what Lord I that do so little blessed with all What Lord I that have so little in my own heart and spirit yet I blessed with all Will nothing satisfie the grace of God but all blessings and all Spiritual blessings too My Friends I hope it is in your hearts thus to admire but I will give you the reasons And there seem to be these five lodged in the words I shall take notice of them as they lye before us 1. Don't wonder Sirs that you Christians are blessed with all Spiritual Blessings For First God is the God of Christ he is the God of our Lord and of our Saviour Jesus Christ This is a great reason yea this is Gods Reason why he does bless Christians I am the God of that Lord that is their Lord and my Friends I pray consider it This relation that God stands in unto Christ has a general aspect upon all the Relations that are here mentioned of Christ All Christs principal Relations are here taken notice of by the Apostle and expressed as now he is the God of Jesus he is the God of our Lord Jesus he is the God of the Lord of the Gospel he is the God of the Jesus of the Gospel and the God of the Christ that is the anointed of the Gospel so the Apostle in his other Epistles as if he seemed to take great pleasure and delight in this general Relation that he here mentions he also seems to express it in his Preface to his other Epistles I think the Epistle that he writ to the Colossians comes nearest to this Epistle that he writ to the Ephesians for its Gospel import and nature And in the verse 3 of the 1 Col. you find the Apostle thus delivering himself We give thanks to God and or even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you The God of our Lord Jesus Christ I pray Consider it I would illustrate this in these two Branches The First is this That all the advantages of Gods being a God to any is summ'd up in his being a God to Christ I say all the advantages of the covenant all the blessednesses that are discovered as essential to Gods being a God to any in either Testaments is summ'd up in this relation of his unto Jesus Christ and therefore you shall find that he promises so much to him and that with reference to the discharge of all or of every particular office of his I have not time to instance in them I shall only remind you of one passage and that is when Christ came to die to give an account to God of himself he considers himself in and under all his Gospel Relations The Lord imployed him as his God to preach Salvation unto sinners The Lord as his God imployed him as his servant to rule and govern Saints The Lord imployed him as he was his God to reconcile his enemies to himself by offering up his Soul and his Body a propitiation for them and therefore with respect to all these relations I pray consider what stress he laid upon this for there seems to be something particular and I think the Jews in the heat of their rage mistook the Emphasis of their own language in Mark 15.34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cryed with a loud voice saying Eloi Eloi that is my God my God The Jews mistake Eloi here say they verse 35. behold he calleth Elias verse 36. let alone let us see whether Elias will come to take him down which was a thing quite of another Import and Nature The proper interpretation is given there by the holy Ghost my God my God says he My God my God you see my friends the Lord owned his Relation to him as his God now at this time when he was to come to give an account to him of the discharge of all his Offices and Relations Eloi Eloi my God my God I have preached thy will My God my God I have governed according to thy will My God my God I have made propitiation according to thy will this seem to be the meaning of it and upon this account he grounds his petition why hast thou forsaken me or why wilt thou or doest thou forsake me As if he should appeal to God My God thou knowest I have preached all thy heart and my God thou knowest I have governed according to the secrets of thy heart and my God thou knowest I have been tender both of Saints and sinners according to the Command I received from thee and my God there is nothing that I have refused or avoided to do to please thee my God thou knowest all this Now Sirs here is great reason why we should be Blessed with all Spiritual Blessings he is the Lords God in whom we are blessed The Second thing that I would urge as an illustration of the former particular is this That the Lord Jesus Christ stands in no Relations to God but the blessedness of the Relation redounds to Christians We will suppose the Lord Christ pleasing his God in the discharge of all his Offices and Relations we will suppose him I say in fulness of communion with his God in the execution of all his Relations Now Sirs I pray do but observe the Apostle in that peculiar appropriating word he doth not say The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ but the God and Father of our Lord as if the Apostle should say ye Christian Ephesians and so I may say ye Christians of differing apprehensions you that are Christians indeed all the blessednesses and advantages of Gods Relation to Christ as his God redound to you for he is your Lord and I will only confirm what I have now observed to you by an observation grounded upon this and upon another Scripture if you reflect upon the 2 verse of this Chap. you shall find that before the Apostle mentions Gods Relation to Christ he mentions his Relation to us says he Grace be unto you from God our Father From God our Father as if the Apostle would have us to understand that whatsoever he is to Christ he is that to Christians in Christ And there is the first reason why God doth bless us with all Spiritual Blessings in Christ because he is Christs God and hath approved himself and carried himself towards Christ as his God in all the circumstances wherein Christ was or is 2. Secondly He is not only the God of Christ and therefore blesses us but he is the Father of Christ and therefore doth bless us Which seems to be a Relation which our Lord doth most glory in in both Testaments I tell you Christians God glories more in the Relation of a Father to Christ then he doth in the Relation of a Creator to the whole World I will open this also in these two Branches 1. And the first is this That Christ Jesus's Relation to God or Gods Relation to Christ as a Father in which he doth so glory is
in every providence and such as lay open to every Ordinance I say practical experiences of the power of Gods grace O what can the grace of God do Nay Christians what is it that the grace of God cannot do That grace that could send Christ out of his eternal mansion in the bosom of his Father what cannot that grace do for thee That grace that can empty as it were the Second person of the Trinity of his glory doest thou think that this grace cannot empty thy heart of sin That grace that can fill the Covenant with such a fulness of Blessings Poor worm doest thou think that this grace cannot fill thy heart with Blessings I pray Christians do but consider what the Apostle saith in the 19 and 20 verses of this Chap. And what is says he the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power If thy heart be hard and be fixed within thee so that thou doest oppose the work of Faith he will work this work of faith with power if it be exceeding hard there is exceeding power that the grace of God has the command of if thou beest exceeding weak there is exceeding grace that hath the dispose of exceeding power ay if thou beest exceeding unworthy there is exceeding grace that can exceedingly overlook all thy unworthiness Now Christians practical experiences of the power of grace under the ministration of the Gospel is a great Spiritual Blessing We have heard much of the grace of God of the respective persons of the blessed Trinity what has this grace done for thy Soul Art thou able to set to thy Seal that there is an exceeding power in the grace of the Father and an exceeding power in the grace of the Son if thou hast not as yet experienced it truly if there be but some beginnings of the power of God and the finger of God hath but been upon thy heart though in lesser power if there be exceeding power wanting that exceeding power shall not always be suspended Practical experiences of the exceeding mighty power of God is that which is a great Spiritual Blessing which we are blessed with in Christ Jesus and for the illustration of this do but compare this power if thou needest as much exceeding power to raise up thy Soul from any Spiritual Death or Deadness as Jesus Christ stood in need of to raise him from the dead that shall be at the dispose of grace that shall be imployed by grace and therefore he adds in the next verse which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead That power that raised the Son of man from the dead and that power that set the Son of man at his own right hand in Heavenly places thou Christian shalt have experience of it and this is the Spiritual Blessing wherewith thou art blessed in Christ Jesus Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in Christ that is he hath Blessed us with a Right to an universal and unbounded experience of the power of his grace in all cases 9. But the last that I shall mention is this He hath blessed us with all Spiritual blessings that is an universal subjection of all our Spiritual Enemies under us And I think this may be lookt upon as a great Spiritual Blessing It is true indeed my friends all things are put under the feet of Jesus Christ but all things are not yet put under our feet But that you may see the reason of this great priviledge how grace hath laid it in Christ do but observe those passages that you have in v. 21 22 23. of this Chapter at the 20 verse and hath set him at his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principalities and might and dominion and every name that is named both in this World and also in that which is to come And as if these two words could not comprehend all the Apostle adds in general and hath put all things under his feet All things that are enemies to our Spiritual Interest all things that are Enemies unto our purification unto our sanctification unto our inlightning and strengthening and unto any or all of our Spiritual blessings He hath put all things under his feet Obj. Ay but what is all this to us you will say Ans Therefore I pray observe what he says further He hath put all things under his feet with a direct subserviency unto his Church Verse 22. and hath put all things under his feet and hath given him to be the head over all things to the Church head over all principalities over all the powers of darkness over all our Enemies in hell and over all our Spiritual Enemies here on Earth and that unto his Church and People which he calls his Body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Now my friends this is a great Spiritual blessing and that the Spirit is concerned in this is evident I pray do but observe a passage of the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans chap. 8. verseâ— 11. compared with Verse 2. at the 11th verse If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodys by his Spirit that dwelleth in you I apprehend that this hath not relation primarily or principally to the last Resurrection of the Body but even to a Spiritual deliverance and freedom of the Body from the remains of the law of sin death which yet abide in it says the Apostle If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in your mortal bodys then you shall be quickened your mortal bodys shall be disposed and influenced so by that Spirit that they shall be readier than now they are to serve the graces of your Souls according to the dictates of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and my reason for this Interpretation is this the Apostle in the conclusion of the former Chapter had been crying out verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death which he had confessed had too long lodged in his members in the former part of the Chapter Now in verse 2. of this Chap. he says But the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death where is the law of sin It is in my body says the Apostle but says he the law of the Spirit of life hath made me free upon this Hypothesis the Apostle doth conclude in verse 11. That if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us then shall our mortal bodies be quickned and disposed also unto Spiritual service and if you do but observe it the Apostle in the Conclusion of this discourse gives such an exhortation tending to this purpose that
Lord doth not proceed according to the observation that you make of yours selves but according to the observation that he makes of you If God can spy a little grace in any heart God will look after that heart It is the least grain that God observes that is the matter of this promise Yet says he shall not the least grain fall upon the Earth In the opening of this observation I shall only give you some few reasons of it and then make some improvement Quest You will say to me then Why or whence is it that such special care is taken of such inconsiderable Christians One whom ministers it may be make nothing of one whom private Christians disregard yet God spys a little grace in him We it may be are ready to think it would be no great matter to lose such a little grain as this no great matter if the Devil should hurry such a one into such sins no great matter if that afflictions sweep away and such a Professour from the Ordinances and from communion fellowship with God in his own appointments But my Friends here is the Case The Lord he observeth what there is within and the Lord doth not act nor carry it either under general or particular judgments according to our observation or sense but according to his own observation and the truth of the thing If there be grace though it be in the least degree if there be grace though under very great disadvantages and under great discouragements yet an all-searching Eye can espy a grain of Corn in a heap of Chaff It may be there is a great deal of Chaff a great deal of vanity a great deal of earthliness which do not commend thee before men but rather discommend thee before God and man but little grace in thy life little in thy prayers little in thy heart little in thy understanding Ay But if God espy a little grace under all this Rubbish a little grain a grain of the least size under all this Heap of Chaff and Rubbish The Lord will take care of this Yet saies he shall not the least grain fall to the ground But whence is all this kindness Ans I shall give you an account of this in these following Propositions Reas 1 A little grace though never so little is distinguishing grace as well as the greatest though never so much When the Lord did at first work the work of grace upon thy heart then he made a personal difference between thee and others and it is not the muchness of thy grace that gives the essential distinction but it is the truth of thy grace that distinguisheth thee from others I will open this in these 2 Branches 1. First The least degree or the least grain of grace is the Issue of Gods eternal distinguishing kindness God from all eternity before the foundations of the world were laid did elect and choose thee to receive such a measure of grace in such a little proportion as well as another in a large measure and in a greater proportion ye are chosen in him says the Apostle 1. Eph. 4. before the Foundation of the World was laid that ye should be Holy God did not only choose those that were inriched with more then ordinary Grace those that are full of the Holy-Ghost were not the only Persons that were in the Eye upon the Heart of God from all Eternity but those that have received though but their measures by scantling These are the Persons that God did from all Eternity design by this little grace to make a personal difference between them and others Let me tell you all the moralists in the World and all the great ones of the World have not so much as this little grace amounts to Thousands and ten thousands of hearts will appear before the Throne and not a grain of grace in them therefore my Friends if so then this must needs be clear that either God must look after this little grace or must lose the resolve of his Eternal Love 2. That this little hath the nature of the whole Jesus Christ compares the Kingdom of Heaven in hearts unto a grain of must and Seed which is the least of all grains Why though it be so little yet there is a prolifick or a seminal vertue and power in that little The least grain of Corn is wheat it hath the Nature of wheat as well as the fullest so the least Christian he that hath the least grace hath the whole nature of Christianity as well as he that hath most who despiseth the day of small things Though you do yet God will not it may be you take little notice and say it is but a little but yet in this little is the nature of the whole If there be true faith though it be little yet here is all the truth of faith in a little faith and there is all the Truth of love the whole nature of love in a little love and there is the whole nature of humility though it be shut up as it were in a little compass if it be so then this little must be and is the care of God because the least grain hath the nature of the whole and so here is the whole nature of grace even in the least grace Therefore says God the house of Israel this perverse this rebelliuos house this is a frothy and chaffy house of Israel yet I will not lose the least grain yet not the least grain shall fall upon the Earth 3. That the least grace is under designments of grace as well as the greatest Nay let me tell you Sirs There are many Christians that have most at first considering the proportion there are on the other hand many Christians who have least at first and yet afterwards do attain to a great deal more then those that had most at first God doth not always do as we do or as man doth Many times to him that hath most at first there is many times most given afterwards but God doth not always do so but he gives sometimes the greatest encrease an encrease like the encreases of God even unto those in whom at first he did Create but little One could hardly perceive the flax smoaking the other day and now it is all on a flame and take another Christian as soon as ever the fire is put into the flax the flax fell all into a smoak There was a great appearance a great heat at first but take him three or four or five years after behold a damp again the man had great incomes at first but afterwards there was as great an abatement he that had least now hath most so that I say considering the greatness of the designment the unlimited designment that relate to those that have little may give a reason why the Lord will look after the least grace why special grace will be charged with the preservation security of the
you may say there lies one upon his Bed there sits another in his Corner that is the express Image of Jesus Ay but he hath but a little grace well the whole Image of Christ is in that little Those that are well instructed in drawing and limning they can as well in a little compass draw the perfect Effigies as they can in a great compass Truly my Friends though your limbs be not so big as I may say though your countenances be not so big your graces be not so big yet here 's a true representation of Christ where 's the least grace there 's a full and express Image of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the Lord will take care because of the Image Says Christ when they brought him by an ensnaring question to give them a resolve why shew me the penny whose is the Image So my Friends if you bring your own hearts to the Lord the Lord will ask the question Whose Image whose Superscription is it and will answer himself it is my own it is my own Superscription and Image though it be in so small a compass Christians I would have you consider that God and Christ have great tenderness for things without proportion though you have not so much Faith nor so much Love nor so much Humility yet if you have true Faith true Love true Humility God and Christ will know his own God will know his own Image though drawn in the least compass I will open this in these two branches that I might make manifest the rationality of this proceed of the Lord and the first is this 1. That there is no part of the Image of Christ in any heart but that does discover the whole Image to be really and indeed in the heart And my reason is because God creates nothing imperfectly neither in the New nor in the Old Creation nothing imperfectly he takes Adam's Rib out of his side and he makes a perfect Image and representation of that and he takes up Clay or Red Earth and he makes a perfect man of that Truly Christians let me tell you that all monstruous conceptions are the issues either on the one hand or the other of the degeneracy and not the products of the Creation So here where God hath created the likeness of Christ in love there is you may conclude the likeness of Christ in all other Excellencies the Lord does not use to turn the new Creatures out of his hand by peece-meal or by parts now a little and then a little but the whole is where there is an essential part You shall find all along our Lord Jesus Christ owning these principles in his carriage towards his Disciples and towards them with whom he did converse you can hardly discover in his own disciples so much while he lived as to make up a distinct intire Christian as to parts in equal proportion and yet notwithstanding though Christ observed it yet you shall find he owned them as his own and called them his own Joh. 13. Having loved his own he loved them to the end What think you Was Peter like Christ And did he express any thing of the Image of Christ when he knew that his Lord could have commanded Angels for his security yet he truckles at the accusation of a silly Girl 2. That little grace that is in us does discover a whole right to all Christ and to all the Consequences of every thing that in any Capacity Jesus Christ did or suffered God does not stand with Christians as I may say upon such punctilioes as one Christian stands with another upon God is wise and knows that any thing of his Son is a Gospel-evidence of full right And therefore it is because of his evidence that the Lord will look after and concern himself in the least grain And that is the fifth reason I will but add one more for I would not prevent my self in the Application and that is this VI. The least grain of grace is as really and as truly new-covenant grace as the greatest degree of grace is or can be supposed to be Or if you will the least Christian that hath but true grace is as really a New-Covenant Christian as he that hath most grace and therefore God will look after him When he is sifting Israel in the sieve of the Nations he will look after the grain I pray do but observe these two things for the clearing of this 1. When the Lord Covenants to write his Laws he does not covenant to write them all in the same proportion in all hearts in the same proportion But this is the Covenant I will write my Laws and the proportion that is to be written in the hearts of the Sons and Daughters of men is left to his pleasure to be done Many are ready to question that little they have because they have not so much as another pray when did God ingage himself to proportion thy grace to thy Brothers yet though it be in a lesser proportion it is as truly New-Covenant writing as the writing of a greater Do but turn if you please to that passage in the New Testament Heb. 8. ver 8. Behold the dayes come that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers c. But ver 10. I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts Hath every one the same proportion of Gospel-knowledge in their head No they have not yet every one hath a saving proportion So as to grace in the heart you shall find there is a difference in the proportion though not in the nature of the thing that is proportioned I will write my Laws in their hearts Here 's enough And when a New-Covenant promise hath taken place in the heart the dreadfullest Old-Covenant threatning hath nothing to do there It may be he hath written but some rough Character in thy heart at the present why that is enough to exempt thee from all the Old Covenant proceeds and to give thee right to all the New-Covenant Blessings and if you cannot see it so well God I am sure can 2. But the least grace that God hath created in the heart hath the most Substantial promises made to it I pray Christians is it not a more Substantial promise that you shall be eternally filled with joy in the house of your Father in the Kingdom of glory than to be filled with joy while you live here at the footstool for my part I think if I should never have comfortable day while I live it would be a great happiness to have secret assurance that I shall have an eternal day of Blessedness it may be my condition may be laid open to temptation and it may be thine and thou mayest be yet tryed with a Tryal that is nearer a fiery Tryal than any yet thou hast been laid under but
it is also your duty Keep but in Gods hands and you are well enough Do not you by reason of your own Corruptions start out of Gods way God hath the sieve in his own hand The Nation is but a sieve as I may say pray while God would have you there keep there don't step out of the Lords way till the Lord hath done all his work I pray observe one thing for the opening of it and that is this Live by this principle let the Lord take his own course with you to finish his own work upon you The Lord he is offended at Israel and he takes the Rod of his anger into his hand and he breaks them and bruses them Ay but there were some in Israel that did keep in the Lords way and what then When the Lord hath accomplisht his work upon Mount Sion why then he will break the Rod. My friends do but look upon temptations and afflictions you meet withal as means and methods that he purge you with Is there no chaff hangs upon the Corn I believe there is too much it may be God hath a mind to shake thee out of thy profession that is out of confidence in or lurking under thy profession for security Here 's a little chaff hangs and God hath a mind it shall be burnt and it sticks very close and God he will give it another shake in the Sieve Why Sirs let the Lord alone in his own way He is sifting Ay but he will look after the Wheat while he is sifting pray Christians let God alone It may be God is trying you this way it may be God is trying another another way trying a Servant by a Mistress trying a Parent by a Child trying a Child by a Parent trying a Mistress by a Servant Why what is the meaning of all Why yet there is a little sticks to the grain O Sirs I tell you God would I have you all clean and let God alone in the way of his own proceeds with you he will look after the grain and it 's no matteâ—â—f the chaff be burnt And now I pray Sirs having thus stretch't forth my hand to you what is the return I shall make to him that sent me Are you willing to abide in Gods way And let God alone in his own way Christians should be willing that God should sift till the grain be clean You do not take the chaff and the grain to make your selves bread of it is not fit for your use till it be sisted Well Sirs I tell you there may be a little grain but God hath a mind to sift you a little more he will make you fit for his use before he hath done with you And therefore let him alone in his way Does God afflict you I pray keep in Gods way though it be in a way of affliction though it be in a way of Tryal do not you leap or step out of the way of God No no It is a dangerous thing for a Christian to be found wandering alone in an evil time All that I shall say as the close of the whole is this You see my Friends that God commands the Sieve Behold saies God I will command what will God command Why I will command the Assyrian into the use of a sieve and I will command the Babylonian into the use of a sieve and I will command Edom into the use of a sieve I will command this Nation and the other Nation you see my Friends what ever instruments God makes use of he hath a peculiar regard unto the least grace and the least Christian I will command them and I will sift Christian the worst of thy condition is still in the Lords hand And therefore I pray Christians upon the review of the whole considering God hath said that he will do the business if God saies I will sift such a one in the Sieve of Temptation I will try him this way I will sift another with afflictions I will try him that way I pray'e let God alone Keep your hearts alwaies open to him keep in the way of God and then you will be found inheriting of the blessing of these Sermons and it will be said Lo though the Lord hath sifted them yet not one grain is lost And you may say Lo though the Lord is sifting me in the sieve of the Nations yet I shall not lose one grain For this is his word I will Command and I will sift them in the sieve of the Nations As Corn is sifted in a sieve yet shall not the least grain fall to the Earth SERMON VII Amos 9. Verse 9. For Lo I will Command and I will sift the House of Israel among all Nations as Corn is sifted in a sieve yet shall not the least grain fall upon the Earth THe words are a reserve of grace this and the preceding verse are a mixture of wrath and mercy The greatest discovery of wrath that ordinarily we meet withal and yet the greatest reserve of grace and mercy that ordinarily we meet withal in the Scripture The discovery's of wrath I shall only desire a little to descant upon says the Prophet in the 8. v. The Eyes of the Lord are upon a sinful Kingdom and what then I will destroy it says he from off the face of the Earth and at the 9. v. says he Lo I will command I will sift the House of Israel among all Nations Nations of all Tempers and Nations of all Spirits be they of an Egypttian or of a Babylonian Spirit be they of an Edomitish Spirit or of any Spirit whatsoever says God I will sift them among all Nations It is as much as if God should say I will let loose all sorts of Spirits that are evil and afflictive upon the sinful Kingdom the House of Israel behold says God the Eyes of the Lord are upon a sinful Kingdom I pray observe Obs That your presence with or your relation to a Religious People cannot secure you from the dreadful threatnings that are denounced against the Irreligious by a Holy God Lo says he I will command c. And I do not remember a like passage upon the like occasion in the Scripture I will command says he and I will sift the House of Israel and the Eyes of the Lord are upon a sinful Kingdom Sirs it is not enough to be with Christians and to walk with Christians except you your selves be Christians it is not your being with or walking with the Lords People that can secure you from the Lords threatnings But yet notwithstanding the dreadfulness of the threatning here is a double reserve of grace in the 8. v. he concludes with a reserve of grace and indeed it is the manner of God in the Old Testament to wind up his dreadful threatnings in the most incouraging promises of absolute grace saving that I will not utterly destroy the House of Jacob saith the Lord. I will only observe this one thing