed some love Jesus Christ had to the young man in the Gospel that was but near to the Kingdom of God he doth not disallow of a form and profession it hath its use the leaves of the trees of righteousness they may be for healing to others an holy profession and walking to the appearance of others may win others to Christ and yet a man may perish when all is done and a profession may serve as a Motive to quicken up themselves to look to the power if the power of godliness be not good and necessary why do men take up a form and if it be good why rest they in a form and neglect it but if there be no more he will not know such a man he doth not know him Thirdly What ever you dream of now he will pronounce that sentence upon you at that day O that dreadful sentence that he knoweth you not he never knew you Ah dear friends if the Lord would but single out any one of us and tell us we are the men what agonies would it put us into Ah Brethren this will make sinners ears tingle to hear this word from the Lord Jesus O let fearfulness surprize the hypocrites yea I tell you this will make your hearts to bleed and your heart-strings crack within you this will pierce you through with the sorrows of hell Ah dear friends if the voice of his Messengers discoursing of righteousness temperance and Judgement to come be so great as to make a Foelix a great man a stout hearted sinner tremble that was not converted O what will it be when the sentence is pronounced against them from the Lord himself for while you hear Preachers though it be terrible when the conscience is opened yet there is a Cordial at hand but when once pronounced by the Lord Jesus there is no more remedy if one word from the Lord Jesus when the Souldiers came upon him and he asked them whom they sought I am he saith he this struck them to the ground souldiers in such Garrisons in Countries kept by the sword they were won by use to to be men of stoutest spirits that would dare sometimes the very Devil himself and yet one word from Jesus Christ's mouth struck them to the ground O Brethren surely this word of sentence will speak men not to the ground but to the lowermost pit It will speak them dumb forthwith that they have nothing to say for themselves It will speak them into confusion and amazement it will speak them into the flames of hell in a moment O this roaring of the Lyon of the tribe of Judah who may abide If the Law was so terrible in the giving what will it be in the execution You read how the Mountains shook Moses himself trembled but the sentence of the Law is nothing to the sentence of the Gospel as this condemnation of hypocrites will be it is to men that have in appearance owned Christ followed him done much in his name and yet he will profess he never knew them they pretended acquaintance with him now but he will never own them You then Brethren that have only a semblance of holiness you seem to have somewhat and have nothing then shall be taken from you that which you seemed to have then your vizard will be pluckt off you pretend to be friends of Christ and of his people to be his Father Brethren and Mother but now will he profess he knoweth you not you that preach in the name of Jesus Christ and do not preach for his name for his glory but for your own he will not own you he will say to you he knoweth you not you rest in this your form this you are ready to plead and not stay your selves upon him he will not know you O but we do lean upon the Lord so you say but mark that of the Prophet you lean upon the Lord and say the Lord is among us and yet they build up Sion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity the heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests teach for hire that is to say their tongues may be hired to say any thing pass any judgement right or wrong and yet lean upon the Lord say you lean upon the Lord and yet will be drunk swear lye cheat over-reach be filthy and unclean allow your â—elves in c 〈…〉 mplative wickedness be sure the Lord will not know such You that regard any iniquity never so little never so secret in your hearts believe it the Lord will not own you he will not know you he will not here own you much less will he when it cometh â—o the judgement It may be thou mayest soar a higher pitch in respect of parts and gifts and confidence and pretend to live higher then other men as many men of higher dispensations they say now do but yet as the Eagle when at the highest pitch hath a learing eye after her prey below so have they such a learing eye a lingering heart after their iniquity and their mouths water at it but for shame O surely Jesus Christ will never own such fear and tremble at this word as many as it concerneth O how will such souls be filled with amazement when they made no other reckoning but to come to heaven if any men in the Countrey should be saved a man would have thought they should have been the men they have done much suffered much wrought wonders c. and yet when all comes to all the heart was never right with God and therefore the heart-searching Judge will never own them never care for them become of them what will he will never know their souls Secondly then it may be for a searching word to poor creatures O be not deceived God is not mocked he knoweth a Balaam to be a Balaam
Prophet But on Zion shall the Glory of the Lord arise Look into what families brethren you put your selves no man would content himself to live in a dungeon continually that family is worse where Jesus Christ hath never come Fourthly Then take notice how sweet a condition it must needs be to have an union and fellowship with Jesus Christ especially where that fellowship is constant truly light is sweet And it is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun saith Solomon but alas that is nothing to a sight of Christ poor sinners in a dark condition when they become sensible of it will tell you what its worth to have a glimpse of Christ of the light of his countenance poor creatures that for half an year together are without the Sun will tell you how sweet a condition it is to have the Sun shining on them Mary Magdalen will tell you when she wanted her Saviour her Lord with many tears what a want it is and what a joy to have his presence O what light is there in that soul what joy what peace what comfort what warmth what melting over the Lord Jesus it is a little heaven on earth indeed this enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Fifthly We may hence learn then brethren whence cometh all our light and all our warmth and all our fruitful influences whereby we spring forth and bring forth abundantly it is from the Lord Jesus Thy heart was as very a dungeon as any full of darkness and bugs frogs and serpents and how came it to be lightned but that the Sun of God was pleased to shine on thee yea into thy heart more then another and freely with his presence to scatter those lusts thy soul was full of before Art thou enabled so much as to bud to think a good thought its from hence because that the Sun of righteousness hath arisen on thee thou hast received some influence from him doth it come to a blossom a good word holy communication its from the same principle doth the fruit knit and grow up into a ripeness increase into an holy action an holy walking with God whence is it but from the Sun of righteousness doth the Marigold open its according to the heat of the Sun do our hearts open are our hearts enlarged hence it is Brethren forget not the fountain we are apt to think the sparks are of our own kindling c. Sixthly Then Brethren we should hence learn to whom to your all give the Praise the Glory of all Let the Moon and Stars then fall down before this Sun as it was in Josephs dream they shine but with a borrowed light and the borrower is servant to the lender How do the Birds each morning chant and chirp when their little spirits are revived by the Sun rising on them and shall our mouths be sealed up when the Sun of righteousness hath visited our hearts quickned them enlightned them The Stars you know appear not when the Sun ariseth in his Glory O dear friends so should we when the Name of Christ cometh in competition with our names not appear be content to be nothing to decrease so he may increase Let him have the Glory of all Seventhly Then Brethren learn to prize the Lord Jesus set a true esteem on him should we want the Sun for one moneth what a value should we set on it it is true worth indeed brethren to value things by their enjoyment rather then by their 〈…〉 an t now thou hast the Sun-shine it may be many a sweet refreshing warming from the Lord Jesus O prize it every one is looking at and admiring a Comet but who considereth the Sun who admireth that prizeth that how much ado hath the Lord Jesus with us to bring us to this he is fain to put us in a dungeon to make us bear the iniquities of our youth to hide his face to make us walk in darkness before we will prize it what a grief is this to him is it not a trouble to our selves and what a folly is it Brethren to grieve the Lord Jesus and grieve our own souls when we might save all this O labour then to do it beg such a heart of Jesus Christ Eighthly Then Brethren shut not the windows against the shinings of this Sun of righteousness sometimes the Lord Jesus getteth within a sinner for all his fence and guard light cometh in at some chink beginneth to discover the condition in which he is sheweth him the filthy vermine that are ready to run away with his soul that the heart swarms withal that he saw not before and yet alas he maketh a shift to clap to the window to smother the light with both hands puts it away he desires not the presence of it this is a sad condition when men are ignorant and will be ignorant when the Lord Jesus would have healed them and they would not be healed O how canst thou tell whether ever thou shalt be healed till thou die O take heed Brethren of this it is the way to bring the blackness of darkness on you to provoke God to clap the everlasting chains of darkness on you wherein you may be reserved to the last day Oh it is a sad saying that Let him that is ignorant be ignorant still the time may come when the hour of darkness shall fall on your souls at the day of death that you would give a world then but for a glimpse of that light you now shut out and fence your selves against when your works of darkness and secret pleasures of sin for whose sake you have done it do fly in your face buffet you ready to tear your throat out hale you before the judgement-seat of Christ O then for a sight of Christ but he is far from you no he would have enlightned you but you would not Therefore now the things which belong to your peace are hid from your eyes He might pitty Jerusalem and weep over her but alas her condition was past cure I would the condition of many a poor soul here were not such yea Brethren the people of God themselves take heed of sh 〈…〉 ing out the light of this Sun of righteousness for what will become of the light in the room when its fullest of light if the windows be clapt too will it not be cut off will it not become a dungeon we complain many times of a dark and sad and dead condition the truth is Brethren we have shut him out we have thought Oh now we are full now we have knowledge and heat enough we have been so warmed with the influence of Christ on us now it matters not for altogether so strict a walking now we have gotten the light of his countenance this is a secret frowardness of our hearts and then he is provoked to withdraw and alas we are in darkness again Therefore take we heed Brethren how we hide the face of God in
Christ from our selves by such wantonness under the beams of Grace Ninthly Then Brethren learn we not to rest in the common influences of this Sun the Lord Jesus he shineth on the good and bad Brethren but he shineth only on the heads of some but into the hearts of others as the Apostle saith the passages between the head and the heart are opened and the light seizeth on the will and affections as well as the understanding the Sun may shine on thee thou mayst have much knowledge and an head full of notion and yet be but a weed for it shines on the weeds as well as on the flowers on the dunghill as well as on the garden the dunghil never savours so bad as when the Sun beateth most on it O what steams are there then enough to poyson a man Ah Brethren the shining of Jesus Christ on some poor sinners what doth it but raise steams of lust within men are more vile more wicked their guilt greater their condemnation surer their sins more loathsom to God then any others therefore stay not here Brethren except we find that the light we receive from Jesus Christ do scatter our lusts for they will not endure the light that is saving indeed except thou find that it change thee indeed and transform thy heart into his image from Glory to Glory if thou find thou art rather changed from dishonour to dishonour from one vile affection to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle cals them all the light thou hast received is nothing Tenthly They are not friends to Christ then Brethren that would make more Suns then one what is not the Lord of Glory a glo 〈…〉 s Sun enough is there not a fulness of light in him sufficient for us all a fulness of heat and influence in him for us all but we must be flattering our selves and others into a rivalship with Christ how gross are the Papists in this point making the Saints their mediatour of satisfaction and intercession both I do them no wrong they are the words of their Missall praying for pardon by the merits of their Saints and praying to them to intercede for them yea and to the Virgin to command her son O horrid but in them it s not so much because either they are in Egyptian darkness and denied the means of light or given up to strong delusions to believe a lye but for us that have the light of the knowledge of Christ in such a rich manner among us and yet have a Pope in our bellies the indignity is much greater to Jesus Christ how prone are we to set up our own works as our Saviour who can say his heart is clean and throughly purged from this evil O that we were but ashamed of it and were able to say that we do it not in our hearts for then it s not so deeply chargable on us as I doubt it s on many of us Therefore take heed of this Brethren of setting up any spark of our own kindling or of his kindling in us in defiance to the Lord Jesus in opposition against him or partnership with him in our salvation in our comfort or peace or joy of faith if we do and give him not the whole we do much dishonour him and shall find that we much wrong our own souls No readier way Brethren to bring an eclipse then when the Moon wil be interposing between the Sun the Earth Eleventhly What enemies are they then to Jesus Christ and to Mankind that would pluck the Sun out of the Firmament would we not account him a desperate enemy that would endeavour it and are they any better are they not much worse who would pluck away our Christ from us whether they be sins or lusts within which do indeed rather cloud or eclipse at most But there are some who would even pluck him out of his throne that the Father hath set for him in Heaven in his Church such as deny the Lord that bought them such as will not yield him to be the most high God equal to the Father though Christ counted it no robbery they count it a robbery for him be equal with him Can a creature-Christ be a sufficient Christ to give light and life and healing to poor sinners will this ever satisfie any tender conscience quiet any trouble 〈…〉 ul let it go then for a damnable heresie and let us abhor it and beware of it for nothing is so gross but in these times Sathan finds some vent for it and bewail it Brethren that ever any poor creatures that expect salvation by Jesus Christ should attempt such an high indignity against him what is it but to kiss him with Judas and yet to betray him with Joab to kiss the Son and yet to stab him he that would bring the Sun down to the light and condition of the Moon were a wretched man but this is nothing to the case in hand Twelfthly Then admire Brethren the tender mercy of the Lord that would give us such a Sun the Lord Jesus the Sun of righteousness if he had left the world in a Chaos at first and never commanded the light to shine out of darkness never set any Sun in the Firmament who could have charged any thing on him But he knew what a miserable world it would it be without the Sun and how little of the beauty and excellence and perfection of his works and wisdom would appear if there were no Sun But here Brethren shining forth more of his â—enderness and bowels unto poor Sinners in a dark and dead condition through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day-spring from an high hath visited us here are the soundings of his bowels toward us indeed when we were forlorn and helpless in our selves to cause this day-spring from on high to visit us And truly for us in this Land how long have we had the Sun of righteousness risen on us and that yet it is not set that he is not altogether eclipsed by the world of iniquity that he hath stood still as it were and not hastened to a setting this is unspeakable mercy admire it bless the Lord be filled with his praises Thirteenthly Brethren Then let us be exhorted to set our selves in the warm Sun I mean to wait diligently on the Lord Jesus in his Ordinances for these are the Orb in which he moveth in his Church the Heavens and doth as it were wheel about the Church in them as the Sun in the Orb to communicate his light and heat and influences and therefore its observable that David saith I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of God then dwell in the tents of wickedness why saith he The Lord is a Sun and a Shield Glory and a Defence round about them therefore he would be a door-keeper in the house of God because there and then and to them he
in Winter the earth seemeth to be languishing and all things withered and dead when the Sun returneth how doth it heal it To it s here Beloved it is the Word and Spirit that opens the earth moistens the earth sweetly refresheth it calls forth the fruits thereof The fruits of the Spirit they are called as the fruits of the earth are called the precious fruits put forth by the Sun and by the Moon which shines by a derived influence from the Sun how precious are the fruits of the Spirit Brethren love meekness joy in the Holy-Ghost humility self-denyal these are the precious fruits put forth by the Sun the Lord Jesus by his Word and Spirit beating upon our barren hearts indeed he maketh the barren Wilderness to become a garden of God Again he healeth he reviveth the spirits which languish and are ready to go out as the poor Birds that in the Winter are hard put to it and some lye you hardly know where as if they were dead or dying when the Sun returneth how doth it refresh and revive their little spirits that were left before The night brings a heaviness and burthen along with it to the body but the morning when the Sun ariseth how doth it enliven and lighten Oh! so it s in this case many a poor soul can say by experience that when darkness hath been long on them they have no light no comfort no refreshing no breathing of the Spirit to their apprehensions in his Ordinances on their hearts O how have hands hanged down and their knees feeble and knock one against another for feebleness and that which was within them was ready to dye But now no sooner hath the Lord Jesus the Sun of righteousness looked on them but they have had their ankle-bones strengthened the joy of the Lord is their strength as Neh. 8. but I intend not here much to expatiate only these two or three things First then the first thing in this healing which is brought under the wings of the Sun of righteousness is pardon for our sins who forgiveth all-thy iniquities and healeth all-thy diseases these are exegetical one of another or may so be looked on Sin Brethren cuts off a creature from God and so maketh a wound which now is healed and made up when they are pardoned Make the heart of this people fat and let their ears be heavy their eyes closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes or hear with their ears or understand with their hearts lest they should be converted and I should heal them which Mark reads thus lest they should be converted and their sins be forgiven them So then forgiveness and healing are all one and its one thing surely included in that of the Prophet Hosea I will heal their back-slidings I will love them freely the justification freely by his grace as the Apostle calls it Poor sinner thou that ever knewest what sin was what a wound it was to thy soul knewest that thy pardon is a healing to thee So then this arising with healing in his wings is by his Spirit in his Word he conveyeth the blood of Jesus Christ the merit thereof maketh it over to the poor soul that believeth to the doing away of all the guilt So as a Sun of righteousness properly he healeth and this is the first Secondly He taketh away also the anguish and trouble that did arise from sin to the soul as when a wound is healed you know the anguish and smart is taken away though while it is healing it may be when searched and tented there will be smart and sore yet afterward it s taken away by degrees I know some of you have felt and haply some at present may feel the grief of your wounds O! how they will throb and beat and burn and smart sometimes broken bones are nothing to a broken heart nor the broken flesh any thing to a broken bone the Lord heals the broken in heart he bindeth up their wounds I have seen his waies and will heal him saith the Lord he speaks to the condition of a poor disconsolate soul under the wrath of God He was wrath and smote him yea he hid him and was wrath O how this troubles a poor soul he cannot but have his heart full of darkness and terrour and trouble that hath the face of God hidden from him well saith the Lord though he did walk frowardly before me gave me not my ends in smiting him yet I will heal him and wherein doth this healing consist Alas in restoring joy and comfort to him the poor soul now was over-whelmed with sorrow his heart now was ready to sink and fail within him and lest it should so do he will heal him and how is this but by his Word and Spirit therein which is the comforting Spitit he will create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him Here is a healing indeed the healing of broken hearts and broken bones it s the work that the Father sent the Lord Jesus for into the world in an especial manner that he annointed him for poured out the Spirit upon him annointed him with the oyl of gladness above his fellows that he might speak in due season that he might bind up the broken spirits Now the Lord Jesus Brethren our dear Saviour he delighteth to do this will and work of his Father O! he loveth to be doing with broken hearts And O that we had some work for the Lord Jesus this day he is among us now to see if there be any heart in this condition that he may heal us it s his delight to do it Well this is a second he hath his cordials as well as his purgatives his lenitives as well as his corrosives Thirdly he cometh with healing under his wings as to take away the anguish so also to purge away the filth of it to heal the running putrifying sore that it may not run and defile and pollute all that a man taketh in hand How much more saith the Apostle shall the blood of Christ purge our consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God With corrosives he eats down the proud flesh and the dead flesh he dryeth up the bloody issues then the person was healed when she touched Christ but the hem of his garment This is that which troubles many a heart more then the guilt of their sins and indeed the returning and recoyling of sin on them again and again occasioneth the questioning of their peace and comfort that they have had O how one cryeth out of this sin and another of that sin and walks heavily and sadly Well the Lord Jesus he will arise with healing under his wings for all these distempers Fourthly and lastly another healing is the taking away his anger manifested in outward calamities or diseases in a people or person I will heal their back-slidings and love them freely for mine anger is
it When we were without strength Christ died for the ungodly and while we were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us they are convertible terms a sick man a lame man a wounded man we cannot expect they should walk or work or run in a race it utterly unbefits us for any thing that is good this is a sad evil that is in sin as a disease or wound Thirdly There is filthiness and deformity in sin also O what a sight it were to see a poor creature full of running sores from head to foot all running and rotting what filthiness is here and and deformity So when a poor soul hath a lust a sore running and never ceasing how sad a condition is this Brethren how strangely will a fit of sickness change a person that the rarest piece of beauty in the world quickly becometh a gastly sight every part contracting its deformity from the sickness all withered and shrivelled joynts loosed the eye dead and dull the face thin the knees feeble the hand trembling and what not Brethren if the Lord open our eyes to behold in the glass of the word the deformities of sin and filthiness as we may see the lothsomness and ugliness of a disease we should for ever be haters of it but I will say no more to this head That sin is a disease a wound Vse 2. May be then to put us on to be more serious in viewing our selves in the glass of the Word the Law of God that we may see what creatures we are and loth our selves our wounds are so many that we are all one wound and all one disease there is no sound part in us how pale and lean do our souls sometimes look with envy at others how are we swelled with pride how great and unweildy are our bellies with this O how do some of our bellies cleave to the very dust we are bowed down as the woman in the Gospel O how lamely do we walk in the ways of God halting between two have a double object and one foot in the wayes of God and another in the way of sin alas how many wounds have many of us that we never searched to this day if we did but know them it would pluck down our feathers the proudest of us and for some of us we have great need of this admonition because alas until we see our selves wounded see our deformities we shall never care for healing for having his comeliness put upon us no nor can the people of God put a rate upon the mercy nor the rich exceeding rich Grace of God in Christ whereby they are healed except they have before their eyes the many wounds and running sores they are healed of When Paul saw that he was the chief of the Sinners then he advanceth the free Grace of God that it had abounded yea superabounded which a soul cannot admire the Lord for except he see and behold how sin hath abounded O then let us be all perswaded to this duty to eye our selves more often more seriously in the glass of the Law of liberty the Law of Christ and therein see how often how grievously we offend him see what deformities are upon us that it may be admired how the Lord can love such as we are and Sinners that are yet in sin that they may be willing to accept of pardon and deliverance in and through Christ for truly we are not any of us willing until we be reduced to extremity then the Marriner or Merchant will cast out his goods when there is necessity for it but not before Therefore let all of us be perswaded to this duty in the second place Thirdly Let us be instructed in this truth that healing is not in us I am the Lord that healeth thee saith God to Israel and therefore the Lord promiseth the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings which were needless if healing were in our selves some creatures if wounded healing is in themselves as some fish are said if wounded to heal themselves with their own slime a Dog licks himself with his tongue Brethren sins are not such wounds as will heal themselves of their own accord neither as if a man have a slight cut it may be he heedeth it not it heals of it self believe it the least sin the least wound thou makest in thy conscience in thy soul it will not heal it self nor will a lust heal it self and wear away of its own accord as some diseases will though no physick be administred It is a deadly disease it seizeth upon the vitals and then you know it is a matter of great difficulty and skill to cure it no nor can a man cure himself if he could to what end did the Lord Jesus undergo all why he was smitten for our transgressâ—â—ns if we could have been healed by any strength of our own no we were without strength when Christ dyed for us as the Apostle bath it and as to other things so to this great work did the Lord do any thing in vain much less then would he do the greatest thing that ever be wrought in vain alas who can pardon sins but he who can bind up the broken in spirit but he who was sent into the world for this very end who can pour wine and oyl into the wounds but the good Samaritan who can give rest for the anguish of the wounds but he we cannot heal our selves if the very marrow of our bones were distilled into continual tears and all our moysture it would not make a balm to cure a wound of sin nor a cordial to support in one swooning fit there are many considerations wherefore we cannot do it and therefore the Lord in pity and bowels toward us sent us his Son to be our Physitian because we poor sick creatures need the Physitian which we should not if we could heal our selves our wound is incurable and refuseth to be healed by us First alas We know not our diseases our distempers you know a disease is half cured if curable when it is known in the cause if a Physitian mistake the disease and mis-applications according to his mistake quite contrary to the disease this is the ruin of the Patient such Physitians are of no value and such should we all be and are For we cannot know our sins nor the plague of the heart who knows his errors if we discover one lust that it breaks out in such a manner that it cannot be hid yet there is ten for one that we never saw and how can we then heal them now the Lord Jesus seeth our hearts through and through and knoweth all the malig 〈…〉 y and poysonous humours that lye there and therefore knoweth how to purge them out we know them not Secondly We have no desire to have them healed at all we 〈…〉 w not what healing means being not sensible naturally of our distempers and sores that are
so many years and yet not healed have you so often received the Lord his Supper the outward part of it and yet are not healed what have you been praying and reading and coming to hear until you have one foot in the grave and yet not healed what have you been doing all this while that you have never got a sight of Christ a touch of him to this day that you might be healed Ah sure you have spent your time your money upon the Physitians that cannot heal you you have gone to the Disciples in stead of Christ you have expected healing from the Ordinances themselves and expected it haply from us in whom healing is not as they lookt upon the Apostles Why look ye upon us as if we had done this by our own power O no it is Jesus Christ alone can heal and therefore if you are not yet healed he did never arise upon you to this day It may be sinners will be ready to say what if Jesus Christ hath never risen upon us is that such a great matter Indeed I doubt we make a light matter of it but I will tell you what a great matter it is you are yet in your sins and it is a very great hazard but you may die in your sins if he never rise upon thee thou shalt undoubtedly die in them and is this nothing O but you will say God is merciful it is his nature to be merciful he triumpheth in exalting that perfection and making it glorious It is true brethren but it is in Christ all light and healing is from the Father but he hath filled the Son now with inlightning and healing influence so that they who will have it must have it from the Son he hath all power committed to him all the medecines are his now and the power of applying them is so that he heals whom he pleaseth therefore dream not of it you that are wicked transgressors that have not your sins healed that God will be merciful to any but in Christ O but we may have our sins healed though it be not yet It is true thou maist be healed and this is somewhat but consider what a cold comfort this would be to a man that had the plague seised upon him in a violent manner why faith he it may be healled and yet alas be never looks after the Physitian nor â—â—e Physitian after him but groweth worse and worse and yet he may be healed It is true if the Lord do not cut thee off before thou maist be healed or if God swear not in his wrath thou shalt never enter into his rest or say to thee thou shalt never be healed O these secret things belong not to us the Father hath put them in his own power and we presume upon our courses of sinning as if we knew them were privy to them and knew certainly that we should have a day of grace an hour of mercy this is desperate if thou die in this condition with all thy running sores upon thee from head to foot no sound part but loathsome wretches what do you think the Lord Jesus will put such into his bosome Well consider this for the fourth Application of the Doctrine Such as are not healed of their lusts they have never had Jesus Christ arising upon them as yet they never knew Christ to this day let our knowledge be what it will our parts be what it will our seeming following Christ be what it will and thronging upon him never so much we never yet touched him he never yet shined upon our souls O how many such poor Christless souls hear this Word this day 5. Then let us labour to raise our spirits in admiration of the riches of grace in Jesus Christ given to poor sinners to provide a healing for us that when we had faln from the height of mercy or rather grace and goodness and so had all to be broken and bruised our selves broken our bâ—nes that he should provide a healing for us when we could never think of such a mercy what were we more to him then Angels if he had let us all lye under our broken bones under the wounds we had made in our selves and diseases we had contracted who could have had any thing to say against him for it this the Apostle maketh an argument of his love and it is doubtless a heightening of it to consider how free it is that their wounds should not be cured and ours healed when both alike curable to him and considering that they might have been much more serviceable to him then we being creatures of a more glorious active nature then we are yet he took not hold of the nature of Angels But consider we first the infinite disproportion between the Physitian and the Patients were it not wonderful condescention for a K 〈…〉 o come off his Throne to buckle himself about the business 〈…〉 eal a worm that hath been trodden upon O it pittieth him to see them bleeding and therefore he maketh it his business to cure them brethren you would think this strange but this is the case yea this is but a shadow Iacob is but a worm and that the Lord of Lords the King of Kings should descend from his Throne from heaven disrobe himself as I may say put on rags and all to have to do with the wounds and diseases of poor sinful dust and ashes worms and no me 〈…〉 Brethren my tongue is not able to express it we would thin 〈…〉 a great matter such of us as live in the highest honour wear soft raiment are delicate in all things to take up a poor creature in the streets that is full of sores cast out to the loathing of his person to search the wounds have to do with those loathsome sores O what love were this it may be we could be content in pitty to give money for others to do it but to do it with our own hands there is the trial and yet this creature is of our own kind but what are we to the Lord or to his Christ who would do this for a Dog for a Viper a Serpent a Toad if wounded if sick and diseased can we conceive what tenderness it must be above what we have it may be we would not kill or destroy such a creature but if otherwise hurt would we heal them O herein is the love of God to poor sinners high above our thoughts as heaven is high above the earth alas we are more ready to tread upon Serpents and Dogs we would cast them out put them away from us it is but a dog Ah dear friends what are we that are strangers from the Covenant of Promise as we are all until he entereth into a Covenant with us we are as dogs as he speaks to the Syraphinitian woman all such unclean creatures yea we are a generation of Vipers as full of venom of sin as a Toad is full of poyson and
his blood our services healed as well as our souls before they be worth any thing therefore I say he himself freely prepareth the Lances to open the wounds convinceth the poor creature of his condition he himself takes the pains to open the vein to empty the creature of himself to cure him of that Plethory He it is tempereth the Physick is at the charge of it O the richest Cordials in the world tempered of his own blood and water by his own Spirit to support the poor creature when ready to faint he sitteth over his people even as a tender Father over a weak wounded childe and with what a heart you may imagine he provideth Messengers of his own to be with them to minister to them to watch over them and himself is alway at hand Ah dear Friends that ever the Lord Jesus should set so high esteem upon poor sinners when we were in such a loathsom condition as that he would dwell in flesh and take part of flesh and blood that so he might have somewhat to make a restorative of a healing medicine of that we might not perish one drop every drop of his most precious blood with respect to the value which the God-head put upon it is more then if a world of pearl could be decocted into a cordial and yet he spared it not that he should visit sinners with this salvation with his corrosives his cordials with his healing vertue and power and his heart so ready to put it forth from time to time this is unsearchable riches of grace to do all this freely Yea Eighthly and lastly it will appear in this that the Lord Jesus brings his heart full and his hands full of reward with him to a poor sinner so that he will be but healed you see foolish children when they have fallen and wounded themselves they must be hired to let the Father or the Chyrurgion heal it put a plaister upon it but cryeth out as undone had rather do any thing then be healed but alas who would do it to a stranger it may be thou seest a poor leprous creature lie languishing at thy gates and thou canst heal him but he is not willing either he is in love with his disease or distrusts your good will or faithfulness or something but he is not willing to be healed now where is there a heart so full of tenderness as to be willing to offer him a reward I will give thee thus much or thus much if thou wilt but let me heal thee for I pitty thy condition Brethren a King and his subjects fall out they rebel against the King in the war the subject is wounded even to the death except there be more then ordinary care taken of him now the King his heart relents he cometh to him in the prison and doth not upbraid him with his unkindness nor pride nor stubbornness but intreateth him he will give him leave to heal him that he will but suffer his wounds to be searched to be healed to be closed so that he may not perish he will pardon all that he hath done amiss begs of him to accept of him he will make him the second man in the Kingdom he shall be near to him if he will but suffer himself to be healed Is not this rich mercy indeed is there any such Paragon to be found Surely no but lo this is in Jesus Christ and more for he not only promiseth a reward upon our healing but maketh the poor creature willing also willing to part with his lusts and to speak the truth I take this to be the greatest part of our healing when a poor sinner that was in love with sin before loved his lusts as much as his life O his merry companions were as dear to him as his very eye or his right hand he could no more part with one then the other and so his gain of unrighteousness Now when the Lord by proposing of objects which have a great force but that is not all but by a sweet and yet powerful bowing of the heart maketh the poor creature willing to be healed so that now he cryeth out with Augustine How long Lord how long this man is in a great measure healed and this is the work and yet he rewardeth for this promiseth a Crown giveth grace and glory glory with himself fellowship with him to lye in his bosom to all eternity O here is unsearchable riches of grace Brethren I have only if so much brought you to the vein where these riches lie O that you would dig a little by serious contemplating upon it You will find more then I am able to speak Sixthly Another Use shall be this to warn us that we do not upon this score because that Jesus Christ will arise with healing under his wings upon poor sinners therefore to make bold with sin it is no great matter the healing vertue of Christ will be so much the more magnified O how desperate is this would you not think that man were out of his wits that upon presumption upon the skill and tenderness of the Physitian should without any care how or where wound himself and gash himself he hath a Physitian that will heal him you that dare be so bold to sin that grace may abound and make work for Jesus Christ know this this day you know not what the grace of Christ meaneth that make such a use of it how did this stir the Apostles spirit God forbid he doth as I may say recoil as a man startled at some horrid sight O the Lord forbid you should suck such poyson out of so sweet a flower This concerneth two sorts of persons First such as yet never knew what this healing vertue of Christ is only by the hearing of the ear they hear the Lord Jesus is able to heal the most desperate wounds and that he is willing and therefore they make bold to continue in sin they may go on to inflame the reckoning a little higher yet it is all one with Christ to pardon millions as mites to swallow up mountains as mole 〈…〉 it is true if thou respect his power but how dost thou know that he will do it for thee sinner or what hope hast thou or canst thou have while it is thus with thoe It s true if sinners do not sin away the day of grace he is willing but did ever Jesus Christ tell thee that thou shouldest be healed particularly though thou go on rebelling against him wound upon wound upon thy poor soul Surely no be not deceived sinners these are the insinuations of the wicked one this is such Gospel as the Devil preacheth when he preacheth Christ as an Angel of light but in the close you will find the Law instead of the Gospel such presumption and security usually endeth in dispair the time may come that you that make so little a matter of it may cry out and roar O your wounds you refused to be
sins pardoned and healed were back-slidings only thou must be content to endure something for the healing of those fearful wounds thou hast made in upon thy soul for there is no wound cured in a moment nor without any anguish and all that he laies upon thee is nothing the smart is nothing though the plaister lie long upon thee before it be healed to draw the sore to a head to break it to draw it to heal it there will be some time but he will heal thee poor sinner if he have made thee weary of this sin desirous of healing indeed And for you that are crying out of broken bones it may be there are some whose condition this is that do fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servants it is the greatest fear of thy soul to displease the Lord to grieve him happy soul with whom it is thus but thou art over-cast thou art clouded thou seest no light thy bones are broken thy spirit is wounded O who can bear a wounded spirit Be of good chear man remember this hath he not promised it that he will arise upon them that fear the Lord with healing in his wings he will heal those broken bones and the flesh wherein there is no soundness by reason of thy sins he will heal it and he is doing of it though thou art not sensible of it he pittyeth thee and knoweth how to pitty thee for himself was ecclipsed though the Son of righteousness that he might know how to pitty them that suffer in the like kind for the time to come he knoweth thy frame what thou canst bear and he will not let thee sink O thou of little faithâ— though he may fright thee as he did his Disciples the cloud will be over again only thou must wait for him he knoweth what it is to be without the light of his Fathers countenance as well as thou and he knoweth what thou canst bear therefore be not discouraged man and beside thou hast his promise for it only look to it that thou fear him that thou put not forth thy hand to iniquity that thou say not with that wicked King Why should I wait for the Lord any longer he that shall come will come in the best season When the mercy will be most sweet and seasonable himself may have most glory by it and thy soul most refreshing O but saith another I am not healed I doubt then for alas I find though haply I break not out as before to uncleanness actually yet I have eyes full of adultery still I find the dispositions and inclinations and yieldings of my heart strong to mine own iniquity still some to one and some to another â—or answer to this Is this thy burthen thy grief that it is so dost thou loath thy â—elf for it dost thou hate it wouldst thou fain have it rooted up thou art healed in the greatest part there is the core fetched up from the bottom though the wound be not altogether healed up it is the work of longer time then haply God hath been dealing with thy soul but be of good chear man lay thy self under the Sun of righteousness labour to improve the Covenant of grace wherein he shines most gloriously he hath promised he will circumcise thine heart and thou shalt be able to love the Lord with all thine heart and that he will subdue all iniquity for thee and see if he be not as good as his word in his own time which is the best time We have already endeavoured to open the main promise in this bundle and apply it with what advantage the Lord and your own hearts can tell you have heard at large that Jesus Christ is a Sun of righteousness and that he will ariâ—e with healing in his wings upon them that fear him So that there is Christ promised light and heat and healing reviving and quickning promised and through him And now we are come to speak to the liberty which is promised with Christ which is none of the least considerable Appendices of our justification through his blood and though you have not long since heard somewhat upon this subject however if you hear but the same things the Spirit of the Lord may breath where and when it pleaseth we may meet with him sometimes in hearing the same things that at another time he hath not been found in And ye shall go forth This is principally as I told you spoken to the Jew to the Jew first but also to the Gentile as all the Gospel promises they were first preached to the children of the Kingdom when the Gentiles were strangers from the Covenant of promises but now the Lord hath made them nigh in the blood of his Son that were afar off in Christ all the promises are Yea and Amen to them as well as to the Jews I told you at the first that we are not to confine promises made to times and persons except by unavoidable neceâ—sity where the matter promised is such and the promise such as can agree to no other time or person no persons or peoples condition can become like to theirs to whom the promise is made or are not capable of the thing promised as the promise of the Messiah to come of David and that in Abrahams seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed c. therefore this is a promise concerning all the people of God as their conditions become alike yea all that fear the Lord in any of these senses we have already spoken to By going forth here some understand a going forth of this life or a going out of the grave which is a prison indeed to some though not properly so to the Saints but a place of repose until the appearing of Jesus Christ So Alap citing Tert. and Jer. the reason is because they took that which is spoken of the day of the Lord in the foregoing verse of the day of Judgement That day which should burn as an Oven but I do rather conceive that it is not meant of the day of the last Judgement but the day of the fearfull desolations of Jerusalem out of which yet the Lord did deliver and save his own people and the rather I conceive so because of the growing up like Calves of the Stall promised afterward now if that be the day there is no room then to grow any higher to spread any further but as the tree is cut down so it lies there is then in the words a promise of an inlargement from under restraint wherewith their spirits were bound up as I may say and were imprisoned and this we shall see I hope is very great only take here the note of observation from the words The Lord Jesus rising upon a soul brings inlargement to that soul or people ye shall go forth For the prosecution of this I shall propose this Method First give you the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the quod that it
is so Secondly the quid what this inlargement is which cometh along with Jesus Christ to a Believer Thirdly the quare why it is so And Fourthly the Vse of the Point First then for proof of this peruse a Text or two in that Evangelical Prophet who doth very eminently hold out Jesus Christ I the Lord have called thee in righteousness there is the Call of Christ And I will hold thee by thine hand or hold thine hand there is the support of Christ in that great work and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant to the people for a light of the Gentiles He is indeed the Spirits of the Covenant the marrow of the Gospel the very Spirits of all the promises is Christ the speech is â—igurative Well but what is he to do To open the blinde eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house Minde you therefore the Lord Jesus was willing as I may say to be imprisoned in our body if I may so say or if not in other respects he was in prison that he might set his people free bring them out of the prison even as Paul when he might would not go free except they came and fetched them out of prison So here sinners would never go out except the Lord Jesus came and fetched them out A Prince for Rebellion casts his Subjects into prison in the dungeon there they lie and would lie and rot there their stomack is so great they will not ask for deliverance nay if they would they cannot set themselves free the Prince cometh with his own hands knocks off the bolts breaks the bars gates and bids them follow him so the Lord Jesus doth for sinners So again in that place of John If the Son make you free ye shall be free indeed there is much liberty and freedom and you will not hear of your being in bondage but saith our Saviour to set at Liberty is not the work of every one it is the Son that only can make you free and if he make you free you shall be free indeed The Lord Jesus you know came into the world not only to work out salvation for his people but to preach the salvation he did work out not only to shed his blood but to preach remission of sins through his blood as the Apostle hath it How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Which at the first began to be spoken to us by the Lord and afterward by those that heard him so that he himself preached salvation he himself did work it out for no other name is given under heaven now he preacheth this as a main part The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to binde up the broken hearted He was anointed there is his Office and because anointed as a Prophet to preach it therefore the Spirit of the Lord was upon him poured out without measure he was gifted and fitted for it which though some understand of Isaiah as well as of Christ yet of Isaiah but as the type Well then to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound Now surely if this be the substance of his preaching where he cometh and revealeth himself inwardly to a soul in a soul giveth himself to a soul there must needs be a going forth out of the prison out of the bondage wherein the poor soul was held so we have it in that place saith the Lord again even as in chap. 42. so chap. 49. of Isaiah I will preserve thee and give thee for a Covenant of the people c. That thou mayest say to the prisoners go forth to them that stand in darkness shew your selves and it is no more with God but dictum ac factum his words are operative words mark you they shall Go forth when the Sun of righteousness ariseth upon them his Commission is his work for to say to the Prisoners Go forth if he bid Lazarus come forth he cometh forth he calls the things that are not as if they were commands light out of darkness and so commands Deliverance and Liberty for his poor people that are bound I hope none will say this is all Old Testament proof for this is Gospel as clear as the Sun and to take away all ground of a cavil read but Luke and you shall finde this is the very Text our Saviour preacheth upon to the Jews tells them that day this Text was fulfilled that is to say that he was the anointed of the Lord the Spirit of the Lord was upon him because he was appointed to preach the Gospel to the poor to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blinde and to set at liberty them that are bruised but I may not wast any more time it is but burning day light to hold a candle to the Sun It is written with a Sun-beam except you shut your eyes you must needs see it The second thing Is the quod what this inlargement or freedom is that is here promised and truly this is a large question and wherein most of our work will lie each of us in the general acknowledge a slavery a bondage we are under from which the Lord Jesus doth speak to his people to go forth yea brings them forth but we have not a distinct understanding of it and alas I am the meanest of them who make it their work to preserve knowledge yet as I have received I shall endeavour somewhat this-way to open the nature of this liberty That we may the more clearly proceed we must distinguish of freedom or liberty into Civil and Spiritual Civil is a freedom of maâ—s person from servitude of men so that he shall no more be under â—he yoke and thus the Jews misunderstood our Saviour when he spake of freedom If the Son do make you free you shall be free indeed why said they We are the seed of Abraham we are free-born and we never were in bondage to any man they meant sure they were never particularly sold for servants to any else bred in bondage to any to be their servants not meaning their publick state but private else they much did forget themselves for they had often been in captivity and bondage as in Egypt and Babylon and at present under the Romans but this is not the liberty we chiefly aim at nor may we extend it to this bondage any further then it is a curse now we know the Apostle tels us that if a man be called being a servant care not for it for such an one is the Lord his Free-man neither bond â—or free is there any difference they are all one in Christ therefore our Saviour did not come to break all yokes off the neck of
born witness to it in our dayes wherein there hath been so much leading into captivity and so much complaining in our Land So Satan he hath overcome us in our first Parents we were overcome and ever since he holds fast his hold he had of us and though he let Sinners enjoy a little chain sometimes so that they are ready to think they are at liberty yet alas he takes them alive at his pleasure you see a beast of prey sometimes so sportful as to play with the prey and let it go a little it runs and thinketh it is free but alas all this while it is under the command of the beast of prey as Pharoah would let Israel go so they would not go far he fetcheth them in when he pleaseth Secondly There is also a Bondage by Sale as you know Joseph was sold into Egypt for a servant and nothing more ordinary then selling and buying of servants he is bought with thy money saith God to Abraham Gen. 17. 12. 13. distinguishing of servants he must needs be circumcised whereby it appears they had a more absolute power over them then they had over other Servants bought of any stranger which is not of thy seed thy bond-men and thy bond-maids shall be of the Heathen not of thy brethren Of them shall ye buy bond-men and bond-maids Levit. 25. 44. These were to be even as a Possession to them ver 25. and their power was so absolute over them that though they smote them with the hand or a rod so that they died if they continued a day or two before they must not be punished for it for they were their money which was somewhat an hard bondage to them truly brethren thus it is We are sold under sin as the Apostle saith speaking of himself who was not altogether freed from this bondage he was sold under sin being carnal that is to say in part as in that first of the Corinâ—hians They are called carnal that were as Babes in Christ so far as sin prevailed so far the bondage did appear he was sold in the first transgression Now there is another selling whereby a man doth sell himself to commit wickedness as you know Ahab did Paul did not now sell himself but was under the former sale and in such a bondage he could by no means altogether free himself from he could not shake off his chains and weights that did hang upon him by reason of this bondage but now Sinners they sell themselves Such as Ahab Hast thou found me O mine enemy saith he to Elijah I have found thee because thou hast sold thy self to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord and so the Israelites are said to sell themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord making their Sons and Daughters pass through fire c. Now by this Sale the Sinner passeth himself over into the power of him that buyeth him yet more and more fully Quod venditur transit in potestate ementis The Devil knew the meanest of his the price he pays a little pleasure of sin a little profit he cares not how often there be a bargain between him and the soul of a Sinner a man that for a little pelf will venture and hazard his soul he shall have it or else it shall cost the Devil a fall I speak not of Witches selling themselves to Satan for the accomplishment of some lust to satisfie some discontent but of every lew and wicked Sinner he little knoweth what he doth that goeth on in a course of Sin every new transgression and satisfaction to the flesh is a new price as I may say laid down in your hands for your souls to become slaves to the Devil O how many times hath he bought many of us and have we sold our selves to do evil in the sight of the Lord the ambitious man for the satisfaction of his lust sels himself to commit wickedness as the covetous you see in Ahab to have his desire would not stick to murther to suborn witnesses to swear falsly the ambitious person would not care to swim through a Sea of blood to the Throne they are slaves to the worst of Tyrants a lust it would make a man tremble to read the fearful things that are done upon this account specially by the Ottomans the great Turk who rivits himself in the Imperial Throne with the bones of his murthered brethren as one expresseth it O how dear a rate do men give who sell their precious souls for a spurt of pleasure for the pleasures of sin for a season they are not alway in season neither or a little profit of sin a little unjust gain they pay not twenty nor an hundred years purchase but if the Lord do not intervene with the purchase of the blood of Jesus Christ they pay eternity for it and when they have so sold their souls to commit wickedness what can they give or what would they give in exchange for their souls again a world full of honours and pleasures and profits then alas would be nothing to part with if they might but have them redeemed when it is too late this is another way whereby sinners come into bondage Thirdly By brith also there is a bondage as you know the children of them who were taken captives were captives they were sold themselves that were sold and with them their children therefore such servants as the Israelites bought with money how many so ever they did beget in their families they were all servants and bond-men so Abraham had so many servants trained born in his own house 318. I had servants born in mine house saith Solomon The Israelites indeed if they did sell themselves through poverty or became servants they did continue until the year of jubilee but must not be ruled over with rigor as they might rule over strangers nor must be kept as bond-men for ever but the strangers they might buy of them and leave them as a possession for ever to their children that is to say both them and their children they might buy and so sell them again and leave them to their children and therefore all born in such a condition were bond-servants so we find in that place when our Saviour told them they should be free indeed if the Son made them free why said they We are Abrahams seed and never were in bondage by birth we are free not as the seed of the Canaanites who were bond-men and they never were in bondage to any they were not sold as servants poor blind creatures could see no further then a civil bondage or liberty Now truly Brethren thus we are all of us bond-men and women by birth being all strangers from the Common-wealth of Israel and Covenant of promises as the Apostle speaks they are the children of the promise only that are free We are all the children of wrath by nature not a mothers child
revealing himself in the soul as the Apostle speaks it pleased the Father to reveal his son in me by which means that darkness and terrour is taken away in great measure Christ is all in all the bondage you heard before it is either sin or the sad effects of sin the revelation of Christ answerably is either for holiness or else by joy and comfort wherein he meeteth with both the other the guilt the bondage he takes away to that end himself was made sin that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him it is the power of Satan him he overcame yet the power of sin that is broken also sin shall not have dominion over you c. If it be terrours fears whatsoever our blessed Saviour where he maketh himself manifest to a soul is enough to take away all but this you have in effect had before therefore no more of it here he adopts us all Joh. 8. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was used in some Cities in Greece as Grot. noteth Secondly another Argument shall be this that they might serve him therefore they shall go forth while a man is under bondage he is at the command of such as he is in bondage unto and therefore cannot serve another Master whatsoever this specially respecteth that part of the bondage which concerneth sin and Satan when Satan had filled Ananias heart could he obey the will of Christ No no more could Ahab that had sold himself to commit wickedness it is impossible for a man to be a slave of sin and a servant of Christ at the same time I speak not what a man may do for an act or two but a man that doth work sin labour it hammer it in his brain forge it there art it and pollish it and with great dexterity for such a man to serve Christ ye cannot serve God and Mammon saith our Saviour mentioning one lust they are contrary one to another When a man doth wickedness with both hands earnestly there is never a hand left for Christ's service that is compleat service indeed when it is from the heart as seemeth by that opposition thanks be to God that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart the form of Doctrine So that the heart is the main thing if that be gone after sin we cannot serve the Lord Jesus heartily and then for the carkass the lip the eye the tongue he matters it not therefore first the Marriage-yoak must be broken between the soul and sin before they can be married to another even to the Lord Christ to serve him ye are become dead to the Law that ye might be married to another when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness mind you if under the command of sin you are free from righteousness it hath no commanding power over you at all and if a man be under the commanding power of Christ there sin hath not the command of him we must be dead to sin and so free from sin as the Apostle saith he that is dead is free from sin or else we cannot be alive to God to serve him Brethren I know that every man would be thought a servant of Christ and we look upon him as the off-scouring of the world and not worthy to live among men that would not serve the Lord poor creatures while we are under the command of sin it cannot be when a man yieldeth his members instruments of unrighteousness to unholiness and yet pretends to be a servant of Christ What is this but a mockery but be not deceived God is not mocked would you not take this to be a mockery if one come and tells you O Sir I will be your servant if you will give me this or that reward but you must give me leave to do all the service I can to your enemy you shall have the name of my service but your enemy shall have the reality of it is not this a mockery Thirdly That their services may be more chearful therefore he setteth them free from their bondage and this respecteth that part of bondage which concerneth the Concomitants even sorrow and fears and terrours and the like the Lord doth not love to have his people follow him whining he loveth a cheerful giver and a cheerful doer of his will it is much for his honour that his servants should lift up their heads for what would we say to see a poor servant go discouraged and as if scarce worth the earth he goes upon amazed with fears with sorrows sure such a servant hath a hard Master that he hath so little joy of his life therefore the Lord Jesus maketh his people go forth out of the horrible pit setteth them free from all their fears and terrours that they may with a cheerful and a large heart serve him here is love indeed that the Lord doth so sweeten his yoak and his service as that his people shall delight in it therefore saith he that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our lives Fourthly that their services to him may be more strong then otherwise they would a man under bonds brought down with bard bondage cannot do the service which another man can but the joy of the Lord is the strength of his people as in that of Neh. 8. 10. therefore he doth enlarge their hearts that they may run the waies of his commandments takes off the fetters for this very end a poor child of God under terrours and fears or under the prevailing of a lust have as I may say their hands manacled they cannot fight their feet are fettered they cannot walk much less run Fifthly Yet one more and that is lest a poor soul held under bondage too long should put forth his hands to sin this respects specially the bondage of sorrows and fears which are ready to swallow up many a poor creature many times my spirit is over-whelmed within me saith the Psalmist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like case the Lord will speak peace saith the Psalmist unto his people that they may not return to folly any more for if the Lord should lay his hand upon them continually pressing them they could not alway hold out but if they can find no pleasure in God nor in his waies they would be inclinable to return to their pleasures of sin as in that Psalm let not the rod of the wicked alway rest upon the lot of the righteous lest they put forth c. as you see the Psalmists heels were almost thrown up and himself upon his back his faith upon its back in this very respect O saith he if it be thus I must be plunged every morning alway in the net under the yoak of affliction in affliction and iron continually surely I have cleansed my self in vain and these rods are the rods
of God of a lesser nature those with which the spirit is lashed are most sore and therefore the soul might be in danger to depart to iniquity to return to sin again how soon did Israel resolve of making them a Captain to return again Nâ—h 9. 17 If the Prodigal return in such distress to his Father and he should keep him hungring and languishing when he hath not so much as husks to eat surely this were the way to put him upon it to return again to riotous courses the peace of God keepeth them with God c. Sixthly Again because the spirit would fail which he hath made if he did not in due season break the yoak set them at liberty as a tender Father will not lose his child for want of the rod no more will the Father of spirits for want of â—â—shing our spirits yet on the other hand a tender-hearted Father will much less lose him by over-doing of it as he will not spare him indulge him to death so neither will he whip him to death hang â—rons and fetters upon him until they eat into his soul and consume him O no when the Father seeth the spirit of the child to fall and he beginneth to swoon under his rod under the yoak of fear which hath torment be it what it will be then he letteth the rod fall out of his hand fals a kissing of the child to revive him again we must preserve the spirits and maintain nature in Physick and if purgations have wrought the patient off his strength there must be a restoring with Cordials 1 Cor. 10. 13. he will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able c. he will not suffer his people to perish and sink and go away in prison and bondage and therefore he causeth them to go forth and doth arise upon them to that end For the Application of the point there are several uses to be made of it First then take notice from hence what a grievous bondage the service of sin is this is the principal part of the bondage and all the rest are but the product of sin sin is pregnant it hath the seeds of all those terrors fears sorrows slavishness deadness straitness and all the rest in its womb but it self is the chief and therefore we are said to be sold under sin and sin is said to have dominion over us so many lusts Brethren in strength so many pairs of fetters there are about our legs and how then is it likely that a sinner should run the waies of Gods Commandments but I hope by what hath been said already it will be granted that a condition of sin is a condition of bondage only a little to aggravate this consideration to you and all little enough I doubt to startle sinners who are in this condition First consider it is the basest most sordid thing that can be you know a servile condition is mean and base in comparison of liberty and freedom take it at the best but to serve the basest of men who would not abhor this what spirit would stoop to be a drudge to a Master to rake Channels and cleanse Jakes who would not abhor this Brethren this is nothing to sin to the slavery of sin as it was the greatest honour in the world to be a servant a son of God Moses the servant of the Lord David my servant As you know servants do much bear themselves up upon the honour of their Masters So it is the basest servitude in the world to be in bondage to a lust for a man to sell himself into the hands of sin and Satan for a moments pleasure of sin this is base It is brutish for a man to subject his understanding and will to the passions of his lust dishonourable base passions for beasts are led by their appetites Secondly As it is base drudgery so secondly the poor sinner hath so many lusts and so contrary to serve and satisfie that he must needs be distracted between them one commands him this way and the other commands him that way as now for a man to serve his pride and covetousness or his luxury and covetousness these are contrary and distract and distort the mind and hurry him hither and thither he can enjoy no peace in his own spirit at all you shall see a man that will spend at no aim when he is in company and none seemeth to set less by the world then he at such a time but afterward when he recollects himself then he must run and drudge and hurry himself and all his family and drive faster then they are able to bear and all to make up that which he hath consumed upon his lusts is not this a miserable bondage to be under such contrary lusts Thirdly Yea consider that these lusts are most insatiable in drinking up a mans time and spirits and strength and will never leave a man while he hath any thing to lay out upon them more So you know the Prodigal spent all that ever he had upon his lusts all his patrimony his time and strength and spirits and all and so the wanton doth upon his Dalilah and thou mourn at the last saith the wise man when thy life and thy body is consumed and say how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof except it have all the precious workings of the soul it is not satisfied it must have all the thoughts be in them all though God be in none of them all that precious water must drive this mill as for covetousness now how is the soul under the power of that lust as I may say hanged up like a meteor in the air as the Evangelist hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be not hanged up as meteors in the â—ir as I may say between heaven and earth and be not careful â—aith our Saviour be not divided distracted in your cares O â—hat they shall eat and what they shall drink how they shall accomplish this and that design what a drudge is any man that is under the power of this lust he doth nothing but root in the world in other servitude if that a servant were maimed or dismembered lost an eye yea or but a tooth they must be let go for their eye-sake or for the tooth-sake but here sin doth nothing but wound the soul breaks a man consumeth him soul and body and yet will not let him go sin doth put a mans eyes out that so it may have the more full compleat command over the poor creature and stops the ears and strikes out the teeth and distasteth the pallate so that any thing of God hath no more relish then a chip to a soul maketh the poor creature lame for any lust harboured in the soul maketh a man go with an uneven pace and halt he cannot go uprightly and so it weakens the hands and maketh feeble knees and indeed like a woolf
not be in the Pallace or a man be in this house and yet not in the City which is much more large and comprehensive But thirdly I conceive that this visible freedom of theirs is to be limited with the time until they come to discover the contrary as an hypocritical professor to us he is visibly a Saint and free until his leaf do fade and fall and that be taken from him which he seemeth to have as it is in that of the Evangelist now the child is upon his Fathers root the Lord owning them with their parents in the same covenant of grace yet if afterward when they come to understanding and by the rule of Christ they are to own the covenant themselves actually if they do disown it they shall be cast out as well as Ismael was and therefore it is I suppose that our Saviour reproveth the Jews when they stood now at age and should have minded what themselves had done now standing upon their own and not upon their Fathers root they should have owned the Covenant themselves and believed that so they might have been free indeed invisibly but though they never wrought the works of Abraham to believe in Christ to come and now in Christ come they should have believed but wrought the works of the Devil yet they bound themselves up with this that they were the children of Abraham they were so indeed and this in their infancy was ground for a believing hopefully of them specially if their Parents were Believers but now the Lord required themselves I say to own the Covenant and walk worthy of it else that would not stand them instead it is just as if a man that maketh a profession of Christ gloriously for a while and in the judgement of all that behold him he is a gracious man but yet he falls off draweth back to perdition the latter end of such a man is worse then his beginning yet he bears up himself O I am a Christian I have professed Christ as well as you and yet at present is thus stubborn and rebellious do you think this would satisfie any mans spirit concerning him is not here as much vanity of hope concerning his condition as in the other case O but some will say what a Doctrine is this can a man be free in any sense and yet come into bondage again and perish afterward are not the gifts and calling of God without repentance therefore that children should be free by vertue of this Covenant and yet afterward become the servants of sin and Satan and be so desperately wicked and prophane this seemeth derogatory to grace and that any that have been in Covenant of God and free should now be bound with everlasting chains of darkness It is no derogation from the truth nor from the grace that came by Jesus Christ that it should be so for mind you it is one thing to be free in the account of God and another thing to be free in the account of the Church and people of God God judgeth not as we judge visibly we judge and he judgeth that which is invisible now it is true one that hath been truly inwardly delivered from the bondage of sin and so gone out of prison he can never be reduced to such a condition cannot perish and so that man that is or ever was invisibly in Covenant with God can never come to that place of darkness but such as only visibly and in appearance did own the Covenant or were in Covenant may miscarry how many glorious professors that made a great shew for a time and sprang up as fast and flourished as much as any that yet now are the fuel for those everlasting flames what could men judge of them but that they were in Covenant with God and so free-men and delivered from the prison from the bondage yet alas were in the hold of sin to that day and why may it not be so and allowed in this case as well as in that may not the children of the Kingdom be cast out into outer darkness I could wish that were well considered the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness we will allow professors a communion and fellowship with us as free-men as men in Covenant with God whose profession so oftentimes prove rotten and unsound and think this profession is a sufficient ground to declare to us they are in Covenant with Christ and yet we will not allow Believers children to be in Covenant with God because afterward they come to walk contrary to this Covenant Nor do we think the declaration of God that he doth own them as his as his children his servants as holy to himself to be as sufficient to make it out they are in Covenant with God For my own part I see not the pretended difference but if there be any advantage in the visibility of being in Covenant with God I take it upon this hand for I do and shall make more of a word of God where the Lord hath said it that they are his in a way of grace though it prove to be but visibly not invisibly then I shall make of any mans profession in the world which can amount to no more then a visibility or at least I shall make as much of it Well but then suppose thou wert a child of Abraham of believing parents and so wert free and in Covenant with God visibly yet alas this will not now stand thee in stead to salvation no more then a profession of a temporarie faith will do an hypocrite thou workest the works of the Devil art a very drudge to Satan and the world and thy own hearts lusts and yet will hang thy hopes of salvation upon a being born free we are Abraham's seed if any seed of Believers since the Covenant should have been saved and freed inwardly and savingly by being the seed of such parents when themselves came actually to renounce it in works to deny the Covenant in works they might have it by Abraham but yet you see our Saviour tells them the Son must make them free before they could be free therefore this is a vain conceit the Lord perswade poor sinners against it Secondly some there are that because they feel nothing of such a bondage as hath been spoken of therefore they conclude there is no such thing upon them they do not feel any such thing as fetters and ginns upon them they never were under any such slavishness of obedience under any such terrours nor under the command of their lusts they think they are Masters of themselves and can command their passions and appetites as well as any others and therefore sure they are free This is a deceit also The more undiscerned the bondage is the more sure it is it was the slateliness of some Princes they would not be seen by their subjects nor make their persons too common they should feel the weight of
the Lord who is most slighted in all this should pitty and make a way for their deliverance this is unspeakable rich grace that the Lord should as I may say study a course to make them willing to come forth to which end all the sad and fearfull Characters of this bondage in Scripture are to which end is the Law given that sin might appear to be sin and exceeding sinful and the bondage very great that they might thereby see themselves shut up to this end all those sweet invitations and powerfull expostulations with poor sinners in the Gospel O why will ye die why will ye perish and rot in prison since there is a ransom found for you the Lord takes no pleasure in your death and why will ye delight in your own death O what powerfull Rhetorick are these loving intreaties expostulations the yearnings of his bowels over them his tears over Jerusalem when they would not be gathered under his wings and all this to make the poor sinner willing and when all will not do that he should even put forth a power upon their wills and hearts inclining them to it by a sweet and yet strong though not compulsory influence of his Spirit upon them this is admirable what tenderness was there towards Lot that when he lingered and delayed the Angel took him by the hand and brought him without the City and bid him haste for his life truly there is not a soul delivered from this bondage but there is as much exercise of the patience and bowels of Christ toward them to make them willing yea to take them by the hand when they linger and make excuses as those in the Gospel I will follow thee but let me go and bid farewell to my friends I must not come off abruptly from my old Companions in sin but take leave of them handsomly I must go bury my father saith another but the Lord Jesus takes by the hand plucks us out as I may say by head and ears before we will come out Again consider how we have worn out our selves in the bondage and slavery of sin and with these fetters upon our souls or else spent so that now he may even say we our selves may say of our days there is no pleasure in them so Luke 4. 18. to set at liberty them that are bruised Dimittere confractâ—s in remissionem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words are not in Isaiah 61. neither Hebrew Greek nor Latine but they are added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Luke as some conceive â—atabl and others read them vâ—lneratos persons wounded shattered worn out with the hard bondage and service they were put to bondage is a weary thing at the best but when a man is such a slave as that he must like a Gally Slave work like a horse in the service of sin O what pains sinners do take with both hands earnestly they come to iniquity and so exhaust their spirits the best milk and marrow in the bones so that they are as dry sticks that are good for nothing and yet that the Lord Jesus should to such proclaim liberty bring them forth that are able to do him no service in a manner so the thief upon the Cross and so the Jew that Andreas is said to convert hanging upon the Cross and so many a gray headed sinner that never ceased serving sin yet now c. Truly if the Lord Christ should set us free with a respect to any service we should do him afterward I doubt none would ever be set free for Brethren what can we add to him if thou be righteous it profiteth him not at all he is a God infinitely perfect in himself our goodness extends not to him all the best of Lebanon and the wood are not enough for a burnt offering so great a God he is and yet though he be not advantaged by our service when we are set at Liberty but what commandments he giveth us to observe and giveth us hearts inclineth our hearts thereunto they are for our own welfare as in that of Deuteronomy The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath for his good his advantage and so is all the services or if it were yet alas I say how are we broken many times with the bondage of sin so that we are fit for nothing the understanding and affections so weakned and wasted and besotted with sin that afterward we can do little for him because of that sad effect sin hath left upon our souls and yet he delivereth us this the fourth Vse 5. Then it shall it be for Exhortation and invitation this day to every poor sinner that is in bondage that they would close with this promise that they would go forth O Sinners that you would but accept of Deliverance and Liberty that now the Lord Jesus after so dear a purchase of it doth tender to you you see he is willing he came on purpose into the world to preach and proclaim liberty to the Captives Now art not thou a Captive and hast thou no minde to be set free And for some Motives to stir us up a little at least to a consideration of our condition and what we do all this while First Consider this is the acceptable year of the Lord as in that of Isaiah O it beginneth with the preaching of the Gospel indeed the acceptable year minde you acceptable to Jesus Christ It pleaseth him wondrous well if sinners be willing to come out of prison to be set at liberty there is many a poor soul that thinketh with himself I am willing if the Lord Jesus be willing that I shall go forth O it is the acceptable year of the Lord there is nothing more pleasing to him then to see the ransom he hath laid down for you sinners take effect and bring out many out of bondage the Apostle applyeth it to the times of the Gospel There is joy in heaven c. The Father of the Prodigal how willing was he and then it is the acceptable year to sinners too O how did men that were in bondage long for the Jubilee and breath and pant after it especially if their bondage were hard that set them all free Dear Friends Consider this is the great Jubilee proclaimed solemnly with the Silver Trumpets of the Gospel that every poor creature that will may go forth out of prison yea that if now they go forth the Lord Jesus is willing we should but if we shall trifle away this year of the Lord which we know not how long it may last to us either the Gospel may be taken away from us or else we from the Gospel or else the things which concern our peace in the Gospel be hid from our eyes that we shall never see them O that sinners would but consider this these seasons the Father hath kept in his own power that sinners might be afraid to
tell you that liberty is sweet it is not to be expressed If Paul had not been free he had had many a lash by those cruel tyrants If the soul be not free it is liable to perish to be whipped to death to eternal death with Scorpions ask but any of the people of God who have been wearied and almost worried with their lusts O the iron entered into their soul they did sit in darkness in the dungeon many a sad day and hour and at last Out of the depths they have called to the Lord he hath set them free O what an Heaven upon Earth they found it when they have been delivered in any measure from this bondage what would they take to be in the same condition again specially under the command of their lusts not all the world brethren the Lord perswade your hearts now now while it is to be had before you be called for out of prison to the judgement that you may go forth and enjoy this glorious liberty O but you would say Alas what should we do in this case we are convinced it may be some poor soul maâ— say of himself that this is a miserable bondage we are in even by sin and the consequents of it and we would fain be set free but we know not which way to go about it we are in a maze a wilderness a labyrinth a duâ—geon we grope and grope and cannot find the way out O what shall we do it may be this may be the case of some of our souls I will tell you what you shall do First Deny your own policy and wisdom know they will not set you free Judas had much knowledge and yet he hanged himself you will rather by depth of reasonings plunge your selves deeper the Gospel is foolishness to them through the pride in their carnal knowledge Secondly Labour to know the Gospel in its tenor and to close with it to believe it you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free truth truly known will set a soul free this truth is the truth of the Gospel for Grace and Truth come by Jesus Christ and it is observable that they are both put together Sanctifie them with thy Truth saith our Saviour thy Word is Truth There are three things here considerable First That there must be a through acquaintance with the bondage that we are under and the better condition of service how much the service of Christ is to be preferred before that of Satan for the truth is while a man knoweth no better he will be content to serve the worse there is never a sinner under the dominion of sin but thinketh he is the freest man and the people of God that are bound up in their Spirits to such a strict way of walking with God he thinketh they are the men in bondage but alas it is because he understandeth not his own condition nor is it a slight hint of such a thing that will usually prevail to a freedom from all sin therefore you must labour to study what this bondage is see what thou art exposed to by reason of it and see what a prfect freedom the service of Christ is O what great reward there is in the very keeping of his Commandments joy is such an inseparable attendant upon obedience that some measure of it followeth every good action as the very heathens themselves acknowledged much more then when the Lord Jesus is the Master and his service the work Secondly Thou must be acquainted with the commands of Christ his precepts are pure and they have an influence upon the heart that believeth them to bring him out of that bondage to set him free I do believe nothing more keepeth many a soul in bondage he knoweth not what the will of Christ is in such or such a particular else he would do it Be acquainted with Christ the summe of the Gospel you shall know the truth that is to say what he hath done to set poor creatures free became a servant obedient to the death was in bondage in prison in the horrible pit how he was put to it to overcome c. Thirdly and principally thou must be acquainted with the promises of the Gospel that are made to this end it is their excellency to help forward our freedom this part of the truth well known so known as to be closed with will make every poor creature free ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free and so this in the text the Sun of righteousness shall arise upon you with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and so many other places sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace It is the very tenure of the Covenant and of the promises in Scripture that he will deliver his people save them from all their uncleannesses and subdue all iniquities for them yea though they work iniquity with both hands Vers 3. Either we know not these things or else we make not use of them we act not faith upon them the Lord doth love to have his people use the importunity of faith for nothing is so importunate as faith nor offers as I may say such violence to heaven as that doth O Brethren the Lord help our unbelief and forgive our neglect of our faith in this point if thou canst act it but weakly yet put forth some act of faith hang upon these promises tell the Lord he hath caused thee to hope upon this his Word else thou couldest not hope and thou dost hope in this Word else thy heart would altogether sink within thee and will he now make thee ashamed of his hope hath his promise ever failed a poor creature and will it now fail thee But beside this dost thou find thy heart moved made willing indeed to part with sin Art thou in good earnest in this business O yes saith the poor soul I would rather then my life be set at liberty for what good will my life do me if I must continually serve sin and grieve such bowels of love towards me in Jesus Christ have you searched do you know your hearts in this point it may be thou hast not that heed of trusting thy heart further then thou seest it it will deceive thee then but if thou hast searched it and beg'd of God to search it and thou dost not find but he hath through infinite riches of grace made thee willing to come out if thou couldst tell how I tell you Brethren if this be so the chains are fallen off from your hands and the bolts from your legs your freedom is in a great part accomplished only thou canst not find the way out of the prison O then follow Christ follow his Spirit when he moveth thy heart at any time to search and try maketh thee tender puts thee into a frame to bewail the evils of thy heart take
the hint up and be doing follow him and he will bring thee through one iron-gate and through another and thou shalt find thy self at the last set free and know thy liberty and the things freely given thee of God O beg the Spirit for he is the cause of liberty it depends upon him as light upon the Sun and the Spring upon the Fountain he applyeth what Christ hath done for us knowing the deep things of God he revealeth them he only convinceth and answers objections c. The sixth Vse of the point shall be several admonitions or exhortations to them that are set free from this bondage thou hast had the Sun of righteousness shine upon thee and art gone forth from sin from that bondage those fears terrours darkness and distractions which sin brings upon poor creatures thou rememberest the time when thou couldst do nothing but sin against the Lord and grieve him continually thou couldst not cease to sin thou wast under the command of sin and now through grace exceeding rich grace the gates of the prison are open the Lord hath pluckt thy feet thy affections out of the snare What doth the Lord thy God require of thee this should be the next enquiry of the soul me thinks after so signal mercies First surely he expecteth thou shouldst give him the glory of all praise him and exalt him alone alas what are the calves of our lips they cost us nothing the poorest have this and the richest have no more in effect but this if thou be able to do little for Christ yet thou maist praise him thou maist admire his rich grace make his name glorious Truly Brethren I believe some of us are able to say by experience that our unthankfulness for the freedom we have had hath been an occasion of our being clapt up for all the design of God in Christ in redemption of poor creatures is to make his mercy and grace glorious as he did his power in the creation and wisdom Now how is it made glorious among us but by our acknowledgment of it our lifting up the Lord Jesus not only with our hearts but our tongues art thou brought back again into darkness and into the prison after some refreshing Consider wast thou thankful for what thou hadst we are all sick of the leapers disease in the Gospel ten were cleansed but where are the nine I doubt scarce one in ten of us do praise him according to what he hath done for our souls and those that do yet scarce for one act of his loving kindness in ten in bringing of-us forth it may be he delivereth us ten times from a dead heart before we once give him the glory O this Popish principle of pride that is in us is that which seals up our hearts and stoppeth our mouths from praises but opens it in complaints in discontents when we want such a mercy O if our fâ—eece be dry when others are wet we are ready to question why doth the Lord deal so with me rather then with another why have I not as much enlargement of heart as another as great gifts freedom of speech and utterance as great grace in any kind Why am I not set above these wretched carnal delights as well as others of his people as if God should do any thing for us out of respect to us we had deserved any thing at his hands whereas we may rather expostulate with our selves O why is it not worse with me then it is why am I in no sorer bondage then I am where I am once overthrown it is mercy I have not an hundred times been over-thrown with-my lusts So on the other hand it stops our mouths for returning unto the Lord for what he hath done for us we may many of us thank our selves for much of the bondage that is upon us that we so much complain of O if every time the Lord setteth our frozen spirits a melting every time he setteth our straightned hearts at large we instead of lifting up our selves we could and did but admire that grace magnifie him loath our selves would he not much more delight to enlarge us O therefore look to this Secondly Thèn look to it thà t ye stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free I speak not so much here to the yoak of Ceremonies which the Lord hath taken away altogether but I speak specially to our freedom from the dominion of our sins the freedom from the Law as a Covenant of life and from outward pressures and bondages you know our fears were great when we saw this cloud of blood but hanging over our heads and many of thè precious ones of God I know when I was little and scarce able to take notice of such things yet I have been an eye and ear-witness of the sad complaints made before the Lord of it Now hath God delivered us from this stand we fast in this liberty But first thèn for that of sin and our lusts hath thè Lord broken the yoak of them set thee free when thou didst groan under it O take heed of returning to folly any more hath he spoken peace to thy troubled soul loosed the cords of thy sins wherewith thou wast held and wilt thou be tampering with sin again This was the madness and perversness of Israel they would make them a Captain and return to Egypt again to the house of bondage when they had been but a little tryed in the Wilderness but we have no such discouragement upon us as to put us upon such resolutions but meerly the unfaithfulness of our own hearts and unsteadfastness of our own spirits the Apostle speaks of some who having escaped the pollutions of the world they did return with the dog to the vomit with the swine to the mire the condition of such a soul is worse then ever it was he brings seven other spirits worse then himself and the latter end of thà t man is worse then his beginning O whén the Devil can but fasten upon such a poor creature again that once hath gotten out of the prison like a cruel Jaylor now he will lay more fetters upon him now he shall be even over-whelmed with temptations now his feet his head and his heart and all shall be put in the stocks have their bolts and chains upon them Sinners you never make work for Christ but you make work for your selves lay a grievous foundation for much bitterness to your own spirits a little care a little watchfulness here may prevent heart-breaking afterwards which we do necessitate as I may say Jesus Christ to by our back-slidings to this end therefore flie sin as Moses fled from the face of his Serpent flie youthful lusts make hast away the Devil and sin will pursue hard and cast this golden apple in our way this and that occasion O take heed of them So the Apostle flie fornication and flie Idolatry c. Secondly
thee yet wave all come clearly off it and alone cast thy self upon the waters commit thy self to the deep where no bottom is to be felt this is growing in the root indeed Thirdly In humility this is another which indeed doth follow upon the other and must needs do so for nothing emptyeth more then faith nothing layeth the soul lower and indeed this is the prospering grace of the soul that soul that is lifted up as the Prophet saith is not right within him Learn of me saith our Saviour for I am meek and lowly O when the soul is thus low then it is hungry and thirsty and poor in Spirit and then it sucks from the Lord Jesus then a taste of his love is sweet to the soul then the Spirit being ready to yield to God in every thing to do all his will God is ready to yield to the soul in every thing that he requireth agreeable to his will how do we grow in humility Brethren examine this it is the first and second and third and every step of Jacobs Ladder dost thou find that whereas thou wast wont to over-look and undervalue in comparison of thy self now rather thou thinkest in good earnest that every one fearing God is better then thy self because of the vileness of thine own heart thou seest before thou couldst not bear a reproof but if thou didst not turn and all to rent him that reproved thee though with never so much mildness yet thou wouldst snarl and quarrel and be ready to cast as much as that came to into his own teeth that reproved thee now if thou be reproved thou hast nothing to say but fearest thy heart it may be too true of thee now it is welcome thou lovest them that reprove thee so much the more Brethren it may be heretofore you would be apt to complain of your selves and of your own vileness and make sad mone and yet if another speak but an ill word of you yea if they speak no more of you then you deserve you could not bear it now if they speak ill of you art thou ready to lay thy hand upon thy mouth sure the Lord hath bid them speak evil and there is cause enough for it and they cannot say worse of me then I am O here is a growth in humility before thou wert ready to envy every one that had more gifts or more grace more of the hearts of Gods people then thy self now thou art ready to say with Moses enviest thou for my sake thou canst sweetly submit to his disposal of thee the least thou hast is more then thou deservest O this is that which obtains much of the Lord when thy heart is in such a frame it is fit to receive so Jacob he was less then the least of his mercies it was an argument wherewith he pleaded with the Lord thou art content to be any thing though in never so mean a degree of service to him so be he will be but thy Father and own thee if thou mayst not be with him in the transfiguration upon the mount if thou mayst be but a Disciple if thou mayst not get within the cloud with Moses nor be a Benjamin yet if thou mayst be a Son and a Subject though no Favourite this is that thou art contented with O here is a growth Brethren search and try are we come to this pitch or how far are we gone herein is it better with us then it hath been in this respect But then secondly we must try whether we grow upward yea or no as well as downward and this I shall consider according to the chief faculties of the soul the mind and the will and speak somewhat to each of them And first for the mind the understanding 1. Do you find Brethren that you grow and increase in the knowledge of his will that the darkness that is upon your hearts naturally doth vanish by any degrees do you find the vail doth wear thinner that was upon your hearts that you begin to behold the Lord Jesus with a more open face then before time was when you were babes in understanding are you new men and women or are you past the state of babes Alas I doubt if the treasuries of our hearts were laid open we should find them very empty of this heavenly knowledge how few can bring out of their treasuries both new and old This will appear in these two things specially First if you be apt to be tossed up and down with every wind of Doctrine and are not-stablished in the present truth but your minds are floating and hovering and ready to settle upon any thing that is presented to you though contrary to what you have received it is a sign that you are but children in understanding how easie is it to deceive children to put upon them Counters instead of Gold to make them part with the one for the other and how easie is it to lead captive silly-women as the Apostle calls them that are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth a weak eye that cannot discern between things that differ hath not his senses exercised to discern it is very easie to put one thing upon them for another truly Brethren these times have the name for times of great light and greater knowledge then there was before and I do believe that knowledge shall encrease by going too and fro but yet for all that mens eyes are very weak they cannot discern between light and darkness but put darkness for light for what is the ground of all errour is it not the ignorance of the Scripture and the power of God and was there ever any times more fruitful in errour then these are Alas Brethren what strangers are many of us to the very principles of Religion if examined in them that pretend to such high discoveries and revelations of Christ in our times such have need of milk and not of strong meat the wisdom of God in a mysterie is a riddle to them the Apostle spake it to them that were perfect that is to say grown men and women in opposition to babes Well then look to it if you find your selves easie to be shaken to turn with every wind of Doctrine like a weather-cock it argues you are but children but babes you may perswade a child to any thing to be of twenty minds in an hour because alas he hath no sound well-grounded knowledge of any thing you may perswade him to part with his meat his drink for a toy or by some pretended loathsomness in it that is not and so it is with poor weak ignorant souls how do we see many cheated out of Ordinances out of duties out of close walkings with God as things of no moment by the cunning craftiness of them who lie in wait to deceive It is a sad thing to see persons that should be of greater knowledge then
necessity and distress O be ye merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful take him for oâ—â— pattern and there will be continual room for growth and increase So the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians that as they abounded in other graces so they would labour to abound in this also Ah where are bowels Brethren towards one anothers souls with what tenderness did the Apostle stand over the souls of those poor people warning them day and night with tears And our Saviour over Jerusalem now I tell you again weeping saith the Apostle O that God would give such a heart to us and such a heart to his people indeed there is little tenderness and bowels one towards another little pittying one another while under temptation we can rather raise our hearts one against another stomack one another entertain prejudice one against another upon this account but a spirit of meekness and love and tenderness in restoring setting one another in joint if we be faln is not found among us or very little O labour to grow here and then to abound in works of mercy to give and give much liberally and do it with a tender heart an upright heart out of obedience to God not for ostentation But fifthly Labour to grow in softness of heart to see the stone wasting day by day I do not mean by softness of heart only an aptness to melt into tears for many an one may have a soft heart that cannot weep at all though most dispositions are apt to it and where it is it is a sweet expression of the heart towards Christ often-times though I must tell you there may be much of this and yet much hardness of heart many tears shed and it may be upon the consideration of sin and yet the heart hard to this day the softness of the heart Brethren lies most what in the plyableness and yielding of the spirit to God when we are ready to do all the will of God as David I have found David my servant one that will do all my will that is ready to say speak Lord for thy servant heareth Lord what wouldst thou have me to do Now alas there is many a wretched heart that it may be under a passion weeping at the apprehension of sin and yet go away and return to it again and again the heart is not plyable but stubborn wherein did lie the hardness of Pharaohs heart it lay in this that he would not harken to the Lord nor let Israel go though he had had so many judgements and so many deliverances yet all would not soften his heart no the iron sinews in his stiff neck they remained such still though sometimes he seemed to relent yet alas no sooner the hand was off but the heart was more hard then before he strouted it out and would not yield to let Israel go So when the Lord heapeth mercy upon mercy to melt out the sâ—one in the heart to make it like wax to the fire to the mould to be put into a fashion and it may be sometimes it draweth a few tears from the eyes but the heart is never the more plyable to God And so he cometh with rod upon rod blow after blow and yet doth it gently and all to foften and make the poor creature more plyable to him it affecteth a little sometimes but is not the heart as stubborn as unteachable as far from yielding to God in all things as before O this is the softness as a piece of joyners work it is all glued together one part to another Now then it is dissolved and broken when the glue the soder is melted and one piece falls from another so it is here our hearts and their sinful objects are glued together by carnal affections now then the heart is said to be broken to a softness when these affections are dissolved when our hearts and our objects of sin fall asunder each from the other labour to grow herein Brethren Sixthly To be more spiritual in holy duties more inward in our Communion with God you have heard this spoken to in the tryall O labour then to grow in spiritualness in prayer to pray with more faith with more fervency with more purity of heart not to ask any thing to spend it upon our lusts In meditation to keep closer to it without distraction and so to read to hear to do all these duties in a better manner but enough of this already Seventhly In your holy walking with God and with your selves as the Apostle saith we be seech you Brethren by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how ye ought to walk and please God so you abound more and more when a man walks with God alvvay setteth the Lord as before his face as the Psalmist speaks then he vvill be able to vvalk pleasingly to him vvhen by faith he seeth him that is invisible that is to say God to be present vvith him and knovveth him to ponder his vvaies O hovv eareful shall vve be then of our thoughts as vvell as of our vvords and actions and this vve do by faith believing his presence vvith us and his all-seeing eye to be upon us still upon our hearts and all their vvorkings according to the prevailing of these persvvasions and the constancy of them upon our spirits vvill our vvaies be ordered such a man vvill not dare to harbour vain thoughts in his heart though they vvill rudely rush in as a ruffian may rudely offer violence to a chast Matron she vvill not endure it so it is here O no I dare not as Joseph you see and then vvalking vvith our selves by more and more restection upon our selves upon our actions our waies the very truth is the want of this is the great cause we grow so little or if we do that we can take so little comfort in it herein lies the excellency and glory of a man above a beast that he can recoyl upon his own actions therefore labour to improve this O be more in it reproving your selves when you find you have done amiss whip those vain thoughts which pass through your souls and give them their Pass exhort your selves stir up your selves comfort and chear your selves in your God which you cannot do except you be much in this part of an holy walking even reflecting upon your selves and your own state Eighthly and lastly that I shall speak to shall be this To labour to grow more and more in that assurance of your relative grace your adoption the growth and other grace its true is a great help unto it but labour to improve it to that end how chearfully might many a poor soul walk if they did but know the things which are freely given them of God O beg the Spirit to be a witnessing a sealing-spirit to you more and more And do the same diligence saith the Apostle to the full assurance of hope unto the end we do content
daub and heal them deceitfully get it skinned over a little and so the world will do it building and planting and marrying and drinking and pastimes these may skin over the wound but it heals not and miserable is the condition of poor creatures so deluded but now they that are taught of God and learn they learn this effectually and practically that there is nothing in the creature that can do it Fourthly They learn this also that though all the world be but as a cloud without rain when the soul is a fire a Well without water a broken Cistern that leaks out all a Torrent a Brook that is dried up when the soul is parched and burnt up with the scorching heat of the displeasure of God O when the Lord setteth a soul in his sight and looks upon him as a consuming fire with his eyes as a flaming fire ready with a sight of him to devour him and he cannot get out of his sight O now the world all their comforts will not skreen them from his eyes but what will only the Lord Jesus he can be a cooling shadow to shadow us from this scorching heat and this the Spirit of the Lord perswadeth the soul we all of us will talk of it O Jesus Christ is our help and hope and look for salvation in no other but in him it is grown now so cusâ—omary a thing among us that it is in every mans mouth but to how few hath the Lord spoken this to our hearts that thus it is Fifthly Again another thing that we are taught of God before we come to Jesus Christ is this that he is willing to let out of his oyntments to heal he is willing to expend that precious balm of Gilead upon us else the soul will never come to him it is that that keepeth off many a soul a long time the Spirit of the Lord perswadeth the poor soul that though he hath been an enemy to Jesus Christ and grieved him and torn his wounds and rent his flesh with horrid oaths and blasphemies trampled his blood under foot have been never so horrid a transgressor yet he perswadeth him that the Lord Jesus is willing to receive sinners without exception if they come to him Suppose there was a Physitian whose skill were so great and his store of Medicines so inexhaustible and soveraign and his heart so large as that he proclaimeth to all that whosoever is wounded though never so desperately whosoever is sick unto the death one of the Stone another of the Gout another of the plague I will cure you all O then if poor creatures did believe this were perswaded of it they would come and not before O saith one mine is a plague sore and it is past cure mine is an hereditary disease saith another and so far gone I cannot be cured they come not and perish O mine is such a disease it will cost more pains and charge then I think he will be willing to be at to cure and therefore he cometh not to him and so perisheth just so it is in this case except the Lord do secretly insinuate it into the soul how willingly the Lord Jesus writ it upon his Spirit and that the Lord Jesus is willing to receive to heal to save the soul that will not come to him but thus much for these things which in the order of nature go before a coming to Christ now for the acts wherein it formally consist First then when the heart is thus made sensible of what is in himself working to death and what is not in himself nor in any other creature to save then I say there is from the teaching of the heart how able and willing the Lord Jesus is there ariseth a desire in the soul after the Jesus Christ not as if this did flow or were produced by the former apprehensions of a mans own necessities of Christ and of the fulness in him as a fountain and the openness of the fountain which is sealed to none that come for alas one grace though never so habitual and deeply rooted cannot produce another no not faith it self produce love but the Spirit which works faith works love in our hearts also much less then can a conviction be the cause of a conviction or a turning unto the Lord Jesus but it is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus when he hath so opened the eyes of an Hagar to see the fountain opened that was near her before but she saw it not and let us see that our bottle is dryed up and all other hopes in the creature perished then I say the Spirit inclineth the Will to come to Jesus Christ then he works sweetly though strongly an inclination a desire after him It is not in these things as in nature an ordinary providence concurring with the actings of the creature according to their necessities When Hagar saw the fountain she needs no further perswasion to go unto it her necessity was a cord strong enough to draw her yea a weight a spring to carry her swiftly to it but alas when we see the bottles dryed see that the creatures say it is not in us to be had and see there is a fountain opened yet such is the waywardness of our hearts yea such the enmity in our hearts against the Lord Jesus though the streams of his love toward us were as strong as death that we will not yet come to him we had rather sit down as you see some sullen creatures taken from their damms will rather perish then receive food at the hand of man such an indisposition and aversness to man there is and so it is in this case except the Lord Jesus come in by another act of his Spirit and bow the will and make us desirous of himself O then when this act of power is put forth the soul beginneth to long to desire after Jesus Christ O that I had him O that I might but have a sight of him then there is getting upon the tree by a low Zacheus then there is an ascending in this Ordinance and that Ordinance and everywhere the desire of the soul is for Jesus Christ this is a coming for the affections are to the soul as the feet to the body that which carryeth the soul in and out in all to this object or from that object O then when shall I come and appear before him Secondly In this coming to Christ is included a passing all other stands and rests on this side Jesus Christ many a poor soul cometh near to Christ and to the Kingdom of God and yet falls short of him as an arrow not drawn up to the head falls short of the mark and there it sticks where it fastens goeth no further So here some upon their convictions the discovery of their conditions run to this Ordinance to that to this duty to that as things that of themselves as performances should give rest to them and
there are in the heart of Jesus Christ towards a poor sinner as a Father that for a time to humble his child will make it strange to him O how full is his heart how much ado hath he to hold as Joseph to his Brethren O it is the rejoycing of Jesus Christ when poor sinners do come to him to see his seed to see his blood that was sowed and his Semen Ecclesiae to come up it is his rejoycing and will any Husband man in the world that sows precious seed when it puts forth beat it down again nip off the buds the tops of it it cannot be he is grieved when poor creatures will not be perswaded to come through hardness of heart and unbelief and waywardness we will not come to the fountain but sit down it may be some of us with Hagar weeping over our empty bottles and making sad moan and complaints for want of righteousness because of sin and yet come not to him this is a grief to him as it was among the Jews O did he ever in the daies of his flesh refuse any poor creature that came to him either for healing of soul or body which is the lesser yea when they came some of them for the healing of the body did he not heal the soul and all out of the abundant riches of his love to poor creatures O surely then now he is in heaven at the right hand of the Father being no less tender of his poor people if any come now he will in no wise cast them out Well the Lord write these arguments upon our hearts it may be some of us may have occasion or have at present need of them to perswade us of this truth We now come to the Application Vse 1. And first in the first Vse It may serve for a lamentation to lament the backwardness of our hearts to come to Jesus Christ for if our hearts were not backward to come to him what need all this ado to make poor creatures willing to come to Jesus Christ O what is the reason what a strange enmity is in our hearts against the Lord Jesus that we run away from him instead of coming yea though he follow with a Pardon in his hand purchased with his blood O I am Jesus who dyed for you turn unto me my heart is toward you turn unto me I delight not in your death turn unto me O why will ye die and yet poor creatures will not be perswaded to come to Jesus Christ O what is it what is it Brethren that can keep us off thus from Jesus Christ in our unwillingness to close with him to come unto him have not many of us many times clearly been convinced that our condition hath been slark naught that we stand guilty before God and he will by no means clear the guilty and convinced that in Jesus Christ there is a doing away of this guilt a bloting out of the hand-writings that are against us and contrary to us if we will but come to him No we are like sullen creatures will rather perish then come to Jesus Christ I do not believe but many of us are convinced and what shift can we make to smother our convictions I know not but it appears we come not to Jesus Christ As long as the Prodigal could have husks to fill his belly with he would not come home to his Father as long as ever the poor woman in the Gospel had any thing to spend upon the Physitians she came not to Jesus Christ as long as ever poor sinners can make a shift to daub over the breaches that sometimes the Word maketh upon their consciences they will not come O the fault lies in the Will Brethren Ye will not come unto me saith our Saviour that ye might have life how often would I have gathered you as a Hen doth her Chickens and ye would not they would rather perish then be healed by such an hand even the hand of Jesus Christ O the deadly enmity that is in every one of us by nature What we are not willing to part with sins and therefore we come not to Jesus Christ we are not willing to be healed wilt thou be made whole we are prophane and we would be so still proud and would be so still unclean and would be so still We know if we come to him put on Christ we must put off the lusts of our former conversation O wretched love to sin that preferreth it before the Lord Jesus before the salvation of our poor souls What are we loth through the pride of our hearts to take the shame of our iniquities Haply something of this nature kept off the Prodigal Is it not more shame to do sin then to acknowledge it when it is done what is it Brethren how strange a thing is it that men should take such pains to hew out broken Cisterns to themselves that will hold no water dig deep into the world to find some rest there exhaust their strength in duties in prayers and tears as many self-Saviours do specially the Papists and I wish there be none among us rather then they will come to Jesus Christ to accept of that righteousness that pardon which shall cost us nothing but acceptance O the pride of our hearts O the enmity of our hearts against the Lord Jesus and is there such an heart in every one of us Brethren Yea even in the best until he overcome us with his loving-kindness and is not this a thing worthy to be bewailed Yea if it were possible with tears of blood being such an aversion from the blood of Jesus Christ and the dearest love of our Saviour to poor creatures Or what is it Brethren is it the more love we find from Jesus Christ are our hearts the more averse from him if he did profess himself an enemy to us to destroy and slay us if we came near him to scatter us with the streams of flaming indignation issuing from his throne and presence we could do no more then run away from him as many of us now do O that we could lay it to heart The second Vse shall be to shew us the grievous nature of the sin of unbelief and haply this may make poor creatures afraid of straining curtesie with Christ and afraid to come to him because of their vileness c. to complement with him First Consider but the unreasonableness of the sin of unbelief above other sins indeed though all sin be unreasonable other sins they have some pretence of profit or pleasure but this hath nothing but wo and misery attending it condemnation But that I shall not insist upon for there is hardly any thing but Satan and a mans carnal reason will put a specious pretence upon it Therefore consider this unreasonableness First in respect of our selves that being plunged into such a depth of distraction and misery of sin and guilt and wrath that
when we are sinking and drowning we will not so much as put out the hand to lay hold upon a twig upon something held out to us is not this unreasonable and unnatural it raceth out the principle of self-preservation that is in every man by nature so that I will be bold to say the greatest reason in the world improved to keep off a poor soul from Jesus Christ is unreasonable it is the depravation of our carnal reason had it not been unreasonable if Hagar having a fountain opened her before her eyes and she languishing for thirst and must perish without it and yet would sit still is not this unreasonable Again If we look upon the Lord Jesus who seeks to us beseecheth us to accept of him of mercy of pardon in his blood the Creator cometh down to the creature poor worms who have our being by his Word and might be dissolved with his Word and yet we stand it out and will not accept of him who would bestow himself and his infinite all-sufficiency upon us and we will not is not this unreasonable that a Prince should seek to a worthless rebel to be reconciled and he will not hear of it If he had any need of us and upon that account would have poor sinners to come to him to make a supply of his wants it were something but all the want the indigency is on our part and therefore unbelief is the more unreasonable thing O how might we here break out and say hear ye heavens and give ear O earth for the Lord Jesus the Lord of both heir of all things the offended Majesty seeks to poor rebelling worms to be reconciled but they will not hear of it they come not in they close not with him Secondly As the unreasonableness of the thing so also we may take notice of the injuriousness of this sin of unbelief I would a little insist upon this sin the more because that though I find many a poor heart seemeth to be weary of sin and afraid of sinning against God in other kinds yet seeth not in the mean time how exceedingly he sins against him by his unbelief not closing with Christ and coming to him therefore see in the second place the injuriousness of this sin of unbelief how injurious it is to Jesus Christ Brethren for if the truth were known what is the reason wherefore we need so much ado why we come not in to him We either think he cannot save us our sins are so great O saith one there was never such a wretch as I though he have accepted of great sinners such as Paul and Manasses and Magdalen yet there was never such a wretch as I O surely my wounds are such there is no healing for them What is this but to make Jesus Christ weak and a Physitian of no value Is there any sin higher then the imbrewing their hands in the blood of Jesus Christ himself and suppose thou be such an one and this is that thou cryest out of thou hast come so often to the Lords Supper with a common heart which is to be guilty of his blood accessary to his death and cannot his blood cleanse even from the guilt of them that shed it were not many of the Jews sensible os this how dishonourable is this to Jesus Christ when we will be measuring of him by our selves we are apt to think of pardon and mercy as far as a mans a creatures bowels and thoughts will reach mind there is an end not minding that he is God as well as man this is an high wrong unto our Saviour O he will not saith the poor soul if he can yet he will not sure receive such an one as I O I am so laden and so loathsom a wretch what should he do with such an one as I What is it possible thou shouldest remember how many promises how many invitations how many expostulations he hath made what intreaties to poor creatures to be reconciled to him and yet call in question his willingness why what do you make of Jesus Christ O how doth unbelief in effect dethrone Jesus Christ disgracing the Throne of his Glory robbeth him of his mercy of his power his love his bowels of that which he most glorieth in and is not this injurious then to thy dear Saviour Would not you think it a wrong to you from one of your children that had offended you as highly as you can imagine suppose he had sought your life as Absolom did Davids and now the Father seeks thou suest to thy son O how many promises thou heapest up one upon another backest them with oaths wooest him intreatest him to be reconciled to accept of a pardon No he believeth you not notwithstanding all you can do or say that you are real in the thing is not this injurious doth he not wrong exceedingly in this as well as in the former and is not this the very case Thirdly See how much unkindness there is in this sin of unbelief as it is directly against the love the bowels of Jesus Christ which sound toward poor creatures in the Gospel in every intreaty to be reconciled to him Brethren what could the Lord Jesus do more for us then he did was not his life dear to him even to the death sor poor sinners that there might be a pardon for us and do we thus requite him even to slight it never to mind it or if we do sometimes a little yet to stand out and not to close with him What unkindness was it in the Jews it is so recorded of them he came to his own and his own received him not that is to say his own flesh and blood and so he is ours as well as others but he came of them according to the flesh in a nearer manner and sent to them in the first place they received him not But to come to Us poor Gentiles out-casts that were strangers afar off with a desire to make us near in his blood near to his Father and to himself is this love nothing to be thus slighted for how few among us do believe in the Lord Jesus notwithstanding all this nothing breaks the heart of a creature more then unkindness and surely Brethren me thinks the thoughts of this if our hearts were not stony should be a breaking of our hearts that we have hitherto so many of us dealt so unkindly with Christ as we have done But fourthly see the dangerousness of this sin of unbelief that we may be set a trembling by reason of this sin as well as any other and be weary of this as well as any other 1. Other sins have but their own particular guilt each of them particularly binding over a poor soul to wrath and entayling the curse of the Law upon a poor sinner so every sin doth every oath every lie every unclean thought wanton look adultery fornication of the body the heart or eye but unbelief
wish it may be thou hast relations estate name as good as others yet thou canst not be satisfied all is nothing without interest in him thou runnest from Ordinance to Ordinance from one Congregation to another from reading to prayer yet findest no satisfaction in all I will say to that soul Thou hast an evidence and a clear one too he hath indeed received thee or thou wert never able thus to breath after him and though he may hold thee off for a while yet he will not shut thee out Thirdly Hath the Lord made thee willing indeed to have him to receive him as King and Saviour to be purified by him subdued to him as well as saved by him Alas I know not whether I am or no if not what then meaneth all thy stuffing thy bed with groans What mean those Rivers of tears shed over him what meaneth thy following so hard after him What is it possible that any man should make such heavy moan as some poor souls do for Jesus Christ and yet not be willing to have him If thou wouldest not have him me thinks thou wouldest rather run away from him then run after him what ascending is there up into this tree and that tree as the Lord Jesus passeth by in an Ordinance to get a sight of him and yet the poor soul will not be perswaded that he would have fain have the Lord Jesus when one sight of him would be so refreshing to them O go away rejoycing and triumphing in the Lord Jesus that ever he hath looked upon thee to make thee willing in the day of his power for surely thou art a willing soul who art so affected towards him and this willing Brethren surely is the very receiving of Jesus Christ it is the closing with him thus taking with one hand Christ for pardon and giving up a mans self to him with the other hand which is the thing thy soul groans for now if Christ Jesus be so willing to receive poor sinners and thou be so willing to receive him what can interpose to hinder or break the match surely nothing Fourthly Thou must be content to wait a while haply before thou have the comfort of thy coming to Christ before I say thou shalt suck the sweetness that floweth from him to thy soul for thou hast broken thy bones with sin which brought wrath upon thy soul as David complains O there was no rest in his bones and they must have a time to knit again A man will rather lie upon his bed a Prisoner a few daies then be a Cripple all the daies of his life therefore they say a Horse leg is incurable if broke he will not endure to be bound to lie quiet Submit to the Chyrurgians hand and skill the Lord Jesus will do it it is doing but alas such broken bones heal but slowly through many humors by reason of the abundance of sin in the soul may be it will be the longer but wait Remember the pains that Elijahs servant took to go up and down that steep hill Carmel with wearyness seven times and brought news of nothing at all until at last he sees a little cloud which filled the heavens So it may be with thee and it will recompence all at last there will be abundance of rain to refresh thy weary parched soul Fifthly Be frequent in acting of faith putting forth the acts of thy willingness to receive the Lord Jesus if he be willing to receive thee for hereby the habit of faith will grow stronger the little grain of Mustard-seed thou shalt see take strong rooting and spread it self and then the acts will be stronger and those will yet again strengthen the habit and by this means the grace will appear more visible So that at the last thou shalt even feel in thy very soul that thou dost believe if thou often put forth this act of recumbency upon him casting thy self upon the Lord Jesus into his arms at his feet and see if thou find it not that at last thou have not this witness in thy self that thou dost believe in the Lord Jesus And then happy soul thou mayest take the comfort of that condition Thou shalt never be cast out FINIS The first Table contains the General and Particular Heads as they follow in their order in the preceding Subject Circumspect Walking A Christians Wisdom THe Text opened Page 55. out of which this first doctrine is raised That it is a duty Christians are strictly charged with to walk circumspectly ibid. But first there is enquired what it is to walk circumspectly Here you have first the Matter of a Christians conversation expressed by walking which includes all a mans actions 1. Spiritual 2. Civil 3. Natural 55 56 This Latiude appears 1. In that walking is a motion 1. From other Principles 2. By other Rules then the men of the world walk by ibid. 2. There is a Terminus a quo from whence they walk and that is from sin ibid. 3. A Terminus ad quem and that is to God in Christ 57 4. This Motion is a progressive motion 5. It is a constant Motion 6. It it a pleasant ibid. Secondly Here you have the manner of this walking Circumspectly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now to this exact walking 1. There must go a Rule 57 2. Knowledge to understand and wisdom rightly to apply the rule 58 3. Keeping close to the rule 1. In not following a multitude as most do 59 2. In not following the Examples of the Saints further then they follow Christ 60 4. There must be a mending not only the external part but the inside and the Spirit of the rule 61 5. Carrying an even course towards heaven ibid. 6. Making it a mans work to walk exactly with 1. A watchful eye 2. A trembling heart The second thing in the words of the Text That it is a duty so strictly charged upon the Saints proved 63 The Reasons of the third thing in the words of the Text. Why this duty is charged upon the Saints viz. to walk circumspectly 1. Because they are the children of the light ibid. 2. Because their steps are more eyed then other mens 64 1. In regard of God himself 2. In regard of men 1. Many men watch for their Halting 2. Some men are scandalized by their uneven walking Either good or evil Men. 65 3. Because all have erring hearts and naturally love to wander ibid. 4. Because there are many by-paths whereinto they may step awry 66. The first Use shews that among the much profession of Christ there is little power ibid. The second use reproves 1. The People of God that come short of this exact Walking 2. Those that instead of following God fully have their hearts divided 67 1. Some that content themselves only with the shews of religion 2. Some that are all for morality and honesty of conversation 68 3. Some that neither fear God nor reverence Man ibid. Thirdly Those are reproved
that is up and doing thou findest thy Faith is weak it may be thou canst scarce call it any thing but unbelief labour to act it put it forth often the nature of it lies in the souls sincere willingness to take Jesus Christ to have him for a Saviour and Lord to save from iniquites as well as from the condemnation of sin now though weakly put forth the acts of willing Jesus Christ as he hath offered himself and thou shalt find it will grow often be rowling thy self and thy burthen poor burthened soul upon the Lord Jesus cast thy self upon him and thou shalt find as much rest in it for the present so also an increase of faith and a feeling also that thou dost believe after a time And so for other things alas is there a day that goeth over our heads but there is use for Faith it is the very life of a Christian The life I now live I live by the Faith of the Son of God and therefore as much need of the exercise of it daily as of any vital acts whatsoever and you shall find you have occasions for it either some temptations from your own hearts some corruptions stirring and disquieting your peace or some scourgings from without some buffetings of Satan some deadness and security growing upon you daily O there is daily need of acting Faith as there is to eat and drink therefore Israel their Manna was their daily food and if they were daily stung they must daily look up to the Serpent and which of us is not though you have a Lamp lighted Brethren There was enery morning daily a triming of the Lamps of the Sanctuary and pouring oyl into them afresh you know they will not continue but go out in obscure darkness except there be a feeding of them with oyl this we may do and this we ought to do and indeed a man that exerciseth not his Grace is as if he had none neither hath the strength nor the comfort of his Grace for Habits are for Acts and then Acts strengthen the Habits again The Learned Aristotle said A wise man differed nothing from a fool if he exercised not his wisdom and saith the Wiseman Even a fool when he holds his peace is counted wise the Act is that chiefly commanded and that chiefly rewarded of God the exercising of Grace and that whereby it groweth which is the main thing here I mind Hath not every day its evil sufficient to it now if faith â—e not upon the wing what a condition is that soul in therefore exercise it use legs and have legs And so for love put it forth exercise it toward the Lord Jesus daily and toward his people that is the way to grow Brethren how do benummed limbs that have no feeling nor strength gather strength but by rubbing and chasing and exercising of them though a mans legs be so benummed falling for a step or two he can scarce set them to the ground yet use them a little and they will come to themselves again If Merchants money lie still it is a dead thing it increaseth not but they must turn it up and down and return it use it and exercise their trade with it and it groweth And truly I am perswaded it is the great reason we are many of us so weak as we are we lie complaining and making sad moan before the Lord of our weakness and yet are careless in the exercise of the Grace wherein we pretend we would grow The desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour we may mourn our selves away off our legs and spend our days in lamentable complainings and shall never be the better except we put forth into act what we have already received if we be not faithful in trading with a little will he give us more action and motion increase heat if you see a poor creature lie starving ready to perish for want of fire his legs are stiff cannot hardly move them is that the way to help him no up to the fire up and exercise your limbs rub them chafe them if you would get heat and agility into them Secondly See to it that we exercise one as well as another for there is such a sweet harmony and dependency of the Graces one upon another that they do one strengthen another the acts of our Graces do as I may say co-operate and sweetly conspire to the promoting one of another that is to say of the acts and these acts then strengthen the habits As for instance you see in an Arch one stone strengthens another take away one of them and all the rest are ready to fall upon your head and therefore the Apostle exhorts so earnestly That they should add to Faith Temperance c. not as if they could add one habit to another for they are infused together but the acts are to be added one to another For if ye do these things saith the Apostle then ye shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ yea you shall never fall yea you shall have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom The strength of a building you know lies not in the strength of one piece but in the due compacting of it and joyning part to his part if there be never so strong beams if the other parts be weak the rafters the wall-plates or such considerable pieces and not well joyned together the building is weak and will easily fall therefore if you would be strong and grow indeed look that we exercise all the Graces of the Spirit we have already received not only Faith nor only Love nor only Humility nor only Self-denial but all labour to act them all and Temperance and Heavenly-mindedness c. and you shall find that as each Grace doth grow by the exercising of it self so by the exercising of them all they will have a mutual influence each upon the other to strengthen one another the act of Faith will strengthen the acting of love and that will strengthen faith again and so for the rest Thirdly If you would grow in Grace You must be much in prayer for a man of much Prayer is a man of much Grace and therefore the Prophet puts them both together He will pour out the Spirit of Grace and Supplication And so the Apostle Jude But you Beloved building up your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost and there is the like reason for building up our selves in any other Grace praying by the Spirit of God is the way you see to grow in Grace there is very great reason that Prayer should be a great means of increasing Grace First Because in Prayer there is the greatest exercising of Grace of all Grace usually of any other service we do to God there our repentance is exercised for you alwaies find the Saints in drawing nigh to God David and Ezra and
others that still they begin with bewailing their iniquities expressing their sorrow for them because no man was to appear before God but with pure hands and pure feet and therefore since we gather soil continually there is need of acknowledging our iniquities and then he is faithful and just to forgive them there is the exercise of Faith if any where else that is it whereby we wrestle with God in Prayer Prayer is indeed a wrestling with God as Jacob it was his faith whereby he overcame and got the blessing a man must pray in Faith else it is nothing worth at all God accepteth no service but where there is Faith mixed there is Love exercised toward God and to his people we go to him it is an acting of our desire toward him our delight in his presence and love to his Saints when we can pray feelingly for them And so Humility O saith Abraham Who am I dust and ashes And Jacob I am less then the least of thy mercies In a word all the Graces are set awork in prayer that is a working prayer indeed our thankfulness and all our supplications in all things are to be made known c. Every wheel is set a going in the soul if it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an effectual prayer and therefore by the exercises of the Graces they are increased do you think that by acting Faith upon the Promises pleading them as Jacob did Thou saidst thou wouldst do me good c. and so in many other places Remember thy Word to thy Servant whereupon thou hast caused me to hope saith the Psalmist That this doth not increase Faith and so the acting of Love increase it therefore Luther a man of much Prayer was a man of much Grace of much Courage and Zeal and Faith and Diligence in the Service of God And that famous Servant of God Mr. Bolton It is said of him that six times a day he prayed and so others observe it when you will where you see a growing Christian indeed follow him to his Closet you shall find that man a man of much prayer So David and Daniel c. But Secondly There is another reason for it Because Prayer doth carry the soul to a nearer communion with God O it is the gaining acquaintance with God acquaint thy self with God that thou mayst have peace with him and thou shalt have prosperity and therefore when Job discovered such weakness in his impatiency saith that friend of his Surely thou restrainect prayer from the Almighty if thou didst maintain communion with God it would not be thus with thee Now whither should we go with empty vessels but to the fountain whither should poor weak wounded lame feeble creatures go but to him that hath all power to heal and strengthen them God hath treasures of grace it is true and he is not streight-hearted he giveth liberally but the treasury is lockt and prayer is the key and faith the hand that turns it we must to the treasury if we would be rich in grace rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which of us would be poor if we had a warrant to go to the Treasury to fetch what we please O what pains would there be the Treasurer should have imployment enough if God would but perswade us it is so in this case we should visit him more the great Treasurer of heaven the Lord Jesus in whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid yea and of faith and all grace for of his fulness we receive grace for grace O how would we ply him give him no rest he would have much more of our company but that we have slight perswasions of these things and make use of prayer as a duty and a task many of us and not a singular means of improving our graces Brethren were we but as much in Communion with God as David we might have the strength of David it is but ask and have knock and it shall be opened the Spirit which works all this will not be denyed if you ask and ask not amiss as you heard lately God will expend willingly his treasures of grace upon us and pour out the fulness of his Spirit upon us but he will be enquired of for these things Well then if we would grow in grace we must be much in prayer I do believe some of us can speak it but too experimentally that when we have found corruptions prevail and our selves foyled and brought under this hath been the reason we have restrained prayer from the Almighty either we have neglected this duty or else we have been slight and slubbering shuffled it if not out of doors yet to the very door and generally observe it we can more easily find time for any thing then for prayer every other business hath its hours to attend upon but if any thing be neglected it must be prayer or else posted over Whereas alas it would no more hinder our business then our meal-times do which must be had and I know Brethren that some of us are able to say it that we have seen when the prospering presence of the Lord hath been with us we have come on more and done more in a short time then at another time in many times as long a time and yet so wretched hearts we have that we content our selves with any thing in this duty if we appear before the Lord we think it is enough we do not strive unto prayer and watch unto prayer and labour by blowing the green wood that will hardly kindle to get it on a flame before we go out of his presence O Jacob would not let him go without a blessing Brethren in what a sad manner do we many times rise off our knees with our hearts further off from God then we came is this to obtain a blessing no no we must take pains in this work if we would grow the Lord perswade our hearts Alas you will say you have prayed and prayed and yet for ought you can perceive you grow not To this I might answer many things First Dost thou find that hereby thou never gettest thy heart in a better frame art thou never wrought up to some sweet frame of heart in respect of faith and love and humility Why here is an improving this is the main thing in prayer when we can find our hearts wrought up to such a frame it is the very growth it self in a great part therefore thou art mistaken Secondly If thou do not find it may be sometimes such warnings and notwithstanding all the pains thon hast sometimes been blowing at the coal until thy arm ake with holding the bellows and thy heart akes and yet thou canst not get thy faith and thy affections into a frame but thou art as dead and dull as before Now in such a case observe it dost thou not gain thus much by it to have viler
where there is probability yea certainty of speeding if we come So the Lepers you know their argument If we stay here we must perish if we go we may escape So Esther she knew if she went not into the King at that time her neck was upon the block as well as the rest and if she did go in she might haply speed and prosper and therefore she ventures hard if the Scepter had not been held out to her it had cost her her life there but the body did lie at the stake as being starved for want or else designed to destruction by enemies but here soul and body lie at the stake and are in danger of perishing for ever there was only a possibility of escaping here is a certainty of escaping he will not in any wise cast him out O how cheerfully would Esther have run to the King if there had been such a Law that when ever the Queen cometh the Scepter should be held out to her so it is here there they ran a very desperate hazard but here is no hazard run here is a sure word of promise for it That heaven and earth shall pass away before a tittle of it shall pass away whoever cometh to Christ he will in no wise cast him out Seventhly It is a grief to the Lord Jesus that we should be thus wayward that we will not be perswaded of his good will toward us if we come to him that we should have such unworthy thoughts of Jesus Christ that he should make no more of his Word of promise his death his blood then to slight all falsifie all when poor sinners come to him according to his invitation he was grieved saith the Text because of the unbelief and hardness of their hearts It is said of the Jews O Jerusalem Jerusalem c. he wept over it when nothing would do to perswade them to close with him thou art grieved and Christ is grieved by this frowardness of thine Suppose the Father of the prodigal son in the Gospel had invited him to come to him promised him all the inheritance to put him in his bosom confirm his love to him no saith he I have mispent all I have undone my self fed upon husks as long as I could get them and now I am ready to perish not being able to procure them here I will sit and dye I cannot believe that thou wilt accept of me that thou canst ever love me or receive me more would not this grieve the father think you I know poor mourning soul thou wouldst not grieve the Lord Jesus I tell thee if thou wouldst not thou must come to him accept of his kindness and love believe his faithfulness and truth and so thy soul shall be established Vse 4. The fourth Use shall be then to exalt the riches of the Grace of Jesus Christ to poor sinners we might altus repetere and speak something to the purchasing of us at so dear a rate as his precious blood corruptible things as Silver and Gold are not worthy to be named the same day with the blood of Jesus Christ Alas there had been no possibility for us to come to him except there had been the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paid and then to invite us to come to him and not only so but to draw us with the cords of a man and the cords of love that we should hear and learn of the Father be all taught of God which is the drawing of his Father without which we cannot come which what it is you have heard already formerly Brethren this is abundance of Grace yea more he hath promised and doth and will perform whoever cometh to him he will in no wise cast him out If the Lord Jesus had limited himself to such or such a sort of sinners that he would receive all that should not continue so many years in sin or sâ—all not rise to such an height in sin yet it had been much Grace to receive any but he excludeth none if any man come to Christ he will in no wise cast him out Are there not many souls in the presence of God that can set to their seals that this is a truth in Iesus if he would have cast out any what would become of thee and me who are the chief of sinners if he would have cast out such as have been drunkards covetous unclean effeminate what had become of them in 1 Cor. 6 Such were some of you and what would have become of some of us if he would have cast out all that have been bloody persecutors what would have become of Paul Ah poor soul bethink thy self in what filth and blood thou didst wallow before he put off his own comliness upon thee and then think if the Lord Iesus had limited his receiving of sinners that come to such or such a measure what then had become of thee O what abounding Grace is in the Lord Iesus towards poor sinners let us exalt it meditate much of it labour to heighten it in thy thoughts there will be no thoughts more sweet or profitable more melting of that stone in thy heart we so sadly complain of more indearing and engaging of the heart to the Lord Jesus then these are Vse 5. Vse 5. Then surely there is no falling away from Christ from justifying sanctifying Grace once received for what else is this coming to Christ but coming for righteousness for pardon for he is the Lord our Righteousness the Father hath found a Ransom now in his Son and this the poor sinner maketh after in Christ and for holiness also for he is made of God Sanctification as well as Righteousness and Holiness to the poor soul that cometh to him now he will never cast him out that cometh to him he will in no wise cast him out If he had said I will not cast him out except he sin to this or that degree after my receiving him it had been somewhat but I will not cast him out no in no wise will I do it O blessed bosom which will never shut out the poor soul that is once gotten in to it and if the Lord Jesus cast us not out when we come what can It may be some will say that we our selves may do it Christ will not do it I but the sinner himself may â—all off though he have been received of Christ put in his bosom warmed with his love it is true if a sinner were his own keeper it were somewhat like if it were left to the liberty of our wils whether we would abide in Christ yea or no we should quickly be lost again but it is not the Lord Jesus doth not only not cast us out except we cast our selves out but he holds us in his hand and the Father holds us in his hand and they are stronger then all None shall be able to pluck them out of his hand he lays hold upon the
heart puts his fear there yea and that Peace of God also placeth he as a pregnable garrison there that they shall never depart from him except the Lord could deny his Covenant for my part I see not how any soul that in truth is come on to Christ can finally apostatize though from some common grace they may withdraw which is true Grace though not of this kind which is saving But what then doth the Lord Jesus hold us to himself whether we will or no No Brethren But he maketh us willing in the day of his power so that we shall not any more be willing to leave him to depart from him nor is it an infringement of our liberty at all to be determined to one party either of the contradiction of contrariety as they use to distinguish them for God himself is determined to one part he cannot will any thing that is evil as evil nor the Angels in heaven established and confirmed and yet their liberty sure is much greater then ours well then the Lord Jesus he will never cast them out therefore they shall persevere when once they are in him in Covenant God hath put that principle into them that they shall never depart themselves he will not let loose any lust any temptation upon them that shall ruin them that were in effect in a moral sense a casting of them out in no wise whatsoever will he do it Vse 6. Sixthly Yet here let me put in a double Caution First Let sinners impenitent sinners that yet stand it out protract the time of their coming to Jesus Christ as Aug. O modo Domine take a warning word this day that is do not so abuse this sweet and pretious truth as to encourage themselves thereby in an evil way tush saith the drunkard the unclean person to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant it is time enough to repent Jesus Christ is so tender and so merciful to poor sinners that when ever we come to him he will not cast us out and though we do treasure up many bags and fill up the measure of sin fuller then others he hath made no limitation if we come to him he will not cast us out what a lamentable condition is that man in whose stomack turns an honey-comb into poyson to him here is the most precious cordial the very Spirits of the Gospel in this our Doctrine and see how sinners do turn it into a deadly potion to their souls what Spiders are we that can suck venom out of the sweetest flowers but suppose this be true that when ever thou comest to Jesus Christ thou shalt be received and not cast out in any wise is there any truth in the Hypothesis that lies hid which is either this that thou hast power to come of thy self at any time thy will at command if it be proper to say so of that which is the commanding faculty in the soul or else this that God will draw thee hereafter and give thee a will to come to Jesus Christ when thou hast lived a while longer in the pleasures of sin Ah poor soul thou little knowest the deceitfulness of sin and of thy own heart what is the reason that thou art not now willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ is it not because thou art held so fast in the embraces of thy darling lusts O that sin that kils with its embraces poisons with its kisses and tell me is that the way to get looser from thy lusts and so more ready to come to Jesus Christ to go on in sin to satisfie and fulfill the lusts of the flesh surely no thou knowest not the deceitfulness of sin whereby the heart is more hardened every act then before It may please him out of the abundant riches of his Grace to draw such a presumptuous sinner to Christ but it is to be admired me thinks thou shouldst rather tremble when thou thinkest I now put off my coming to Christ untill a more convenient opportunity and what if this never come what if my soul be taken from me this night now the Arrows of God are scattered among our dwellings and what if I never have a heart nor some time to come and repent but go on still and grow more and more hard and desperate and sinning and so perish O that sinners would consider this that forget God that they abuse not this Grace of Jesus Christ When did Jesus Christ tell thee how long he would wait upon thee to be gracious doth he not say to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts you may possibly out-live your day of grace aâ—d Christ is waiting upon you and striving with you and then it had been better for you you had never been born Secondly Another caution shall be to them that have come to Jesus Christ and are found in him that they take heed they abuse not this grace to wantonness If we shall not in any wise be cast out of Christ what need so much ado O what viperous natures have we that are ready to turn all to poyson this principle is in every heart among us therefore watch over it The Doctrine is Christs a truth in Jesus and therefore in its own nature hath no tendency to such a froward walking before God there is nothing in its own nature doth more tend to kil sin then grace the abundance of grace in Jesus Christ truly if grace love will not do it nothing will do it nothing runs the old man to the heart so home as this unsearchable love of God in Christ that if we come to him he will in no wise cast us out It is a wretched graceless conclusion to say no more of it to continue in sin that grace might abound the Apostle was well taught in Christs School and both by Revelation from Christ and personal experience in his own case he knew the power of the love of God in Christ the exceeding abundance of his grace and how doth he argue from mercy to duty So our Saviour himself who best knoweth the end of his grace of which he is the Author and Finisher come to me c. and I will give you rest And what then may they sit still and take their ease never trouble themselves more concerning their souls never care how to walk in well-pleasing to Christ No the next words are take my yoak upon you for it is easie and it is light It is no great matter he expecteth of us in comparison of what he might expect and in respect of the recompence of reward a Belial is a Monster in the Church of Christ a man without yoak like a wild-Ass snuffing up the wind and doing according to his own hearts lust I will be bold to say let men pretend to what they will that man that hath drunk deepest of the love of God in Christ and is most firmly rooted