thou hast dealt with thy servant in mercy thou hast not laid heavy taskes upon me I cannot accuse thee like an hypocrite that thou hast taken up where thou hast not strawed nor reaped where thou hast not sowne Rather I may say that others have laboured and I am entred into their labours that is found a sweet and easie work of beleeving Now as I blesse thee for this so yet be not angry with me if I have another request to make unto thee Matth. 25.24 and that is that thou wouldest still hold the like hand towards me in making the life of faith sweet unto me and the course of obedience most welcome and familiar Oh! let it be no harsh thing unto me to beleeve all thy other promises Gen. 18.30 concerning strength against tentations power against my lusts And breed experience for time to come Lord let not the difficulty of walking be as great as the ease of conversion was mercifull just it were with thee to make it so and to try me what soundnesse what uprightnesse were in me by hard trialls But oh lead me not into tentation do not suffer my corruptions to wax stronger then I can master nor Satan to be more fierce and fiery in his darts then I can resist or quench I doe not pray against crosses or assaults but that they may be according to man and that an issue may be given with them that I may say thou hast been afflicted with me in all my afflictions to make them tolerable Esay 63.9 by thy meekenesse confidence patience and courage put into me Let the Angel of thy presence save me and conduct me beare me up by thy hand continually and redeeme me out of them all at last in an happy manner give me O Lord both the upper and the nether springs enlarge my coast and be with me against those Cananites of the mountaines Judg. 1.15 who have iron chariots If thou shalt indeed blesse me as Iabez said thou shalt be my God 1 Chron. 4.10 Teach me mercy to the distressed patience in affliction faith in straits sobernesse in blessings faithfulnesse if a Minister subjection if a wife understanding if an husband dutifulnesse if a child trustinesse if a servant and let there be sweet ease in all these Lust is sweet Lord to my unmortified part but present thou such a prevailing sweetnesse in thy love by thy promise that it may bear down the corrupt pleasure of my sinne so that while thy love and the joy of thy countenance is present the image of such scurfe may bee despised and it may not be tedious to mee to reject the tentations to wrath revenge earthlinesse loosenesse in liberties pride vanity But all these may become bitter to mee thy grace making them so Oh brethren the Lord teach you to thinke of this Strange it is how many of us goe to worke with God in the way of our conversation especially if private solemne dangerous disgraced hard duties be urged wee finde our hearts so sullen weary hollow fickle carnall in any duty which concernes us as if God were highly beholding to us for our worke What then should be the pitch of our ambition with God save that still he would carry us upon Eagles wings hide all difficulty of Religion from us present it to us as a sweet object remove our waywardnesse of will and fill us with love that wee comprehending the length depth and height of it might be filled with his fulnesse and be carried on without any great rubs or sad offences that our heads may not be brought to our graves with sorrow but wee may finish our course with joy David in that Psalme 27.4 having found one mercy with God staies not there but laies in for a new What is that One thing I will aske of God that he will not deny me That I may walke and spend all my daies in his house continually A child findes it no trouble to him to walke in the presence of a loving father who pitties and provides for him So shouldest thou Mourne thus if ever any thing come between my soul and ease it will be this treacherous heart which will come to a point It s that which so manacles and pinions my soule that I cannot reach that liberty and joy which thy servants feele It s that Lord which makes me so darke so lowring discontent unfruitfull and sad Esay 38. Oh Lord ease me here these have oppressed me deliver me I doe not lay in for liberty to the lusts of the flesh to fulfill them Pray for five things to make Religion sweet I desire the curbing and destruction of them for ever and their wasting daily But till thy sweetnesse satisfie my soule and soake me to the rootes I shall never be as I would be nor can thy worke bee as it ought to be Accept therefore first the will for the deed a little for much that shall be one vantage Then againe cover and hide defects and looke upon my better part thine owne grace and not my corruption interpret me with favour to the uttermost Then thirdly betrust me with those principles of love and sincerity which will make a little goe a great way And then make my lusts to be my clogs and as Sauls armour upon Davids backe who could not goe with them And to conclude make the yoake of thine afflictions easie and enlarge me to runne the way of thy commandements with cheerfulnesse So much for this third Branch Branch 4 But there is yet a fourth branch of Exhortation behinde flowing more necessarily from this Doctrine Nourish not feares about the way of God then any of the former And that is this That seeing the people of God have an allowance from God of ease in beleeving Therefore let all poore soules set their hearts at rest and not nourish fears within themselves of a more tedious entrance into the Kingdome of Grace then the Lord hath promised Nay rather let them fasten upon this priviledge not looking at themselves but at him who hath all impossibilities at his becke and can turne them to ease In which respect Abraham is said to beleeve that although in shew Sara's wombe was to be barren yet because God was able to make good his word therefore from one who was as dead should issue thousands Thus faith gives glory to God and drownes her owne fears in his power True it is wee cannot beleeve that God will make his promise easie till we beleeve But one excellent argument to draw us to beleeve is the meditation of it as an easie worke and that the Lord can and will make it so As I noted before the cause why so many start and shrinke from the way of God is the conceit of the most noysome and tedious hardnesse of it The sluggard still cries A Lion is in the way Proverb I dare not goe Take we heed of this bondage Wee cannot dishonour God
done with ease Naamans worke was to beleeve But having so done all the thought is taken God lookes to the cure without his care Could any thing come between him and home betweene promise and performance Not possibly for who should hinder God Esay 43.13 Faith is the presence of God in the soule Heb. 11.1 by making an evidence of things not seen and a bottome in things absent grace for grace Ioh. 1.17 may bee grace of performing for grace of beleeving Let this use lead on anoâ—her then in the feare of God and teach us to try our faith by this excellent property of performing promises True faith is perforforming faith And how Thinke not thy selfe to have true faith except thou hast performing faith Men rest in a naked empty faith bearing themselves in hand that they have true faith and they looke at the faithfulnesse of God in promising but aske them of performances and then they know not what to say to the matter Alas poore soule Faith is no pang or passage of a mans spirit woulding this or that nor a looking at a promise of truth as a thing doubtfull to me ward but it is a bottoming grace concurring most holily and humbly with the Lord in his reall and faithfull performings also That heart which supplieth performances with conceits of things that are not with some carnall contents or other without the presence of the thing beleeved more or lesse is a dead faith and knowes not the kindly nature of faith Prevention of an offence My scope in thus saying is not to adde sorrow to sorrow and to pinch such poore soules as have sufficient griefe already for lacke of feeling But to convince all false hypocrites as rest in a faith of their owne not in the faith of God who as Esay 55.2 saith lay out their silver for no bread but in the meane time nourish in themselves a dismall faith which failes of the grace of performance I dare not say that all performances are alike sensible all hearings of our prayers are not alike manifest to our feeling all fruit of receiving Sacraments fasting and the like are not of one cize measure carry not the same evidence peace comfort But hence it followes not Faith when shee s at lowest is yet a performing â—â—ith that any true faith is or can be dead faith in point of performing Naamans cure here was a more sensible one then some spirâ—tuall cures of faith are because it was bodily But yet even when faith seemes poorest her performances are reall and she never truly resignes up herselfe to a promise but if she come short in feeling she hath a supply from the reall faithfulnesse of God who hath told her That such a corruption decayeth such a grace encreaseth such a good thing is cast upon her because God hath said it and this doth really stay and quiet her spirit in him As an ancient Christian being asked whether he grew all this while in grace answered that he could not much boast of that he felt howbeit he beleeved that he did for God had said it According to thy faith so be it unto thee And contrariwise hence learne the wofull misery and beggery of unbeleef As Salomon speakes of the field of the sluggard Prov 24.30 that the briars and brambles thereof argueth his sloth so I may say of unbeleefe that its the roote of all the rags and basenesse which men walke with The difficulty of getting over this steep hill of performances comes onely from hence 1 Sam. 14.13 Ionathan sought on the lower ground against the Philistins by faith as if he had had the vantage of the ground Many men have faire hopes and opportunities to get favours from God but it s not the price in the hand but the heart of faith to beteame it to the promise and to lay it out Unbeleefe bindes the armes of God from performing of promises Unbeleefe bindes the armes of mercy and grace in God behinde him If God be so faithfull a performer what hath stopt the fountaine all this while Why is it so little a seen upon thy soule How might this barren heath of thine heart ere now become a flood as Esay saith 43.20 if thy sinne had not dried it up Well as the sinne of an unbeleever shall not restraine the bounty of God from him that beleeveth so neither shall the faith of a beleever supply the lacke of it in one that wants it Thinke not poore soule that the Sacrament shall be ever the lesse savoury and effectuall to thee because of them who come in to it with a saplesse and gracelesse heart Doe not thou thinke ere the meanlier of thy faith because hypocrites lowre upon thee and discerne not thy priviledge Prov. 14.10 But looke the more narrowly into thy priviledge and solace thine heart in it for neither shall any stranger enter into thy joy nor yet shalt thou fare the worse for their beggery So much for this Seventhly this point affords Admonition to all who would rejoyce in effectuall Vse 7 faith and faith in performances Admonition To avoid le ts of performances 1. Let. Mistaking performances That they strive hard against every let in the way which might hold their faith in a barren and fruitlesse defect and unprofitablenes There is nothing so excellent but it hath some canker to fret out the pith of it to blast the beauty of it One barre is the mistaking of performances we frame to our selves such an Idea of Gods favours such a great measure of graces such a pitch of faith of mortification and holinesse that hereby our eyes are blindfolded from beholding such performances as the Lord bestoweth But consider Is God tyed to thy scantlings We see how they Mica 2.6 come in and complaine against God in this kinde But marke the answer of God Oh thou house of Iacob is my Spirit straitned Are not my words good to them that walke uprightly So say I is God false because thou overpitchest thy thoughts beyond Gods wisdome Thou aimest at another mans portion as they who gathered manna were too greedy But be content with thine owne If thou have enough to keepe thee in working case jealous of thy selfe and thy corruptions it s enough although thou have not all at once Thou wouldest have three or foure mens portions so much as perhaps the Lord sees would overthrow thee Alas what canst thou beare in this multitude of corruption If thou hadst thy fill it would cost thee much buffeting to keep thee from pride Know that the very meer worke of exercising thy faith is a reward of it selfe Secondly trust not to thy dead priviledge of being a Beleever 2. Carnality and deadnesse of heart and so commit all to winde and weather maintaine not a dull drowsie lasie heart of unbeleefe but hold quarter daily with the Lord in concurring with his promises see how his performances follow thy beleeving
them out roughly by the advantage which I have gotten by thy Word Let not the blind and the lame come any more at the City of David it is no place for them As thy Word prevailes so let doubts and distempers cease and hold this sea of my troubled heart in that calmenesse which thine owne voyce once caused when thou rebukedst the waves thereof So much for this Sixthly this is Admonition to all that would find the Promise Use 6 to cast out all their distempers Admonit that they beware of all such lets as keepe them from closing with the Promise Commonly according to our faith so is it with us Therefore let us take heed of whatsoever might cause us to warpe from the Promise For as it is in the graffing of a sien into the stocke if any thing fall into the cleft of the stocke which holds off the sien from cleaving close to the stocke thereby it comes to passe that the sap of the stocke comes not at the sien to nourish it and so in stead of growing one with the stocke it is separated therefrom and withers away so is it here Whatsoever it be that keeps off the soule from clasping to the Promise let us studiously cast it out lest the soule returne to her old distempers and communicate not of the sap and virtue of it to sustaine her in hope and comfort Who would lose his labour in so weighty a case as the returning back of such an enemy Who would not be at any cost to be rid of it We have a common speech That a man must make a silver bridge for an enemy to escape away on condition wee may be troubled with him no more So if God will chase away our distempers and help us to beat them downe from flying like bees about our eares let us be at some cost to furnish our selves with sound faith in the Promise And whatsoever it be that might keepe the heart away and cause it to lye loose to the promise let us be aware of it and abhorre it Here some may aske What are the usuall lets of this grace of faith from comming into the soule Answ I will mention some few of them Le ts of beleeving before I conclude the use The first is Mindlesnesse and Heedlesnesse of the Promise we count it not as it is a large thing but as a strange thing Nay it were well if we beheld it so for strange things are beheld with studiousnesse But rather as a slight common matter Get we therefore sound judgement of this Medicine and judge of it as a thing which will worke wonders Wee should magnifie it in this respect in our owne eyes it is said that the Lord magnified Moses and Joshua when as at their word the Sea and Jordan went backward and became a wall on both sides of them that they might goe over dry-shod If the mouth of a Promise be so honourable what is the word of the Eternal God If the feet of them be beautifull that utter it what then is the message If Heathens would so beautifie these Idols which they worshipped the better to draw their affections how should wee set up the Promise as worthy our beleeving Truly I may compare it to many things It is like Moses his speech to the Israelites Stand still and behold the salvation of God for those Egyptians which you see this day to pursue you you shall never see more Oh! if the Promise were so beheld by us as the arme of Gods power able to drowne all our distempers as in a sea that wee might never see them more What a blessed sight were it Behold it then as they did and take good marke of it as a thing not to be slighted over So it is said of our Saviour that his word rebuked the sea and her waves so that there was a great calme And the people were amazed at it saying Who is this that even the sea and the tempests obey him So shoâ—ld we be astonish't to thinke of the power of a promise saying what speciall thing is it that turnes such distempers of spirit into such a calme It s like to the hands of Ananias which being laid upon Paul caused the scales to fall off his eyes So should the promise cause thy scales of errours thy feares thy qualmes and distempers to vanish Behold it as a rare medicine which hath caused all the feares of the people of God to cease Act. and to turne to sweet ease Davids Hezekia's Jonah's Pauls theirs of Samaria at Philips preaching It s like to Peters preaching to that same City at the beleeving whereof the inchanmtents and delusions wherewith before the whole city was gulled became as smoake in the aire It s like a certaine Court-Lady called Jane Make-peace of whom in the ancient English Chronicle it s recorded that shee was of so sweet and amiable a nature that whatsoever quarrell fell out in the Kings Court among the Nobles or in the Family she presently tooke it up and made all quiet This is truly the Lady Make-peace betweene God and the soule dispelling all doubts of conscience and making it quiet againe Do we take her to be so and set by her and is she so beloved and blessed a thing in our soules as that Lady was among all the Courtiers Surely then her worth would procure honour and esteeme from us and we should not passe by the promise so slightly as wee doe Our giggish heads have not the gift to observe a Promise we are as Naaman so full of his crotchets so looking another way that his servants are here faine to tell him of it and say Father thinke better of the Prophets words do not slight them over so Verily till this be effected that the Truths of God beare eminent note in our eye there is small hope of doing us good Wee heare twenty Sermons of Promises ere our eye be turn'd the right way They are as beames and we make them but as moles Get we bookes of promises and turne our eye off the whiles from other objects that these may be dwelt upon The second is Forgetfulnesse Wee digest not the promise when as we have once observed it Wee suffer it to leake out as water by the chinkes of a vessell It becomes as meat to an ill habited stomach which regorges it as fast as it receives it and stayes not till it be altered Many pageants wee will looke at for the pleasantnesse of them which yet we instantly passe over But the Promise doth us no good nor can ease us of our distempers till it abide in us Our Saviour oft presseth this If my Word abide in you you shall be my Disciples Let the Word dwell Col. 3. As the misers chest and coffers is fraught with gold and pearles so should the soule of a good man with the promises it should be his Treasure Pondering of the Promises Matt. 12. is as the retaining of
Diabolicall temptations from our own feares whether moderate or excessive whether terrors proceed from sin properly or some evil of punishment whether the heart rebell under conviction or no 2. Deferre not the season search out the speciall let which holds the soule from the condition or being under it from faith 4. Vpon revolts what to doe Whence the particular trouble arises ibid. Ministers must not bee distrustfull of God in the execution of their place 384. Snare not their consciences Dishonour not their persons or disable themselves in doing good to the people ibid. And set himselfe cheerfully on worke to feed and rule them ibid. 387 Ministers reproach themselves much by ascribing too much to such people as are unsound pag. 407 Ministers must love the people for no sinister ends but for obedience to the truth pag. 409 Ministers who will purchase interest in their people must forgoe some of their owne right pag. 412 Magistrates Ministers and all Governors must be sincere in their censures 416. See them reckoned up there Motives to it ibid. Popish Mortification discovered to be hypocritical pag. 431 Ministers should gaster lewd people out of those errors that harden them pag. 485 Motives to faith sundry 505. First faith gives most glory to God 2. Christs last enquiry will be for faith 3. God will be admired in all and onely beleevers 4. God shall come in vengeance against all unbeleevers 5. Faith is a rare Iewell 6. No riddance of our distempers till wee beleeve ibid. 510 Ministers must not prostitute their authority to the backing of such commands as are against God pag. 524 Markes and proofes of the liberty and dispensations which men take for sin 1. Their number 2. Their cunning 3. Carnall counsell 4. Their questions 5. Their wits 6. Their malice 7. Their partiality 8. Their basenesse ibid. 554 555 Wee must mourne for such as have forsaken their closenesse in obeying God 556. Much more for our owne loosnesse in that kinde ibid. A short form of such a complaint ibid. Meanes helping the soule to close obedience 562. as first Faith in Christ our Law-giver 2. Due meditation of the object of obedience 3. Mark examples of closenesse 4. Prayer 5. Humilitie 6. Observe Gods judgements 7. And thinke of his rewards 8. Selfe-deniall ibid. Misery of such as rest in false Cures and an unsound condition pag. 864 N. Nature of old Adam insensible and unperceivable of holy things and the more holy the worse especially mysteries pag. 1 Naamans story and the pâ—ssages thereof very remarkâ—ble pâ—g 7. Particulars of it ibid. Number of seven very holy with Papists but in it selfe no holâ—er then others pag. 65 Novices in grace must know there be many difficulties in getting it and not be dismaid pag. 92 Novices looke not at the troubles for time to come but onely at the present pag. 95 None so bad but have some good 105. and what abuse the civill person makes of it ibid. Nourish no such dregges in us as by which carnall reason might bee supported 210. Sundry of these noted ibid. And ten more of abettors to this sin noted after ibid Newters Atheists c. terrified pag. 347 Nourish not your feares about the way of God 374. and counsels against this disease ibid. O. Obedience to the command of faith is easie 357. Clearing it by answer to the objections of hypocrites by reasons ibid. As 1. In respect of the difficult way of the Law 2. In respect of a further thing aimed at by the Lord viz. the recovery of his Image 3. In respect of the merit and price of it 4. In respect of the dispensation of it 5. In respect of that grace which accompanies all under the condition ibid. The particular meanes by which the Lord makes faith easie to his people ibid. Such as have found ease in this way must be thankfull pag. 369 Obedience of love to the Minister urgâ—d in sundry instances 405 Occasionall and temporary commands binde as strongly for the present as the morall and perpetuall doe pag. 516 P. God prevents such by his providence and ministring meanes and occasions whom he means to save 41. Both to his Church in general and each member Reasons foure or five The ends are his therefore the means else Gods purpose should hang upon man The end ordereth the whole frame of the action ibid. Gods preventions in what kinde and manner they lye pag. 44 Gods preventions and mans forecast differ much ibid. Six preventions of God named 1. God over-rules diverts alters our intents to sway unto his ibid. 2. Overpowers the soule from stumbling at discouragements 45. 3. Disposeth of all occasions and antecedents ibid. 4. Accommodates all things to sort to his owne ends 46. 5. Removes such things as he foresees would hinder ibid. 6. Especially inspires the meanes and blesseth them to the attaining of their effect pag. 47 To want all Preventing grace and to live as dead blocke very fearfull pag. 47. 48 Preventing grace of God deserves adoring and thanks at our hands 49. and praier ibid. Passages of preventing providence pag. 50 Preventions of God should humble us ibid. 51 Dallying with them causeth God to blast us pag. 48. 52 Preventions past should arme us against feare of corruptions prevailing pag. 52 53 Popish insolency of the Clergy over Gods people intollerable pag. 57 Proud nature of man quickly forgets humiliation pag. 63 Popish stately devotion odious to God pag. 79 Proud Hypocrites disdaine to bee taught by meane ones pag. 80 Priviledges of Religion keepe many from being truly Religious what it is and how dangerous pag. 115 Pharisees terrified pag. 148 Professors unsound in peace will much more bee rotten in triall pag. 211 People must abhor carnall reason as well as Ministers and in what pag. 216 Parents and Governours ought to beware of carnall reason pag. 219 Phisitians beware of Atheisme pag. 220 Prejudice an abettor of carnall reason pag. 220 Popery notoriously tainted with carnall reason and wherein three instances pag. 222. 223 Practise of carnall reason reproved in all sorts twelve of them noted pag. 227 Policy though it may appeare to some to be sinfull yet may be warrantable 241. and wherein six or seven instances propounded ibid. upon what tearme ibid. Proud pharisees alway most ready to taxe others of pride who are innocent pag. 261 Preventing Grace cannot be severed from assisting in such as are saved 279. The reasons of the point wherein this assistance stands pag. 281 Papists put us downe for government pag. 311 People must take heed lest they turne their eare from counsell of their Ministers 335. counsels tending thereto three or foure ibid. Putters off of the promise to bee reproved pag. 352 Preachers who sow pillowes most odious and to be abhorred pag. 368 Pelagian ease of free-will and selfe-conversion confuted ibid. Pitty such as get to heaven with much difficulty pag. 370 Pray for five things to make Religion sweet 1. Acceptance of the will
with what an humble sober heart he used life it selfe and much more all inferior comforts whose tenant at will he confessed himselfe to be and with what an heart he commended his spirit into the hands of him that gave it as oft as he lay downe to his rest And sure it is the little acknowledging of this Soveraignty and salvation of God is the cause why many of us are compelled to learne it by sad experience who else might enjoy it with more freedome Gods not being tyed to us in grace urges Prayer for daily assisting grace as very necessary The like I might speake touching Gods spirituall safeguard of our soules and the salvation of his Church The Lord is not absolutely tyed to us in these respects We should humble our soules for these also and say thou canst Lord if thou wilt vouchafe me such a measure of comfort by beleeving peace in my conscience admiration at thy love burning zeale for thy glory compassion and brokennesse of heart for my breaches of covenant and daily failings Thou hast the key of the wombe of heaven of the deepes the grave and of mine heart Lord the restraints or enlargements thereof are from thee Thou hast promised thy grace shall be sufficient 2 Cor. 12.7 Esai 63.13 but my wretched proud defiled soule may provoke thee to shrinke in thy graces thy rolling of bowels and opennesse of spirit But yet thou art the soveraigne Lord of thine owne good things thou canst if thou wilt remoove my tickling heart after the world mine envy pride hypocrisie Thou canst if thou wilt purge out my sloth deadnesse hardnesse of heart security unthankefulnesse and the like Oh Lord these cause me to walke sadly and to grone daily for ease Oh that thy good pleasure were to perfect thy first grace with this second assistance and efficacy and to cast in all those promises to the first which concerne mortification and a new creature Oh that I might not provoke thee by my wilfulnesse and unbeliefe to restraine the influence of heaven from mee and to make thy clowdes as brasse and mine heart as iron Lord thou mayst in thy soveraigne free grace enlarge thy selfe let not my base rebellious distempers dry up the welspring of thy promises God gives not account of all his matters And to conclude the Lord is a soveraigne God also in respect of his administration of his whole militant Church Although she be his spouse and hath a right to all his goodnesse yet God gives not an account of all his matters nay oftentimes she incurres a premunire with God and by her former lazy Laodicean temper of a fulsome carelesse surfeted spirit deserves that the Lord should use his soveraignty and prerogative of discipline over her for her correction and amendment Therefore although he take not his loving kindnesse from her yet Sins of the Church the cause of Gods hiding himselfe her Lethargy and Palsey frame her wearinesse and contempt of his ordinances and their power may cause him to chasten her with the rods of men Now we are in such cases of wanting the meanes of injury and violence of times encroaching of enemies inundation of errors and profanenesse and decay of love and zeale in the better sort very prone to taxe Gods wisedome and call him to our barre as if we would teach him more wisedome See Jer. 12.1.2 But alas the Lord is a soveraigne God and knowes what physicke our maladies require he knowes our rust will not be filed off without much rubbing and scowring He lookes at the generall ends of his providence which are to punish severely the declensions and revolts of such as professe his Name let us not wonder that our praiers sticke in their ascent and prevaile little we looke still at meanes and ordinances to be still as we have beene but the Lord lookes at the melting and purging out our drosse and trying us whether we be reprobate silver or no. In this case what shall we doe call for our prayers backe againe and give the Lord over No surely let us know we can goe no whither to speed better if we leave him but confesse his soveraigne power might force him to a decree against us lie low licking the dust of his feet John 6.68 2 King 23.2.3 c. Jer. 45.5 Psalm 119. Mica 7.9 with Iosia and his people striving as much against the streame as we can and craving our owne lives may be given us as a prey if we can speed for no more but however not forsaking our covenant nor giving him over through a sullen discontented heart till either he plead our cause and bring forth our light or else make our poore lives tolerable in the midst of our sorrowes and teach us wisely and faithfully to serve our time So much for the second Use Thirdly this doctrine is confutation and reproofe of the enemies of Vse 3 Gods soveraignty or the cavillers and abusers of it First Confutation of all Cavellers against the Soveraignty of God all such as take away the ground of this soveraignty of God For if it be so as many dreame that man is only in a darke dungeon yet still hath his eyes in his head to see and apprehend light if it be offred and a liberty of will by Sort. 1 the benefit of light to embrace and receive it sure it is God hath not man at such a deepe advantage as we speake of ye must marke all the grace of such men is the will of the flesh upon generall enlightning Secondly Sort. 2 all that fight against the royall freedome of Gods dispensation of grace by the meanes to some and not to others both being every way alike I say equally distant from it or from any propension and accommodation toward it either within or without Oh! it frets them to the very heart to heare that there should be any such liberty ascribed to God! They confesse that on mans part there may be some barres to hinder grace But they cannot endure it that when the object lyes indifferently disposed then soveraignty should reject or receive upon meere will no reason at all appearing this cuts them to the heart that they may not bind the hands of God behind him to carry himselfe alike to all who lye in equall and faire correspondence to it But O ye wretches goe learne what this meanes not of the willer or the runner but of mercy Not our making toward grace but graces making towards us saves us Rom. 9. Thirdly it reproves our carnall vanity who in our thoughts will be bold Sort. 3 to prefer such to Gods grace as please us well for their gifts hearings repeatings of sermons doing duties and forwardnesse without teaching them to humble their soules and cast out their Pharisaicall spirit which hinders more then all their gifts further them Oh! Matth. 8. as those Jewes spake of that Ruler that he deserved he should doe him the
favour of healing so these thinke it were but reasonable that God should grant mercy to such a towardly and zealous childe or novice But as that Ruler hearing of their words to Christ came himselfe and abased himselfe cast off his merit and his building of a Synagogue professing himselfe unworthy under whose roofe Christ should come and so prevailed so must thou deale with the soveraignty of mercy if ever it be thine No no not the appearances of man can bind the Lord but his free love must overrule him The most poore despised impotent and silly wench among all thy brood may speed of mercy when the bravest wittiest and hopefullest of thē goes without Look at none despise none by the outward semblance Grace is free who knowes but thou mayst be an instrument of soveraignty to breed some savor of mercy even in that wife of thine which hath long beene most averse in spirit in that poore drudge of the kitchin who hath come last to prayers that child which of all the rest seemes of least capacity its not the easinesse of our heart to accept nor the rebellion thereof to refuse but the invinciblenesse of the Lords soule who cannot be pulled from his Elect and the efficacy of grace and powerfull mercy which carries the will of the creature before it not by compelling or necessitating of it but by a sweete perswasion and drawing it by his owne cordes to beleeve it making it of nilling willing and of willingable and effectuall to embrace it Sort. 4 Fourthly it must stop all the base cavills of men Oh! saith one I have spent the best part of seven yeares to obtaine a broken heart and cannot get it I see such and such can so melt and be so lowly upon the first hearing of the Word and grow to some measure of faith in short time as is incredible Surely if I had belonged to God I had long since been accepted Why Is not God the soveraigne giver or denier the furtherer or delayer of his owne grace Is not mercy his owne to give at his pleasure Is it not thank-worthy if thou get it at the eleventh houre even upon the Crosse with the theefe Esay 65.1 Is God tyed Is he not sometime found of them that seeke him not who never dreamt of him but walked in their ignorance and jolly in their lawlesse way And doth he not suffer some that seeke him with a Pharisaicall heart to goe without yea although they seeke him humbly and painefully doth not he know his owne best season Is thine eye evill because his is good doth he tie himselfe alway to one course God courses in the drawing home of his very divers No surely some he inclines to the meanes and breeds an hope a farre off others he holds under the meanes a long time in darkenesse the truth is he is tyed to no course to no persons seasons meanes or measures Turne thine impatience to humble selfe-deniall and adore God in his liberty goe to worke aright and ascribe to no meanes nor to thy selfe but his meere good pleasure and this will Sort. 5 prove the neerer way home though it seeme further about Fifthly doe not abuse this doctrine to forestall thy care in the use of meanes Doe not waxe out of measure wicked in shaking of all diligence to heare because God hath the whole strength in his owne hand to determine as he pleases But know that as the end so the meanes and the ordering thereof is in his hands Wouldst thou deny thy selfe all succors of the creature to feed and cherish thee because if the Lord have appointed thee to live Sort. 6 thou shalt live and if to dye no meanes shall sustaine thee Also doe not by this doctrine disorder the secret and revealed will of God but reverendly distinguish and observe both The one is that by which hee hath determined the ends Gods will double with the difference The other whereby he appoints the duties of men The one is unknowne to thee adore it but snare not thy selfe with it let not that forestall thy care and diligence in use of the meanes appointed by the revealed will Say not thus if I knew my selfe ordained to salvation I would apply my selfe willingly to them but how doe I know whether I belong to God Quest and shall not use the meanes in vaine to encrease my judgement Answ I answer thee Election is not revealed to any to encourage them to use meanes or beleeve But meanes of faith are offered to incourage to beleeve The knowledge of Election in such as attaine it flowes from faith not faith from it Fall thou to the meanes as God offers them which shall bee a signe unto thee of an humble and plaine heart and descant not upon that thou knowest not a signe of a froward rebellious spirit Thou art in the dungeon the Lord offers thee a ladder to come out cords and rags to hale thee up As Ebedmelec did to Ieremy Should Ieremy standing in his mire Jerem. 38.11 have felt more will to descant upon Ebedmelecs purpose in the casting in of rags and cords then desire to apply himself to the way of comming out might he not have lyen long enough there but if God have given thee the heart of Ieremy to tremble at the dungeon thou wilt not find leasure to quarrel with Ebedmelec what his meaning is unto thee but simply judge his meaning by his act his love by his cords and say thou mayst leave me here still with my cordes upon my shoulders but it seemes not so by thy offer for then thou mightst have spared this labor Therefore I obey thy charge and trust thee for drawing me up who gavest me thy cords and when I am drawne out then will I say now I know thy good will by the effect thereof Doe so in this case and prosper And so much for this second generall arising from the whole context And also for this time Let us pray c. THE SECOND LECTVRE VPON THE NINTH VERSE 9 So Naaman came with his horses and charets and stood before the dore of Elisha 10 And Elisha sent a messenger c. WEE come now beloved more closely to the words themselves Entrance upon the ninth vers and begin with this ninth verse as an introduction to the points following to the twentieth although it containe none of the five generalls which I intend chiefely to dwell upon yet it is the key to unlocke the doore of entrance upon all It containes the immediate occasion of the miraculous cure and conversion of Naaman Containing the Antecedents of the cure of Naaman and of those antecedent passages which lead unto it both the message of Elisha and Naamans entertaining thereof of which after But for this ninth verse sithence it hath in it some maine points of doctrine which depend upon the connexion of former verses we must open them first as all points gathered out of
all adversity as Oded saith If thou scape the Lion the Beare shall meet thee if both a Serpent out of the wall shall bite thee There is no struggling And besides why should a streight so scare thee from God hath it no power or use in it to draw thee neerer God will nothing serve thee save to hate him for amends whom thou hast already hurt Is not all for thy good if thou be not a Bedlam And mayst thou not blesse God for a Little-ease when the world could not hold thee nor the earth beare thee for thy wildnesse and insatiablenesse in sin Tell me Streights cannot bee well wanted if God had not matched thee who could hadst thou not been damned Shall then the remedy bee worse then the disease wilt thou breake all chaines wit hs and ropes like Samson cannot a prison hold thee when all is done Oh if not before yet at the last when God hath thee there grinding like an Asse look up and say I will return to my father Or thinkest thou that thou shalt not profit by it Remember it is a marke of a reprobate not to profite by the last medicine Oh! there is abundant gaine in a crosse and streight Beleeve the doctrine and apply thy selfe to it sue to God for an heart to concurre with him in it and thou shalt finde a streight to be more wholesome for thee then to have thy will Heathens could say so and art thou a Divell to deny it One of them a deep observer of moralls and events having knowne one to bee very licentious in life and after comming to see him on his death-bed writes thus of it to his friend Yesterday I understood by visiting such a one how much better wee are in sicknesse then in health For what sicke man shall you see covetuous or libidinous or revengefull or contentious So that it were to be wished that we were such in coole blood and in health as in feare of death wee are forced to bee So farre hee So that wee shall need to consult with no Scripture for the matter But if we doe we shall read Lam. 3.27 It is good for a man that he beare the yoke and vers 22. even in chains and banishment the Church confesseth The compassions of the Lord are renewed every morning which she did scarcely see in liberty I need name no more Onely let this be noted That it is not wise for us so studiously to shun or shift off streights Shunne not streights nor so eagerly to lay for ease and liberty to the flesh except wee would covet sorrow and avoid humiliation Rather lay together what vantage thousands have made thereof both Prodigals before conversion and Revolters after repentance how the pride and jollity of the one in knowing no God as Nebuchadnezzar and the Jaylor hath beene turned into meeknesse and how the carnall sensuality of the other as David being driven away by Absolom and Samson in prison hath been corrected and changed to sobriety and watchfulnesse Lastly let this exhort all who would be truly happy to looke up to God the maker of yokes the easer of yokes and the sanctifier thereof that he would concurre with them in giving them a kindly worke and issue Vse 4 upon our soules Exhortation Looke up to God for a sanctified use of all strairs Alas straits and extremities are no reall substance of goodnesse but only preparatives and accidentalls occasioning the worke The effect of grace resteth in the pleasure of him that sends them if with an heart of mercy they shall not cease till they have left the soule under the authority of grace if not they shall onely make it inexcusable in the day of destruction Rest not then in this which many rest in that they feele an awed fearefull heart checking and taming them from old ventrousnesse and sawcinesse against God This is a great change but not the change which they must looke after For as a Master Not onely to awe and tame us doth as truly loath a base slave as a sawcy fellow to be his servant preferring a lowly and chearefull subjection before both extreames so doth the Lord he loaths both the bold the servile spirit If Naaman had rested in this his crouching at the Prophets gate under the disease he felt he had never been cured and yet even this was one step to pull downe his stomacke We see that when hee was put to it in the next verse he raged as base as he seemed here A Lion is a Lion still both couchant and rampant But if a Lion were made a lambe it should be a Lion no more Religion stands in no forreigne violence or pangs and acts of compulsion but in inward habits and principles Every violent thing doth but watch her time to bee set at liberty as a prisoner to finde the doores open and to file his chaine off Why Because he was where he would not be and seekes to be where his delight is A proud carnall heart vaine and loving sensuall objects may be held from them a time and for the while in some respects thinke its well that its free from the tyranny of some lusts for the noysomenesse sake But when it can have liberty to them and be let out to old objects of vanity pride and sensuality it prefers it rather because the constitution of it is naturally so I say therefore rest not in such an estate Consider how endlesse it is to strive with a body of evill by a few pangs of actuall distaste and violent restraint Thinke with thy selfe how little thou hast prevailed by all this course and that it will be a work ever to do till the Lord binde the soule to her good behaviour by putting goodnesse into it and causing it to behave it selfe well it is but as the damming up of a violent streame which will have her course Be not too much dismaid at the thought of a new change of thine heart it s at the first a sad object to the carnall heart but the sweetnesse of it at last makes it welcome The Lord begins with violence but ends in sweetnesse the spirit of grace working a principle of delight in the soule But to work a change in the soule and to turn it to God The dismall thoughts of a true change by a milde and softly drawing the will freely to choose grace before corruption even for the good and savour which it feels therein As it was lately with a melancholy man upon his marriage he was exceedingly dejected to thinke that now hee had put himselfe into a new frame which hee had not formerly knowne and lost the liberty of his single estate brought the charge of wife children and family upon himself whereof before he was free so is it with the corrupt part when it judges of that estate which God pulles her to But if God match that feare with the sweetnesse of union and marriage
powder and shot to the battery The Lord therefore substitutes seely instruments in stead thereof and when mighty effects follow then is his might magnified For the second though wee deny not but the Lord is chiefe The 2. yet still we look at meanes and thinke God workes by them and why should wee not therefore embrace them Our base hearts fall short of God through lazinesse and distrust as well as by Atheisme And therefore even here also God layes a block in our way to stumble at and breake our shinnes to teach us to behold God more closly in the use of meanes both in matters of the World and of the Word he puts us off from our Elisha and sends us to wash in Jorden Thirdly if we goe a little further The 3. and set God up in his place above the meanes yet we take it for granted he must not faile us wee will tye him to over-rule and work by the meanes and thinke much if God satisfie us not accordingly Whereas wee should so look at God as an absolute soveraigne Agent who can work or not work by them above them against them without them Now I come to the use And first this is instruction in sundry kindes Vses 1 First Instruct to teach us why the Lord hath so stript our land and kingdome of Branch 1 so many worthy Lights and Instruments as he hath done some by death some by banishment others in warre others by other violence why hee hath so stript and bared us of many both in civill and Ecclesiasticall state Surely because we applauded our selves too much in their policie Wee have lost many worthy instruments because wee ascribed too much unto them their wisedome their learning experience and sufficiencie We have not looked upon God in their gifts zeale and labours wee have magnified our selves in our store and provision as if we should never be desolate as Tyrus did pride her self in her store of Jewels and pretious stones as Babel sate like a Queen and said she should never see sorrow and therefore was suddenly brought downe See Ezek. cap. 26.27 and 28. verse 13. Jer. 51.53 Lam. 1.9 John 5 35. and as Jerusalem thought her selfe the holy Mountaine and Citie of God the mirror of the world having the Ark of Gods presence his Temple and Priests his Ordinances and Prophets his Word and Oracles therefore Lam. 1. shee came downe wonderfully Even so hath it been with us No sooner hath the Lord planted in any place a faithfull Minister as a shining Light and burning Candle but the people have fallen to idolize him to rejoyce in his out-side to thinke themselves safe and happy in enjoying such Instruments ascribing all the effect of his labours to him little acknowledging the finger of God or the office which hee sustaines not honouring him for the worke sake which hee serves for to reconcile them to God to beget them to a lively hope by the Gospell This basenesse of our fleshly respects hath caused the Lord to rob us of them and to set mean ones in their roomes To teach men to lay to heart their former carnall ends How many have received Prophets to farre other ends then the Lord ever sent them To make them as tearmes of comparison between person and person some to hold upon Apollo 1 Cor. 3.3.4 some Cephas some Paul some others To censure to jangle and some to bring themselves and Townes into some credit in the countrey others to get good custome for their wares and shops others to make themselves wel reputed praised for their forwardnesse and zeal in profession whereas yet alas the meanes being gone and the sive taken out of the water they have proved as meere formall time-servers and as ignorant of their grounds as they who never made shew at all Others have securely rested in their labours never looking for any change of heart thereby but thinking the Prophets shall live for ever and when they are gone fretting at their precisenesse of conscience and unthankfully leaving them to sink or swim and shift as they can Is this beloved to honour God in his ordinance to cleave close to it as under God the mean of conversion Is this to count their feet beautifull and to adore the Lord in the varietie of his gifts and instruments Rom. 10.15 No no and therefore the Lord hath been fain to take them out of the way and leave us to our selves so that our supply was never so great as our defeat is strange All to teach us to looke at the simplicitie of Gods ends to serve God first and man with his leavings let the Lord have the heart set him up there in selfe-deniall humility faith sincerity and faithfulnesse and then let the instrument have the over-plus that honour and countenance which belongs to him for his service For God counts not himselfe robbed by that esteeme wherein we have his Minister under himselfe but that which he hath above himselfe And surely it is not for nothing that the renowned King lately slaine in the heat of his warres King of Sweden oft spake a little before his death that the Lord would not long suffer him to live because the people made him such an Idoll and robbed God of his due to magnifie him Papists worship a dead blocke for want of knowledge and we a living one for lacke of faith the one for a little carving and workmanship of gold and silver the other for a little varnish of gifts or excellencie or parts the one from man the other from God but both idolatrous because against the honour of the giver Branch 2 Another branch of instruction Instruction is to teach us why the Lord doth so defeat men of their purposes and projects which they frame to themselves when they goe to worke upon their owne heads in matters of God We have seen it with our eyes verified Eccles 9.11 which Salomon speakes That victory is not alway with the strong nor race with the swift nor wealth to the provident nor esteeme to the vain-glorious nor spirituall successe to the Minister though learned and rarely qualified because men have boasted of their strength swiftnesse policie experience providence and abilities more then the Lord. I am witnesse my selfe of some sad events in this kinde that men have spent themselves in their studie to perfect some speciall discourse and Master-peece of their owne braine either to beare downe the truth and broach schismaticall points or to win the spurres and get themselves the eternall repute of learned persons or some vaine applause of fantasticke auditors as if they sought a plaudite upon the stage a base prophanenesse both in them that seek it and them that offer it But the Lord hath so resisted their pride and struck off their wheeles brought them to such a reproachfull non-plus before all their auditors that they have verified the speech God resisteth the proud
3.9 to confesse God hath done much for thee and wish thy portion when God shall visit them Vse 3 Also it is admonttion to worldly wise ones to such as commonly carry Branch 1 the repute of learned ones and the like That the Lord confuteth wise ones by simple ones Admonit It should cause such to tremble and seeke to bee as little in your owne eyes as they seeme great to others For otherwise those excellent accomplishments wherein they excell others may become snares Their priviledge may become their prejudice Wise ones must become fooles that they may bee wise in Gods matters A learneder man then any of us could tremble at this meditation The idiots and fooles rise up and snatch the Kingdome by violence from us and we with all our learning are thrust downe to hell Oh! how sad is this Once a Princesse beholding a learned Civilian lame of his feet said Thy deformity is our great enormity meaning that he was disabled to stand in her presence But when the Lord shall say to many wise and great ones your excellent parts are my detriment what a sad greeting will that be Oh! it had beene better for me if thou hadst beene poore lame an Idiot then great and jolly Surely thou mightst have honoured me more with meaner gifts thine heart being lowly then with all these thou being so proud The best use that many put their parts to being this to strengthen themselves and others in their profanenesse luxury ambition and tyranny Oh! therefore be a foole that thou maist be wise Let all thy parts stoop yea be too little for Christ to preach to professe to honour him And bee afraid lest otherwise the Lord shall overlooke thee and say Oh this man was too bigge too stout too stately to beleeve too great to get through such a strait gate as heaven is Camels cannot go through needles eyes Oh pray God to little thee to pare off thy superfluities Oh Lord take out this proud heart of mine puft up with gifts experience skill wisdome Oh cleanse them all make me humble and betrust me againe with them and then being shaven and washed all shall serve thee and I shall lose all my excellency in thy glory thou shalt eclipse all my parts that my humility may honour thee My deformity shall bee no detriment to thee but I shall give thee the glory in the treading of my best readings arts skill elocution and whatsoever humane perfection under thy feet Lord accept me and doe what thou wilt with me so thou keepe me from all sacriledge and robbing thee of thy due Tit. 1.15 To the pure all things shall be pure if thou hast purged my parts 2 Tim. 2.21 I shall be a vessell prepared for every good use and as fire and water are good servants but ill masters so when my spirit and streame shall be wholly carried in thine I shall be I may be trusted with thy gifts to honour the giver Oh that my words could reach to many Ministers of worthy parts and endowments of whom some vanish in the base abuse of their liberties Caveat to Ministers not to abuse their parts to ease and pampering of the flesh the creature of meat and drinke of recreations and pastimes of apparell and fashions maintaining themselves and their wives in pompe and pride of life to the destruction of soules Others fall to excesse in drinking base company lurking in their dens either in their Colledges or in the Country utterly unprofitable Cretians slow bellies evill beasts Tit. 1.12 as that Poet said filling their panches and surfetting upon pleasures Others insatiable of livings and ambitious of preferments Others setting up their gifts above Christ and chusing to preach ten words without understanding rather then one to the peoples reach Alas is this the fruit of your studies and parts your abilities and gifts that when you should in humility feed the flock of God you despise them and set them at naught 1 Pet. 5.2 and honour your selves with Gods spoyle Beware lest the Lord pursue you and make you regorge these unsavoury morsels of yours with horrour and detestation or else revenge himselfe of you for all your sacriledge when there shall bee no remedy Then shall you wish as some have done that you had beene as poore and silly ones as walke upon the earth so you were free of robbing God of his glory Greeke Ebrew Latine Fathers all learning is good But if it have lost her savour and be as the oyntment which stinkes by dead flyes Luke 14 34. ult what shall it be good for Surely to be cast into the streets and to be troden upon yea to bee made the just scorne of men who never made conscience to reserve to God the entire service of his gifts but fed and prided themselves with his colours 1 Sam. 2.14 Hophni and Phinees would thrust their forke into Gods kettle and steal his due but no sacrifice could satisfie for such sin the Lord sware he would receive no paiment for their ransomtil he utterly rooted them out Seek not therfore your selves set not up your names and parts to be idolized scorn not those whose diligence pains in the Church exceed yours learne of them disdaine them not God doth great things by poor means but seldome receives honour from such as seeke to get up into their owne saddle by Gods stirrop and by their preaching the sacred truth of God hoyse up their owne sayles and out-run the Lord by their owne pride wonder not nor fret that you lose the hearts of Gods people and that they turne from you John 10.27 for his sheepe heare his voice and not the voice of a stranger Alter the property of the unsanctified parts and let them be devoted to an humble service of his Sanctuary Exod. 35.23 and then your gold and blue silke shall be accepted else Goats haire and Badgers skins shall bee preferred before you And to end my counsell consider but this although you should repent before you dye yet you must bee saved as it were by fire 1 Cor. 3.13.15 God will not suffer any of your hay and stubble to cleave to his foundation of pearles This is the best of it your worke must burne by the censure of Gods purity but if your worke burne not by your repentance both your selves and your worke too shall burne through your impenitency Vse 3 Secondly let me adde one Caveat to such as make conscience to improve Branch 2 their parts and excellencies to the best ends in their Ministery and labours Godly Ministers must not onely use but also lay downe their parts and services if God so require I confesse it might beseeme my selfe to learne of some of them yet let me speake one word Beware my Brethren lest having seemed to escape a gulfe ye be drowned in a shallow Renounce even those gifts also by which you seeme to
the fittest way as he thought for that purpose and being mistaken in that is glad to heare of his errour and to mend it speedily 4. He abaseth himselfe below his condition so farre as to stand at the Prophets doore to crouch and creepe in the sense of his disease for the cure thereof with exceeding reverence to the Prophet All which although they might seem onely naturall effects of a man under trouble yet being orderly steps to a greater worke in Gods purpose and some of them in a sort religious acts of one that acknowledged a divine power to heale him doe argue that somewhat was in him toward the effect And yet loe here steps in a techie toy that is Yet crossed by self conceit a toy and prich his prejudicate and forestalled heart conceited against the meane appointed by God and this was that he looked to be healed another way more easie present and familiar to his humour How viz. that Elisha himselfe would come forth and by applying his hand to the place worke the miracle And this marred all the former attempts and besides hindred him first from marking the message which contained a plaine easie mercifull and familiar way of healing with a charge from God to wash and a direct promise of cure thereby without any colour or exception all which so solemnly delivered might very well have pierced an heart not exceedingly prejudiced and deluded both for the reverence of God and for his owne ends If Eglon an heathen King Judg 6. hearing of a charge from God no way assuring him of good was so obeysant as to come off his throne and worship God how much more might Naaman but lo his preconceit letted him from it As also from seeing his false heart full fraught with rage against the Prophet when yet he seemed to stoope so low and doe so much reverence and to conclude from yeelding nakedly to the way of God rather then to lose his labour and carry home his disease and from obeying the Command And just so may the case stand with such as have made as many spirituall steps toward conversion as Naaman did toward his cure They may first be brought to a deepe plunge under sense of sinne and the curse Application of the ground to the doct in hand for the clearing of it What faire hopes men have and that by the word of terror convincing their conscience under this they may be most wearisome and restlesse They may be kept from shaking off their terrour by other objects of pleasure profit or worldly contents they may heare of a remedy by one of wisdomes handmaids like well of the glad tidings long after it make speed towards it neglect no cost means or attendance upon it joy in the turning themselves out of their errours and mistakes and the appearance of more hope of ease they may honor the instrument with exceeding reverence wait at the posts of wisdome not houres or dayes but moneths and quarters thinking long till some seasonable answer come unto them thinking themselves happy that they may speed at last And yet how dashed when all their labour is ended And yet when the point should come to an issue and the fruit to be borne then shall one selfe or other either selfe-ease or selfe-will or selfe-wit and conceit assisted with carnall reason yea selfe-endeavours selfe-devotion selfe-mixtures of her owne with God bereave the soule of all strength to bring forth one or other selfe I say shall step in or be cast in by the divell as the gourd into the pottage to marre all to set the chiefe worke as far behinde as it seemed before to be set forward in so much that the voice of God both commanding to beleeve and promising speedy ease and forgivenesse shall be as a thing farre off And whereas the obedience of faith is or ought to be the upshot of the cure lo this selfe shall so blindefolde the minde and disable the heart from marking pondering and applying the promise thereby as if there were nothing in it whereas in truth all steps toward grace without this are frivolous yeâ— the base heart shall thinke this more frivolous then all the rest stumble at it cavill be discontent and flye off as if it had wrong that her endeavours and paines be not accepted without it which in truth is no other then to quarrell with God that her owne way may not be preferred to his and seeing that may not be rather to choose not to be healed at all but abide still in her old condition then not to prosper by her owne way and device I have desired to open the point at large because I make it the ground of a large doctrine whereof I would have none make question So much for the ground of the text Naamans selfe conceit and ours may differ in the speciall though the same in kind But I foresee that my hearers will by and by run to enquire whether this tech of Naaman be in their brests or no and whether it hath hindred their endeavours and also that all well affected Christians would be loth to lose their labour and sweat if they knew how to prevent it till they have enjoyed the promise And therefore I must tell them that I gather a generall point from a particular Naamans selfe was one branch of many but there be many more all as dangerous to them as this to him Seeing then I thinke it will be desired that they might know the severall sorts of this monster and the markes of this secret else selfe I meane therefore ere I reason or apply the point I will stay a while upon the discovery of the severall sorts of this disease so returne to the point againe if God please in the matter of Application I thinke none will deny that of all other lets of grace and salvation this of selfe is the most dangerous and the reason is because it is most inward and immediate I may say of it as Paul speakes of uncleannesse all other sinnes are without the body but this within a disease of the intrailes and bowels Selfe the most dangerous enemy because most inward and immediate Even so all other lets and enemies of Christ are outward Satan hath many injections temptations by Atheisme by the needlesnesse difficulty yea impossiblenesse of prevailing he hath many base colours to delude the heart withall by the contrariety of Christ to the corrupt spirit of man the world also hath many base and false principles to beat off the heart by as the disdaine of them that are so zealous 1 Cor. 6.18 the erroneous opinions which it hath of Christ and the profession of his truth Others hurt by this most mortally but all these are without and more easily avoided the power of the Word sooner scatters these mists The greatest mischiefe comes from within and were it not for selfe they could not prevaile by all their baits
must needs vanish and leave the soule as low as ever they found it and so the longer and closer they are clave to the greater confusion they cause till the soule being weary of her owne pride and mixtures freely resigne it selfe as empty and nothing to the meere good pleasure perswasion and leasure of the spirit to act and effect all both preventings assistings and perfectings by his owne strength which is alway strongest when the soule lies lowest as the red earth of which Adam was formed till the Lord breathed the spirit of life into it And surely to conclude there is nothing more easie then to be deluded in the triall hereof for such is the inchantment of self in this kind that no experience of disappointing the soule by her false feelings will teach her to deny her selfe and humble her self before God except only she apply her selfe closely to the rule of the word in every steppe she takes examining from what bottome her affections and preparations proceed and finding self to be chiefe in the work instantly to suspect it and constantly to resist it beleeving that the most abiding and lasting worke of humâ—liation and preparation proceeds from the sweetnesse and freedome of a promise from a reconciled God when the heart is most desolate and helplesse in her selfe By these few the reader may perceive what I meane by this privy-selfe and by these heads hee may learne to judge of other like which are infinite Now then I proceed to prove the point that this mixt selfe when all is done will deprive the soule of mercy if it be not prevented Let the first text be that Heb. 4. ult We see they were disappointed of the entring into his rest why were not they faire for it Proofes of the point yes surely they had forsaken Egypt and come a great journey in the wildernesse But what letted them Unbeleefe And what caused that Selfe Not only their wishing to be in Egypt at their fleshpots nor yet their fornication and Idolatry But as Esay tells us they rebelled against his holy spirit Esay 63.10 Their spirituall rebellings cavillings distrust were the causes They erred in heart as the Psalmist calls it that is Psal 9.2 they entertained false conceits against him sometime they asked Can God spread a table in the wildernesse Sometime they pitied their children saying Alas We shall never see Canaan Sometime they said Numb 9. the Giants were able to eat them up there were chariots of iron Sometimes they said this was not the way God might as well have brought them the right way to Canaan as the wrong if he had meant them well They made the promise of entring easily and plaine in it self to be difficulter then it was some saying it is as high as heaven how shall we get thither can we climbe up others thus it is as deep as the nethermost earth how shall we descend thither is it possible for us to construe so hard a promise whereof we see neither sense or colour to make a worke of forty daies to be forty yeares and yet meane us well Therefore Moses tells them Deut. and Rom. 10. say not the word is far off for it is neare thee in thy mouth yea thine heart that thou mightest beleeve it The deceit of the erring hearts warped these crotchets to hold them out of Canaan and to scatter their carcasses in the wildernesse Another text is Heb. 12.15 Heb. 12.15 Let no man faile of the grace of God Let there be no bitter roote springing up in you to defile you and turne you off He had spoken before of Esau who was the first borne and sought the blessing with teares yet failed of it he came too late after it was conveied away from him too sure to Iacob why he had a bitter roote springing up in him a selfe-willed peevish heart against his brother he disdained that he should be preferred The Apostle applies it to the Hebrewes who were faire for the promise read Rom. 10.1 2 3 4 Rom. 10.1 2 3 4. 5 6. c. but yet failed and lost it the Gentiles were preferred And why there was this bitter roote of selfe in them they stood upon their conceit none were the Church save they none so righteous as they They scorned that dogs should goe to heaven before those whose righteousnesse was so precise as theirs and this conceit defiled hardned them and overthrew the righteousnesse of Christ They could never submit selfe to the word preached nor comply with it but bitterly rejected it and them who preacht it as being a new way to heaven and not that which they had learned and should they stoop to this new learning of Christ This bitternesse overthrew them So Ahaz Esay 8. Esay 8. was faire for the promise of victory insomuch as the Prophet bid him demand a signe he would not why Selfe-presumption letted him he thought he was sure enough of God if once he spake the word But the Lord looked at his owne honour and therefore gave his people a signe by a Virgin that should conceive and bring forth a sonne So that the confidence of his foolish heart which thought hee beleeved God whereas in truth he sought himselfe onely and not the glory of God Luke 4. deceived him So it is said Luke 4. the Pharisees and Elders comming to Iohns baptisme despised the counsell of God touching their salvation why because they were carried with strong self-prejudice against the way of Iohns Ministery and chose rather not to bee faved at all then that way The Galathians were faire for heaven also and ran well Gal. 3. what letted them a misprision thrust into their heads by false teachers that Pauls way and Gods way agreed not and that the old way by Ceremonies was best easiest and likeliest because agreeing with flesh and this makes Paul to feare lest he had bestowed his paines upon them in vaine Our Saviour Christs Disciples were faire for faith what letted them selfe-sloth dulnesse of heart Oh you dull and slow of heart to beleeve all which is written in the Law and Prophets concerning Christ Luke 24. in what a depth of darkenesse did it hold them Their eies were held so downe that they could not discerne the Lord Jesus when hee stood and talked with them I will but adde one or two more That yong man in the Gospell was not farre from the Kingdome what stopped him Surely he came full of himselfe and had kept the Law from his youth this he had a strong conceit of but when hee was turned out of that confidence and put into a new way of selfedeniall and selling all he went away sorrowfull not onely because he was covetous but because forestalled in opinion that his way was best and is now crossed To conclude that is a solemne text which our Saviour urges Ioh. 5. Joh. 5. How can ye beleeve when ye seeke or receive
of fidelity to appeare in the course of service refusing no employment whereby the heart may utter it selfe for Gods sake to man to whom God hath committed authority and commission to presse obedience and faithfulnesse in a lawfull condition of life whereof more in the exhortation if Cod will shall be spoken I now hasten to the Uses The first use may be just Terror and Reproofe to bad and unfaithfull Vse 1 servants who neither looke at faithfulnesse ere they enter Bad and unfaithfull servants terrified neither care to practise it when they are entred For Terror first Alas whither shall we goe to finde such as first give themselves to God and after to their Masters Who lookes after entrance or moulding into Gods principles They doubt not but to the worke they are hired unto they can dispatch it so can horses and oxen and goe through stitch with it They have been in good houses they say where there were folke as hard to please as others and yet them they could give content too and they hope they are wise enough to make their covenants But as for being made faithfull as Paul saith 1 Tim. 1. and putting into Gods service first alas they know not what it meanes so they be faithfull droiles and drudges they thinke more cannot be required so they can doe worke enough what care they to lye to sweare to guzzle at their times appointed to abuse and prophane the Sabbaths to balke the congregation to runne about their own occasions when God should be worshipped And if they be reproved they aske Is not your worke done And so thinke to stoppe all mouthes But alas There be yet worse then these even debaucht and slacke hayred companions whose trade and course of life it is to runne from Master to Master and when they have wearied one house then runne to another and poyson that with their prophane drunken uncleane and cursed qualities I speake of this Nation of bad servingmen then which generally none are more ignorant of God or loose licentious in life As for faithfulnesse to their Masters they know none save to cast on their livery and waite upon them idely at home or abroad and spend their dayes and yeares in a most vanishing cursed prophanenesse And the truth is the condition of servants in the houses of great men who keepe a retinue and attendance of servants for state and number is so idle and slothfull for the most part that it is of necessity that servants be so wicked ease and base sloth so defiling them that whether they depart quickly they pester so many the more houses or if they abide they defile that house so deeply that the taint of it can never bee washed out I speake not A caution as if God denyed to great persons the liberty of much attendance But then they should not thinke it a disparagement unto them to looke so narrowly to the wayes of their servants that when their attendance upon their tables or their persons within or without is ended thay may improve them in some such other businesse either ingenuous or mechanique as may prevent that forlorne and wofull sottishnesse and sloth which when it hath possessed servants causes them to be noysome to God to men yea oft to themselves besides the poysoning of the family by their examples The siâ—s of bâ—d servants If servants were first leavened with the fear of God durst they enter into service upon such tearmes Now as concerning meaner mens covenant servants or journey-men what should I say where is there one of tenne that enters into service with the least sparke of Religion in them I dare speake it this Nation of journey-men for the most part is a greater bane to townes and families then any one besides For what is their life save a licking up of the scurffe of the Country yea the depth of Satan and leaving it behinde them wheresoever they become So that the lewdnesse the swearing the bastardy the unseasonable houres and revell route of townes may as much be fathered upon these as any And as for the beholding of God in the ordinance of servants how far are they off it They can skill to get inâ—o houses of liberty where there be no Puritans where they may have most elbowroome good usage for meate and drinke best wages and when they fayle of these get them gone on the suddaine and leave their Masters in the lurch to provide for themselves God they see none in an ordinance their governours they looke at as they serve their turne as they shew them countenance according to the vayles they can get under them But as for conscience to deny their proud hearts to live meekely subjectly and patiently under that yoke which God hath put them under they are so farre from it that let them be crossed their blood being up they neither will spare their Masters in words nor deeds blowes nor wounds What wonder They never came where Religion and faith grew their sent is still in them and occasion being offered there is no basenesse so horrible but they will commit it no unfaithfulnesse so great but they will adventure it They are traytors to God how therefore can they chuse but be unfaithfull to man But all their unfaithfulnesse is not in the entrance for what is their practice save a perpetuall trade of unfaithfulnesse Witnesse the infinite company of bankerupts dayly growing and the decaying of so many husbands tradesmen and shop-keepers whereof if yee enquire the causes it is an hundred to one but bad servants come in among the chief If their Masters be thrifty circumspect to overlooke the state of their families to debar them from free egresse and regresse too and fro all their commodities they blaze them abroad for such hard Masters and unbeteaming that it is pitty they say that a good servant should ever come within their doores And if they dislike their diet never so little as not dainty enough though indeed too good for them what is their custome but to combine and each to lay their heads together to filch their Masters commodities bread wine beere what not for the serving of their appetite What is more usuall among servants then to forfeit their trust and to use those keyes which are committed to their care for the safeguarding of commodities under their hands in Dayrie in Almery Buttery or the like for the betraying of them into the hands of them that imbezzel them by unseasonable feastings junketings and merry-makings their governours perhaps being asleepe in their beds And because these are thought but trifles what servants almost are there now adayes who may safely be trusted with those thinges which yet they cannot be well kept from I meane their Masters receits accounts and moneyes which they are trusted with either as Prentices Receivers or Stewards Servants being now growne to that point that further then they are watched narrowly they will have it by hooke or
last not long The greatest danger is lest the heart being rid of them wax wanton and secure and bee not humbled for that corruption whence these have their welcome and fiery fiercenesse 3. Rule Oâ—serve the measure of the trouble The third rule is observe wisely of what measure the trouble and affliction is If it be moderate then proceed accordingly But if it be excessive so that extremities may be feared succour the fainting heart with some hope even at the first though perhaps the condition of it may bee farre from applying a promise Yet because the horror or trouble may threaten despaire or violence Shew such a one that the Lord delights in no such thing but in mercy to the oppressed and when the heart is eased then returne to such a method of counsell by degrees as their estate needeth Necessity as we say hath no law Much may be done to avert a present danger which else might stay longer The jaylor was to be staid for feare of selfe-murther 4. Rule Whether terror come from sin or feare of punishment Fourthly discerne wisely of terrors of conscience whether from sin as sin or as a mischiefe which cloggeth and loadeth the heart excessively Many a wretch and these dayes are full of such will roare and cry out of himselfe the horriblenesse of his sins their returns upon him after intermission not from any true abhorring of the evill of them but because God dogs his cursed heart delighting in those evills with shrewd terrors which although they are two extremities I meane great swinge and sweetnesse in sinne and great horrors for sinne yet nothing hinders why both may not be at once and yet the mediocrity farre off In such a case to beleeve such a wretch for his outcries and horrors when it is manifest he doth but seeke for hope and sodering and possibility of pardon that hee may returne to his vomit the more boldly were to adde oile to the flame The marke of such is this their object is that which presently pinches them you shall heare little or no aime at Christ and his sweetnesse for they regard it not The counsell is to hold them hard to the law that their soules may bee under bondage of sinne as sinne and not onely under present accusation If this prevaile not they will rush themselves quickly out of their horrors into prophanenesse more and more And had not comfort beene well bestowed upon such as need none Fifthly though thou perceive the soule to bee under bondage 5. Rule Consider whether the frame of the heart under conviction be tame or rebellious yet consider well of what frame the party is If the heart bee rebellious and that sinne doth wax more sinfull by that conviction then though it bee a good signe for time to come yet the Lord makes no haste to comfort such a one till his rebellion bee brought downe and then his heart will be doubly humbled both for guilt and rebellion also It is meete that some should lie and wait under their legall abasings because else commonly they returne to their old byas againe if they come not to see how out of measure sinfull sinne is in her nature I observe it in this age of ours that the law troubles few except some violent crosses attend it which argues that they will hardly hold humble when their troubles cease Be not too hasty therefore Sixtly when thou seest it a season to speak a word to a poore soule 6. Rule Observe due season deferre it not For there may be as great perill in delay as in rash haste And shew thy selfe as carefull and cordiall in pressing of a promise earnestly and effectually to a soule in case to receive it as thou wert backward in applying it till it was so A loaden soul is under the condition of the promise and therefore to delay such an one from it is to defraud it of her portion due to it which is a worse sinne then rashnesse even as despaire is worse then presumption To this end bee conversant with the promises and be able to apply variety of them not knowing which may prevaile If the affliction bee an holding downe of the soule from beleeving 7. Rule Whether under the condition or no what lets it or if so what hinders beleeving when as yet it is under the condition of the promise search out what the speciall stoppe of the soule is and accordingly apply remedies For instance if the soule be tossed too and fro between the condition and the performance labour to settle the heart upon the condition first proving it truly loaden and hold it there telling it that the Lord is willing that it hold that which it hath gotten and then it shall be more easie to finish the other worke If the glasse bee shaken who shall see his owne face rightly So againe if the feare be that it hath not the conditions of the Gospel or hath them not in such a measure as it ought resolve such a one that the Lord having wrought a true loading in the soule will also worke the same to the sight of ease by the promise which promise as it appeares more and more reall both in the meriter and the offerer so it must needs afford more hope more desires mournings and longings after it As for the measure of these God snares no poore soule with them Be it never so feeble and brused hee will not breake it So againe if the trouble be that it hath long waited and is weary that the heart is exceeding hard corruption very strong others are got before us we are afraid we be not elected wiih a hundred more apply the remedy thereafter And whereas the maine stoppe is Selfe and aiming at our owne ends and a dead heart to beleeve let the counsell be thereafter Subdue the base heart under meer mercy enlarge the glory of the promiser above the gaine of the beleeve Also bee well exercised in the thorow opening and urging of a promise on Gods part by enlarging the length and depth of the free full and faithfull heart of God infinitely above that which a soule can long after But if I should enter into particulars I should be endlesse 8. Rule What to doe in revolts Eightly if the trouble arise from revolts and breach of covenant after repentance first observe whether former experience of mercy have broken such an heart or no if not then endeavour to breake it and to raise up the soule from the present desertion wherein it seemes destitute of that grace which formerly it enjoyed Convince it that the Lord hath never cut off nor cast out any branch which was ever planted in him Also that by such desertions he labours to hold the heart at a deeper bay of humility Read for this Jer. 3.1 and Hosea ult when once it comes to outgrow the confusion of feare and horror which a guilty conscience hath snared it
Judg. 15. lay heapes upon heapes and die of thirst Once get into the right way and undoe somewhat first which God would have you forgoe instead of your doings and this will cause unto you incredible ease and sweetnesse in your proceeding Remember that speech Esay 30. your strength shall be to sit still Sit still and bee quiet therefore in your hypocriticall devotions and bee stirring and working with God under the condition of his promise and your labour shall not be lost in the Lord. 1 Cor. 13. ult Else you shall suffer losse not onely of a part but of the principall you shall sinke in your sweat and the most despised fatherlesse creatures with their poore emptinesse scarce daring to lift up eies to heaven standing afar off shall go away better justified then you with all your supererogations Luke 18.13 And when you are thus defeated your mends shall be in your own hands So much for this second Vse 3 Thirdly this Doctrine reproves sundry sorts And first all such as having enjoyed the liberty of Gods Ordinances all their dayes Reproofe Sundry branches 1. The chiefe season of ease is at first yet never had the wisdome to discerne that spirituall season in which the Lord makes this worke of faith easie and welcome The ease of beleeving in Gods usuall method attends a peculiar opportunity of Gods owne vouchsafing in which he doth more readily worke then at all other times Commonly when the word is first sent to a congregation as a dainty as a rare and desired pearle an object of price Againe when the spirit of the hearer is carried with violence to carry the Kingdome away whatsoever paines and charge it cost them when also the Lord sends the Angel or Minister with a more then common spirit of zeale to stir the muddy poole to the bottome and to unsettle mens hearts frozen upon their dregs I say when as the Lord inspires him with the spirit of Eliah or Iohn Baptist with speciall love to the pretious soules of men with laboriousnesse and the spirit of convincing when as the Gospel drawes all sorts unto it by the fervency of affections and examples of such as make toward it then there is ease in beleeving Not when the Gospel is waxen stale in a Towne and Manna plentifull which commonly causes loathing and fulsomenesse Not when the hearers heart is sunke and dead in his brest indifferent whether he speed or no Not when the spirits of the Ministers of God wax dull as Moses hands with long holding up Not when the Spirit of grace of power melting drawing and perswading begins to flag And as Micah saith is straitned Mica 2.6 Not when the hearts of Ministers faint in them and turne another way Not when they are driven out from their places and are faine to seeke into remote Countries Not when the affections of people wax generally dead and carelesse which end goe forward rather minding their owne world will and ends then the matters of salvation When these markes fall out the shadowes of the mountaines wax long the wild Beasts goe out of their dennes to spoile and the labourers turne their backes upon their worke because the Sunne is downe Not in these seasons not in death deepe sicknesses crosses feares losses is there like to be found this ease I speake of And therefore Oh you my brethen who heare me this day who have long lived here under the meanes above fifty yeares thinke seriously of your estate If yet the worke of beleeving the promise be undone if you have outbidden and survived all these happy seasons wherein your owne soules know you felt such dampings of corruption raisings of heart thawings inclinings and movings of spirit to embrace the offer of salvation and have fallen to the world to pleasures to ease and as Cain did being cast out of Gods presence to goe and build Cities Let my words now pierce you if any tendernesse at roote remaine in you and take heed lest if ever you finde God gracious if he have not quite cast you off for your dallying you be put to toile and travell for it lest it cost you tenne times as much trouble as you might first have had it for The Lord is hardly drawne to returne to a particular man when he hath left a publique place I tell you if you have slighted such meanes and seasons as these it must be the unspeakeable patience of God which can pull you home at last It were strange if a man who hath lost his faire or market should come many daies after and meet with those commodities which hee wants then he might have stored himselfe with ease but after with much hazard and cost You have had your season your accepted time and day of salvation Speciall application to the present people many hundreds have beleeved and set seale to the grace offered and most of them are at rest with God If you bee those unhappy ones who have received it all this while in vaine Hard for long dalliers with God to recover him again at their pleasure or leasure I doubt whether ever any new appetite will be lent you and although it were I doubt whether the doores being shut you shall speed of your desire though you should runne from Barwicke to Dover from old England into new for it or be admitted to beleeve Oh! How shall I speake to this wofull place for the padling out of her season of ease God hath brought salvation to your doores as to the children of the Kingdome pind it on your sleeves I may truly and in a good time speake it The Gospel hath alway brought you more gaine then it hath cost you Pulpits have beene as it were set up in your streets by your houses so neere is the grace of God come unto you and when others have ridden and trotted five ten fifteene miles you have had it at home for stepping in at the doores floods of butter and oile have flowed downe in your brooks and streets and thousands have beene satisfied with your leavings You have been as free borne to the Gospel What in all the world shall you pretend for your selves if you have never had I say not the best portion but any part at all of it Oh! that I could teach you after all my pressing of the promise among you how to dispute for your selves But that exceeds my skill you have had a fee-simple an inheritance of the Gospel you have beene married to the Lord under long constant unwearied plaine and powerfull meanes long ere I came among you All mens gifts have served you Note you of the congregation you have entred into other mens labours I may adde this that you have possessed fields vineyards and orchards which you never knew the price of never bought tilled or planted For my selfe although I have long lived unprofitable yet if ever God lent me any fitnesse to doe you good
persons disdained not to learne of so poore a counsellour what should such as wee doe who are yet as much more stout then they as they were wiser then wee are And so much for this poynt Doct. Another poynt offers it selfe from hence also and that from the order of his obeying The Text telles us Then hee went and dipped himselfe When I pray you Surely when his stomack was brought down and sunk in him then hee went dipped himselfe in Jorden when that which all this while letted was removed then did he obey believe and doe as he was bidden and that in a moment The poynt is very speciall to prepare us to the poynt following for it acquaints us with a main barre and stop which lies in the Preachers way and the Spirits way to wit a rebellious and selfe-conceited heart and with that which makes easie and sweet that is an heart convinced and yeelding to the Word No man I suppose will expect me to be large in much opening of this disease for I have spent many Sermons in the handling of Self Self-love carnall Reason Rebellion and coy Pride in Naaman when I went over the 11. verse Now I take all that for granted and from the issue of the Lords working thus long upon Naaman his humbling of him to the command Humility alway goes before grace compared with the effect of his obeying I would present unto your eye this poynt That alway when the Lord means to create faith in the soule he doth immediatly put an end to all that stoutnesse of spirit that hindred the same The poynt is cleare No sooner had the Lord emptied Naaman here of his opposing heart but immediatly followes his obeying the charge So true is that golden speech of Ieremy Jer. 31.18.19 I heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as an Heyfer unaccustomed to the yoke Surely after that I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed and confounded because I did beare the shame of my youth The summe of the words is That all the while that Ephraim was proud and wilfull no grace would enter into him But as soone as the Lord thawed his spirit and made him humble lo hee presently submitted and bare Gods yoke with meeknesse and obedience Prophets there were before who did beat upon him and tozed him with rebukes and terrors but alas they were but as the blowes of the Smith upon his Anvill which is the more hardned But at last God cast into his heart a secret thought of his long rebellion and how little good it had done him then by and by hee listned and smote upon his thigh and repented Even so all the day long sayth the Lord by Esay Chap. 52. ult have I stretched out mine arme to a people in vaine None hath beleeved my report the word of God is revealed to none Why Hee addes because it is a stiff-necked and a gain-saying people q. d. But for this they had beleeved long agoe This is that which elsewhere the Prophet foretels under the Gospell that such as should bee converted unto God Esay 2.4 Esay 2.12.17 should turne their Swords into Mattockes and their Speares into Sythes that is of warlicke and turbulent ones become peaceable Husband-men and Inhabitants The Aspe shall suffer the young childe to play at the hole of the Aspe and the Lyon shall feed with the Lamb and the Beare with the Bullocke meaning the savage and wilde dispositions of men should turn meek and tractable Iob in one place brings in the Lord asking this question Job 39.5 Wilt thou tye the Unicorne to the furrow or wilt thou make the wilde Asse feed at thy Crib q. d. No their nature is unbroken thy Oxe and thy Horse are fittest for that whom thou hast tamed to the worke Even so assure thy selfe the Divell and Christ Light and Darknesse may as soon comply as a stout rebellious heart and grace Rebellion and Unbeliefe yoke together so doe Selfe-deniall and meeknesse of Spirit with faith and obedience As while the sinewes of mans heart is of Iron the Lords heaven is Brasse so when the soul begins to melt the Lord begins to turne and convert it It is with the soule in this kinde contrary to that it was with them in Acts 27. If these goe out of the ship it must needs miscarry But if pride and rebellion abide in the heart no grace will grow the man must perish Ottomans horse they sayd wheresoever he became made the grasse that it could not grow so doth a stout heart keep grace from the heart There is a secret intelligence between hell and a proud spirit And contrarily there is an entercourse between an humble heart and heaven Hosee in one place tells us Hos 2.21 That the Lord would speake to the heavens and they should heare the earth with rains and then the earth should heare man with fruits So first heaven must grant the heart tendernesse and relenting and then that will heare the Lord commanding and promising The windes being very loud the aire is dry but if they be downe then presently we have store of raine See that 1. King 19.12 So is it here when the tempests and stormes of the heart bee up whether in morall sinnes against the Law or spirituall rebellion against the Gospell there is no obedience but if they be downe never so little the clouds will follow after raine that is faith and obedience will ensue Prov. 15. ult The feare of the Lord is instruction and wisedome And before honour goeth humility Whom shall I teach Doctrine Esay 28.7.8 Even him that is weaned from the Milke and drawne from the Breasts The sweet milke of the breasts of Selfe and carnall Wisedome are alway opposite to the wisedome of God Sacrifices thou wouldest not but an eare thou hast boared Why That I might doe thy will O God who before did mine owne Vse 1 For briefe use First it is instruction to put us out of question why an heart of unbeliefe hath so long pestered the most of our hearers Instruction Why the most hearers are pestered with unbeliefe Because the heart was never brought down and why the Lords perswasions have so little prevailed to make us believe Surely if you doubt as I feare few need to doe the enemy is this wicked Haman of a rebellious heart Perhaps some of you are of another minde because you can so colour and crust over this sore with courtesie and good words but the truth of it is There is an heart within big and high and stout This is the Camell which suffers not the soule to goe through the needles eye Somewhat is the cause why the felon upon the hand swells it is an humor which is not yet let out if that were out the felnesse would cease Enquire and consult either a cursed heart will keep some base lust
in as much as thou art become a sonne of Abraham Luke 19.7 Thy Regions are white unto harvest thy staffe stands next doore to grace and thy redemption is neer nay the day of the Lords redeemed is come Esay 63.4 Oh! thou mayst lift up thy heart unto God and say How is it that the Messenger of the Lord is come unto me Lo on the sudden I feele mine heart so strangely thawed and teachable over it was wont to be that I can give no reason of except the Lord meanes to save me I therefore interpret it as a signe of favour yea thou mayst be sure of it and therefore repent thee not of all thy paines which thou hast taken for it seeing thy reward will abundantly answer thy travaile And so much briefly may serve to have said of this use and of the Doctrine The chiefe doctrine of the whole verse opened at large I hasten now to the point it selfe of Naamans obedience The greatest and chiefest of all other which I aimed at in the handling of this Scripture Then saith the Text hee went and washed himselfe seven times in Iorden What was this A common act as others were No other then the former to come out of Aram to goe to the King of Israel or to stand at the doore of Elisha Oh yes those were his own this is Gods those he made no bones of but this was that which had made all this pudder it was the Lords owne way and device for the triall of his faith in the miracle and the subduing his heart to the naked obedience unto him And lo now his stomacke is come downe the let is removed and therefore he doth as he is bidden and goeth and washeth seven times in Jorden Marke the point it will cost us some time to handle Doctrine The point is Every one who is able to prove himselfe Every soule within the condition of mercy ought to beleeve within the condition of the promise may and ought to cast himselfe upon it obey the command of God and beleeve For the proofe of the point it will be expedient that first we cleare the ground of it out of the example of Naaman in generall and then by some evident texts of Scriptures with a briefe reason or two And having so done we will proceed to the explication of the contents of the Doctrine For the generall correspondence of Naamans case with this point some may doubt how it may be said of an Heathen in the point of curing of a bodily disease how he can be said to bee under the condition of a promise and so to believe For answer Answer whereof I say as before that although the worke of grace were a stranger unto him in respect of his owne feeling untill the time that the Lord wrought indeed grace in his heart yet forasmuch as the Lord over-ruled all the occurrents in the businesse by his owne hand for the effecting of that which he intended and swayed his heart to those preparations which were fit to lead to such an effect Therefore I do not see why on Gods behalfe those severall dispositions which were in Naaman may not be proportionable unto those which are wrought in such as are converted to God That Naaman was truly brought home to God besides the sequell in the Chapter mee thinkes this is sufficient that not onely God would chuse him as the onely Leper whom Elisha should heale but also would order the circumstances thereof in so set and solemne a manner that all men may behold a gracious worke as well as a miraculous For I demand what should need so many interruptions and defeats in the miracle such a trying and searching of a mans Spirit and such a purposed drawing of him to see more then an externall hand in the thing except more then an outward cure had beene intended by God A very small and short matter might else have been made of it if the Prophet had been used onely to heale his body and as Naaman thought the bare comming out and laying his hand on or speaking two or three words might have served the turne But now the Prophet must not bee seen Naamans weaknesse must be discovered to himselfe and hence it appeares that the Lord would have his Spirit and Soule acquainted with God as well as his outward man So much for the answer of the doubt And so I come to shew what conditions were wrought in Naaman before his cure and then how his obedience must be an act of faith issuing thereupon respiting proofes and reasons till the Doctrine be suted to the Text till which it will not be seasonable to settle it upon her bottome But this wee will referre to the next Lecture THE SEVENTEENTH LECTVRE upon the fourteenth VERSE VERSE XIV Then he went downe and washed himselfe seven times in Iorden and his flesh came againe as the flesh of a little child and he was cleane I Having shewed you beloved in the end of the former Exercise that Naamans example may wel yeeld us the consideration under our hand referred the particulars unto this Sermon Naaman then may be conceived under the condition of mercy in the purpose of God sundry wayes In respect of the order that God tooke with him both in preventing him and assisting him before the cure In the former we saw how the Lord by a bodily disease made him in the generall case of one needing ease for he abased his person in the midst of sundry other happinesses with the noysome disease of Leprosie which was in it selfe a marvellous yoke and as God guided it a very pinching one unto him burdening him more then in a common manner How Naaman was under the condition of of cure If this had not been the first ground of the worke had been removed Next hereto the Lord prevents him very sweetly with the newes of one who in such a desperate case is credibly reported unto him to be a man like to heale him and this comes to him by a speciall providence appointing a skirmish between Aram and Israel wherein a Damosell might be taken prisoner and such a one one of a thousand who had taken notice of Elishâ—'s worth in this kinde and this being by Naaman apprehended tooke off utter despaire of incurablenesse and put him into some hope of a possible cure Thirdly hereupon he slackens no time but addresses himselfe in the best manner to use the most apt and likely meanes for the commending of his businesse to the Prophet and for the bringing of him to the speech of the Prophet having no doubt a speciall desire to obtaine that really whereof hee saw possibility before Fourthly by his travell and furnishing himselfe with gifts attendance comming to the King of Israel with his message wherein he was greatly defeated he is by the Lord so mercifully assisted that he ceased not till by the Prophets owne intimation and further light and assurance not only
the promise Admonition Le ts of faith to be seriously shunned To take heed of such lets as might hinder this their holy resolution Somewhat I said about such lets in the first Doctrine upon this verse Some of more speciall marke in this kinde I have reserved to this place which I will summe up in few words First rest not in making many complaints touching thy backward and averse heart from casting thy selfe upon the word I doe not bid thee cease complaining for the Church hath none to moane her save him to whom she complaines Ieremy Cap. 3. brings in Iuda complaining but withall she returnes to God and faith Thou art the Lord our God and Ephraim complaines Jer. 31.33 but withall she is converted and the Lord calls her his first borne so Esay 63. The Church in Babell sadly mournes for the hiding of Gods face but shee is restlesse till 64.1 Esay 34. Ester 2.5 the Lord make the mountaines melt and flow downe that he may helpe her So doe thou and prosper Mourne like Hezechia like a Crane or Dove but joine his faith to it and say Hee hath said it and will doe it Mourne like Ester so thou doe as Ester goe into the King and touch the Scepter saying I will cast my selfe upon the promise if I persh there so be it But else as for many complaints to men who are like thy selfe for fashion fruitlessely and there rest without cleaving to the answer of thy complaints taking counsell I say bite them in and keepe them to the Lord and thy self in secret for they may puffe thee up with pride and false opinion of thy selfe defile thee and harden thee and hurt others Secondly beware of sloth and dalliance with the Lord but when the Lord comes neare thee doe not make thy selfe sure before thou hast it and so neglect the pursuit and accomplishment of it follow him close at the heeles and suffer him not to put thee off but let him see thou art minded to buy and not to cheapen all commodities have their peculiar season to get them in and so hath faith discerne this season of the Son of man thou canst not make it earlier or later then God makes it onely marke his day and houre and make sure of it then If the Lord see thee to be a pedling chapman either he will deny it thee wholy or cause thine ease to vex every veine in thy heart ere thou have it Thirdly take heed of filling thine heart and thoughts with earthly things the cares for earth will eat in so dangerously and winne upon thee as the sea tydes gull downe the bankes They will eat up cares of heaven as they say Eagles feathers will consume other feathers being mixed with them Be sure if thou lay in for faith come with an heart empty of other thoughts if thou wouldest cast thy self upon a promise throw not thy selfe upon the world and the contents of it I speake not of the corrupt world but of the most lawfull liberties they are apt to steale away thy spirit easiliest under that colour marke thy selfe if ever the promise were more favourlesse to thy taste then when the world is sweetest Be ashamed to plunge thy self into the creature when thou pretendest a desire to cast thy selfe upon the word for pardon and life Fourthly and above all let no bitter roote defile thine heart Heb. 12.15 and spring up to choake thy resolution this way It will over droppe all thy purposes and mar them Pride prejudice lust covetousnesse privy loosenesse which the heart will not bee beaten from any other naughtinesse will so appall and defile the pure gift of faith that it will not come neare where such haunt Take heed of suffering any lust to get head and overflow knowledge let not an hollow heart not throughly searched but presumed to be better then it is and returning againe after long violent suppression enter in to destroy all thy faire hopes for as sweet as it is in thy mouth it will prove gall to thee at last as Esau's prophanenesse did but too late Lastly beware of curiosity and self-willednesse in Gods way But humbly trade with him in it be content with the conditions of his market both for time and takings Be not offended at any affronts which befall thee but submit to his will from whom thou lookest for thy cure If Naaman had done thus he had cast himselfe upon Jorden without all this adoe But because thou wilt frame an Idea to thy selfe how thou wouldest proceed and canst abide no prolongings no crossings of thy course because thou art not alway alike in thy affections but sometime under hatches sometimes in the top sailes thou art impatient and comest short of thy desires Submit to him who tries all that is in thine heart that at last by thy oft defeats thou maiest know Deut. 8.2 Rom. 9.16 It is not in the willer nor runner but in him who sheweth mercy at whose curtesie its meet thou stand with all submission till he have subdued thee to himselfe and made thee with Naaman glad to obey and wash in the Jorden of the Promise Thus much of these like to which are many more but by these judge of the rest and cast off all if thou wouldst cast thy selfe upon the promise Fifthly this is Exhortation to all who are under the Condition Vse 5 first to obey the command of God Exhortation and to cast themselves fully upon the promise trying what the issue will be Doe as God bids thee Branch 1 Consult not with flesh Doe as Paul goe into Arabia the the desert To obey the command of faith and to consent to the promise goe not to Jerusalem to dispute the case when God hath declared his minde to be that thou resigne up thy soule to his word Goe not from Gods Nineveh to thine own Tarsus to thy cost and sorrow As those kine of the Philistims went straight on to Bethshemesh though lowing after their calves in token they were more acted by God then by nature so do thou not turning either to the right hand or the left There is no danger in this as we say leave is light Neither is there any other thing in the promise then seems There is neither hook nor crook in Gods pure intents Be thou to him as he to thee Come in cast thy self upon the word be eased be reconciled to God Faith is then bred when that is done which is said faith is the best Disciple and most dutifull hand-mâ—id that ever was better then those servants of the Centurion Gal. 1.17 Jona 1.3 1 Sam. 6.12 Matth. 8. which did as they were bidden came and went at command Cast the crowne of all thy rebellion at the feet of God Popish Emperours weary of the world and of all the victories pomp and state of it have laid downe their Crowne at an Idols shrine and turn'd votaries Do thou as a man weary
of all thy former delights cast them all at Gods feet and thy selfe upon his promise But thou wilt aske me How shall I thus throw my selfe upon it To cast the soule upon the promise whaâ— it is I answer doe these three things First take the due estimate of the promise and that is done by minding pondering familiarizing with it By minding it I meane a marking of it an heeding of it as a thing of no ordinary excellency Count it as thou wouldest the chaire of Estate which thou bowest unto as representing the Kings person So doth the promise it s the chamber of presence in which God discovers himselfe the royall Chaire which carries State in it when thou beholdest it behold in it the Majesty of God Esay 26.10 which no hypocrite can see in it It s hidden from his eye but to a beleever set by God in the clift of the rocke Exod. 34.6 thence to see the glory of God his graciousnesse and to heare all his good proclaimed to such an one the promise is of a most eminent excellency Deut. 32. end full of all the fulnesse of God Slight it not therefore but set thy marke upon it Secondly ponder it as Mary did weigh well the contents of it the blessed consequences of beleeving Take to consideration the worth of the pearle Luke 1.29 and treasure hid in the field as that wise Merchant did Matth. 12.44 It s as the applying of Ebed melecs rags under Ieremies armeholes Jer. 38.11 that he might be drawne out with ease Meditation is an heavenly trading of the soule in her thoughts and affections with Gods matters till the soule clapse with them Psal 119. Thirdly make the promise familiar by this means Draw thine heart to it make it thy familiar friend and counsellor to passe all thy matters for thee and in all thy doubts consult with it and let that give sentence And having received it esteem the words of the mouth of it as Iob did Job 23.12 above thy appointed food powre all into the bosome of it as thou wouldst powre out the symptomes of thy disease into the bosome of thy Physitian or a child all her griefes losses and sorrows into the lap of a tender mother Thou shalt fare better by a promise then they shall doe at their hands This is the first direction Secondly be under the authority and evidence of a promise and be convinced by it that it s thine that all before said of the strength wisdome other properties of a promise do belong to thee as really and are put into it by God that thou mightst have thy part in them See clearly as in a mirror that God intends all to thy selfe and as in the Covenant more generally so in the Seales more particularly As Laban seeing how strangely things went Gen. 24 50. said We can say neither more nor lesse but Gods finger is here it must be a match This is the work of the Spirit of the promise alway assisting it and telling the soule under the Condition Doubtlesse thou art the party whom God means to save Ester 6.6 As Haman said whom should the King mean save me So shalt thou say but much more warrantably If God had not indeed meant me well he would never have so convinced me and set me on ground that I should have nothing to gainsay The Judge on the bench saw not the theefe steale but by the sworne evidences of witnesses he is so convinced in himselfe that he reads sentence without question by this meanes the soule brings out Gods cloake staffe and signet as his pledges left in her hand to assure her of his good meaning toward her Gen. 38.25 Thirdly claspe unto and with the promise cleave unto it to bee rid of all thy annoyances at once Once convinced of the promise and ever fastned to it And this cleaving to it is that worke which immediately causeth the consent and obedience of the soule unto it to cast it self upon the promise open it thus The soule in the act of beleeving is sollicited by Satan and unbeleefe to give over and returne to folly But the promise pressing in perswades her to beleeve and renounce her old distempers The soule in this demurre consults with herselfe thus If I goe backward I perish irrecoverably If I go forward I see difficulty yet hope What then shall I doe Surely I cannot be worse then I am I must dye however in not beleeving but in beleeving I may live Therefore I will cast my self upon the promise and live A man will doe thus naturally though he have no promise Thus did those 9. lepers 2 King 3. only upon an hazard they cast themselves upon the army of the Aramites Why Because they were sure to dye in the City So the poore soule giving herselfe for dead puts her life in her hand and saith worse then dead I cannot be better I may be by a promise Nay if God be true I shall be and therefore I will venture my soule and jeopard all upon Gods faithfulnesse if I perish I perish in the armes of a promise not in Satans clawes and by my unbeleefe In this strife of the soule the Spirit doth lay in such strong weights of perswasion against the disswasives of corruption that the soule finally is overruled and so consents and obeyes to cast herselfe upon the sure bottome of a promise for pardon and life By these directions thou maist helpe thy selfe in this weighty worke but because the heart is dull upon the spurre Motives to Faith let me adde a few motives to quicken thee Let one be this Remember first that this will be the issue of Gods enquiry at his comming to judgement Secondly that by this resigning up the soule to God the greatest honour is done to him which by a mortall creature can be Thirdly that all such in the day of the Lord shall be most glorious Fourthly that the greatest wrath and vengeance shall light upon the heads of unbeleevers Fifthly that this being the rarest grace of all others in the world is therefore worth our chiefest endeavour Of these and the like I purpose God willing to treat of the next Lecture Now for the present having exceeded our ordinary bounds we will desist here Let us pray THE EIGHTEENTH LECTVRE continued upon the 14. VERSE VERSE XIV Then he went downe and washed himselfe seven times in Iorden and his flesh came againe as the flesh of a little child and he was cleane AT the end of the last Exercise Brethren I began to finish the first and maine Branch of Exhortation raised from this act of Faith to cast the soule upon the promise To the which end I added to the directions for the duty certaine motives time giving leave onely to name such as came to minde I have referred the briefe touching of them in severall to this occasion Motive 1 Let the first if
you will be this That this selfe-resigning grace above all other Faith gâ—ves most glory to God gives most glory to God therefore it is worth the ensuing while we have time I thinke none will deny but that which ascribes most to God and least to man is the most worthy grace to lay in for But such is this It is wholly for God concurres with him in this point of his honour above all All our obedience to the Morall Law at once considered glorifies not God so much as this no although we could performe it exactly as wee cannot Partly because this grace apprehends the perfection of Gods righteousnesse which no holinesse or righteousnesse can reach to Faith though weake yet apprehends the perfection of God and thereby conformes us to bee like him Now that 's a great honour to God to resemble his perfection and to be perfectly righteous which only faith in this life apprehends Partly also for that faith onely acknowledges God in all those Attributes of his whereby he sets forth himselfe in the saving of his elect God aimed at more glory in Redemption then in Creation And Adam did not so much honour God in his integrity as a beleever doth in the act of his faith For Adam honoured Goodnesse but not Justice nor Mercy which the Lord meant especially to set forth in Christ Read Read Rom. 3.25.26 Oh! you may easily conceive how acceptable this work of faith is to God by a resemblance For take an ambitious man who stands more upon his honour then gaine Who doth most please such a man Hee that sends him gifts No he seeks to have all men bound to him rather then to be obliged to any That man is for his tooth who in great meetings trumpets out his praise tells of his breed learning bounty and generousnesse And if any lessen his praise by comparison with others will chalenge him into the field and spend bloud in the defence of it Oh! how deare is such an one to a man who stands upon it Even such a man is hee who dare cast himselfe upon a promise for hee equals God in a sort in his ends let God propound to himselfe in what he will bee honoured and faith instantly concurres and faith True Lord it is meet be famous in thy justice satisfying it self upon Christ be honored in the wisedome of thy eternall purpose and thy revealing it in time receive glory from thy poore creature for that gracious mercy of thine that love that power and all that unsearchable riches of thine past our finding out Oh! be glorified in all at the hands of him who yet cannot reach it Rom. 11. ult 1 Tim. 1.1.19 To the King immortall invisible and only wise God be all dominion and praise Faith then enlarging it selfe to all such qualities as God seekes to bee great in doth exceedingly honour him and therefore is a grace so much the more to be sought All seeke the face of the Prince Prov. 26.29 because greatnesse delights in it David having but a conceit of the contrary in Mephibosheth was implacable Get this grace then that so thou mayst set up the Lord and make him glorious in thine own heart 2 Sam. 19.29 and in the hearts of all others as neere as thou canst Secondly let this move thee When Christ shall come to judge Motive 2 the issue of his enquiry will be Whether faith or no faith Christs last inquiry will be for faith 1 Cor. 3.13.14 Matth. 25. I deny not but he will also examine and try every mans worke by fire and purge the good workes of his from all drosse which cleaves to them It is cleare by that in Matth. 25. that hee will take account of all the Talents that he hath lent out But this shall bee the maine issue of all how the maine Talent of the Gospel hath been improved that is whether it have been beleeved or no It is plaine by Luk. 18.9 Thinke you saith Christ that when the Sonne of Man shall come to judge the world he shall finde faith upon the earth That then shall bee his inquisition And no doubt that shall be then in as great request as now it is in little Then a world if we had it for a drop of this oyle but the market is over Well let us then make it the great issue of our inquiry if we be wise while it is called to day If we lay one issue Heb. 3.15 and God lay another what a wofull losse of the day shall wee sustaine Who shall recompence our losse God askes for faith and we bring him in our many Sermons hearing or prayers making our duties doing or Lord Lord have we not done great things in thy Name Then shall he answer Depart from me Matth. 7.22 Will not this bee our hell ere wee come at it But Faith will passe for currant in that day Therefore use all diligence to make that sure now It will bee in vaine then to say Alas I was not aware of this issue if I had I would not have been to seeke Thirdly God having found out who these are will set them forth in that day to bee wondred at before Men and Angels This is that Motive 3 which Paul speakes 2 Thess 1.10 when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints God will be admired in all and onely such as beleeve and to be admired in all them that beleeve in that day because our testimony was beleeved What is it to be admired in all that beleeve Surely then God shall make fully knowne the infinite riches of his mercy which he hath discovered in saving his beleeving ones when a world of others shall be rejected How few behold God admirable in the conversion of any Men have other objects of admiration now to occupy their affections as who is the eminent rich man in the Countrey who get the Kings favour or bee the greatest for their preferment These men doe admire But as for that grace which hath chosen some to be beleevers leaving thousands of great note and parts alas it is slighted as a fancie and control'd as a falsity Nay who are so scorn'd as such But in that day those great rich ones and gallants shall be despised and then shall the Lord be admired in beleevers Here they lye by as wonderments But there they shall reflect a glory upon God who hath bestowed such favour upon them as to give them faith Oh! happy then those who have kissed the Sonne Psal 2. ult It seemes that beleevers shall then bee Master-peeces when as the Lord himselfe shall bee glorious in them for his love to them How shall they then bee glorious in the sight of the world Numb 10.17 If Moses and Aaron were so glorified in the sight of Israel by reason of the government and Priesthood which God put upon them and that when as Kora and his fellowes had sought to disgrace them
how great shall the honour of beleevers be then when it shall be some addition to Gods own glory that he hath made them such Can God be admired in the choyce gifts of Bezaleel and Aholiab Exod. 36.1 but they must needs be glorious who enjoy them Oh! then it will be the chiefest honour to be a beleever then shall it not repent them of any pains they have taken that they have set to their seale that God is true Then shall they shine as the starres who have converted others Dan. 12.3 and have beene converted themselves Then shall it appeare who are Gods off-spring borne of God 1 Pet. 1. having his seed in them Kings and Priests to God His Jewels his peculiar ones and Favourites Doe yee not see how a Prince is admired who weares a Jewell of peerlesse price upon his hat or in his ring Shall a Jewell grace a man and shall not they bee glorious from whom God receives a kinde of grace Tell me whether it were better for us to be these persons or with the multitude of wicked ones to be dazled with their beauty in that day and to gnaw and bite their tongues for very anguish that they had not the grace to beleeve the word in season 4. Motive God shall come in vengeance against unbeleevers Fourthly then shall the Lord come in treble vengeance against all that know not God nor obeyed his Gospel who put away the Promise from them in a scorne and made a mocke at his threats who said to God Depart from us Where is now that tongue of yours which said 2 Pet. 3. Where is the promise of his comming Come let us see this day of the Lord. It shall be a blacke day to you and you shall wish it as farre off then as neere before For then shall the Lord set the true colours upon every sinne and the most terrible upon this No Thiefe no Harlot shall looke so grisely so gastly as an unbeliever Hell shall be heat thrice hotter then Nebuchadnezzars furnace for all such There the Sonne of God walked but here they suffer Amos 5.18 who have trod under foot the blood of the Covenant and counted it an unholy thing and unworthy of them The Gospell is hid to none Heb. 10.29 but such as perish This is that condemnation Joh. 3.19 They are condemned already and the wrath of God abides upon them in right but there it shall cease and take full possession They have despised the remedy and cast the potion of their recovery against the walles They shall not resist the quashing force of this rocke falling upon them Luke 20.17 and grinding them to powder This sinne opposes God in all that in which he sought honour to himselfe and therefore how terrible will hee bee in revenging himselfe How fearfull will it bee to see men condemned even by him who yet is the Judge of Gods Chancery God hath no quarrell with men like to the quarrell of his Covenant Levit. 26.25 When they goe contrary to God in this kinde hee will goe contrary to them and avenge them when hee avoucheth them to bee his redeemed ones in the blood of the Covenant Deut 26.17 and himselfe to bee their God all-sufficient and that freely being enemies and traytors and they shall disavow him and tell him to his face that he is a lyar 1 John 5 10. meaning nothing lesse and his Ministers to beare false witnesse of him when he bids them lay down their weapons and come in 1 Cor. 15.15 and hee will pardon their rebellions yet they wilfully persist in bearing Armes against him what possible way can there be of reconciliation When tender mercies are rejected what is to looked for but jealousie burning to hell Shall a second blood of God bee shed for such as have despised the former If they who despise Moses Law Heb. 2.2.3 are put to death under two or three witnesses how shall they escape who despise so great salvation Fifthly that is to bee highly esteemed and ensued 5. Motive Faith is a rare Jewell 2 Thess 3.2 which is so rare a commodity and to be found in so few hands a flower that growes in so few Gardens But Faith is such an one 2 Thess 3.2 Faith is not of all nay the portion of very few Every one seekes to ingrosse rich wares that they may raise the market at their pleasures for their owne gaine But the Royall Merchant of this Pearle beyond price may well goe alone for there bee few who will goe to the price of his Pearle Oh! if the paucity of Beleevers or rarity of Faith or scantnesse either of such as preach it or hearken after it might perswade this reason might strongly as a Load-stone draw us to beleeve Such as remaine not prophane yet rest themselves in a forme of godlinesse keep under the line and subsist in a dangerous degree to faith-ward but dare not resigne up themselves to the promise When it should come to this point they make sure of some faire retreat or other for themselves And when this fruit should come to the birth there is no strength to bring forth and so they faile of the grace of God and dye in that state All that is in request with men is how they may get to heaven with most ease Esay 37.3 and rid their hands of this trouble of selfe-deniall and selfe-resigning to God They will not put themselves out of their owne power nor clearly discharge themselves of all weights which hang on and presse downe in this kinde and therefore justly may that be mens ruine which they preferre before mercy that is vanity pleasure sloth and ease Let us then be of those few that beleeve and not of the world of unbeleevers 6. Motive No riddance of our distempers till we beleeve Lastly let this prevaile that untill thou beleevest and drownest thy distempers in the promise thou shalt never be rid of them Thy staggerings feares and disquietnesse of thoughts thine hard heart thine impatience thy old corruptions yea Satan with seven worse spirits will returne and enthrall thee more desperately then ever before Thou canst have no security from them otherwise but a truce onely which will end in worse warre All thy hearings prayers hopes duties will be forfeit and perish Matth. 12. And were not this lamentable Especially for such as have been so faire for faith swet for it as 2 Joh. 8. to lose their reward for adding a little more soundnesse of heart to their former knowledge and affections Is it not a sad sight to see one to make shipwrack in the haven Who would not pitty himselfe for such folly Who would lay egges in the sand to bee troden by beasts Job 39.14 except a foole bereft of understanding Satan will not give thee over but sift thee throughly If there be no faith in thee there is no difference betweene thee and
others Consider good friends what the Scripture speakes If yee will not beleeve you shall not be established Esay 7.9 Nothing but this Anchor will settle the ship nothing but Faith will overcome the world either within us or without us The heart being unpurified will bewray it selfe onely to faith is granted to weare the crowne of victory 1 Joh. 5.5 for this is that victory even our faith Oh! who would be alway unsetled and lye open to all mischiefe who might prevent it Zach. 12.10 Conclusion of the exhortation But I conclude this Use with the former Directions and Motives Pray to God for the Spirit of grace and supplication goe together that his spirit may perswade thy soule to both these to deny thy selfe and to resigne up thy selfe to the promise Say thus Lord thy workes are all perfect where thou beginst thou finishest It is beyond flesh to retaine this grace I have run I have laboured but except thou give me the hand to helpe me over this steep hill I shall fall back again to my old distempers the end will be worse then the beginning 1 Sam. 14.13 Oh therefore let me goe up the hill of faith as Ionathan did up the hill against the Philistines give mee a signe as thou gavest him and then all lets and oppositions shall fall before me all high things which set up themselves yea the worst that is the contrariety of heart to this thy way of beleeving shall be cast downe and then shall I submit nakedly to this obedience of faith The Lord grant it to us all for his Names sake This for the first and maine Use of Exhortation be spoken Branch 2 A second Branch of Exhortation is to all such as through mercie have cast themselves upon the promise already for pardon and life and that is that they still practise the same grace in the course of their life in all their straits crosses duties dangers and difficulties in all their temptations losses wrongs and pursuits at the hands of the unthankfull or unreasonable And in a word whether for things concerning this or a better life that they cast themselves upon the promises for salvation sustaining and full redeeming them from them all Know this brethren that as much adoe as faith costs us for pardon Plead the promise for sanctification as well as pardon Matth. 4.1 yet wee have not done there It is as great a grace to preserve the soule as it was to beget it at first enemies will not give us over as soone as wee are converted to God but rather assault us more forcibly as Christ himselfe was by Satan after his baptisme and unction to be Mediator Now then what helpe have we against all affronts save to cast our soules upon him for reliefe and redresse whom wee have already adventured upon for pardon and life What is our Charter save that of our Saviour Be of good courage I have overcome the world Joh. 16.33 14.1 Esay 26.3 Let not your hearts be troubled you beleeve in the Father beleeve also in me Cast your selves upon Jehova for he is eternall strength Here on the one side steps in feare and saith I shall never overcome such a corruption and lust of earthlinesse or pride or selfe-love or revenge or uncharitablenesse or I shall not grow in grace as others doe but alway stand at a stay or I feele no thriving by the meanes still after fasting Sacraments the old deadnesse of heart abides and I walke as the horse in the mill in one dead frame of heart and life Well deny thy selfe first and then resigne up thy selfe unto the promise Doest thou willingly yeeld thy selfe to any base corruption Or doest thou wilfully slight the meanes or defile thy conscience Then looke to thy selfe and lin not till thy pardon and peace be renewed But otherwise look not at thy distrust or unworthinesse but humble thy soule for thine unbeliefe and recover by the promise Say thus Lord when I was weake and without strength I cast my selfe upon thy word for pardon of sin and release of curse how much more may I doe it for supply of wants Plead the promise now as thou wert wont to cleave to it at first When Bathsheba was afraid her sonne Salomon should bee defeated of the Kingdome 1 King 1.15.22.26 she and Nathan plotted together to concurre with one Argument and came to David saying Did not my Lord the King say that Salomon should reigne How then is it that Adonija sits on the throne What did David He rouzes up his dying body and sweares As the Lord lives looke what I have said shall be accordingly done Thus by pleading they sped Plead thou the promise which once God gave thee and so shalt thou also Lord Didst not thou say Sinne shall not reigne Thine shall grow Thou wilt finish thy worke and they shall hold out to the end And now lo the Divel perswades me it shall be otherwise But O Lord had I first clave to sense and feeling I had never beleeved Therefore now teach mee to cast my selfe upon thy Word still and looke off from appearances Although I feele no great growth yet because thou hast said I shall and I doe not wilfully oppose it therefore I beleeve I doe In like manner steps in the malice of Satans instruments and they threaten my ruine and make me thinke I shall one day perish by them But I aske my soule Doest thou not side and sort with them by an ill conscience forsaking thine integrity Then cast thy selfe upon the promise Psal 73. end Call thy selfe a foole a beast for distrusting God Roll thy wayes upon him and say Was not I alwayes with thee Didst thou not promise to guide me by counsell till glory whom have I in heaven or earth like thee When Iehoshaphat in 2 Chron. 20.5 was beset with three armies what did he Cleave to sense and so despaire No he pleads a promise an old one made to Salomon at the dedication of the Temple Didst thou not say when enemies should besiege us and we looke up to thy throne thou wouldst looke downe Lo here is an object for thee Mount Seir and Moab and others What did God Instantly answered and scattered them all Alas brethren our faith forgets her plea and is weary of her worke God sets enemies about our eares to file off the rust of faith that shee may still honour him against feares and carnall reason We say we have cast anchor upon Gods bottome for pardon but how shall it appeare If we say so who shall gainsay us in a secret thing But shew it then in our course that secret grace may discover it selfe in straits and trialls that we may know all that is in our owne hearts either how weake they are that we may strengthen them or how strong that we may be thankfull But when sorrowes and feares beset thee on every side sicknesse debt losses of husband
is one Heb. 4.13 to whom all things are open and manifest his word is quicke and as a two edged spirit dividing betweene the soule and spirit the joints and marrow the thoughts and intents of the heart Dally not therfore with him It s fearfull to fall into his hands He will not spare us but will punish our sins And Heb. 10.31 if we call him father who judgeth without respect of persons 1. Pet. 1.17 passe we the whole time of our dwelling here in feare For our God is a consuming fire This in generall In speciall The command of the Gospell to beleeve in Christ is most solemnly to be â—beyed make conscience of the most solemne command of the Gospel to beleeve in the Lord Jesus close with this command It is the most soveraigne and indispensable of all other Obey this and obey all for in this stands the obedience to all the rest The Lord hath ingaged all his glory and honour upon this one That the most vile miserable sinner living who is willing to come in with his load pinching him to hell shall finde ease Whether it seeme so or no this is the truth he hath purposed to magnifie all his Attributes in shewing mercy to such an one He will have it knowne that he can doe that which flesh cannot even love the most hatefull enemy in the world that is weary of his enmity This he hath set down with himselfe from eternity in time hath declared it to his Church by giving his justice a full discharge in the blood of his Sonne Hee is the upshot of promises and therfore looks that he be beleeved yea for a recompence hereof that he hath made all Yea and Amen in him 2 Cor. 1.20 Joh. 3.33 he desires but to be beleeved counting them that doe so to seale that he is true and calling the rest lyers Consult not now with flesh and reason Say not that this word is farre from thee Rom. 10.8 it is neere thee it is offered and pin'd to thy sleeve Esay 1. Luke 5.7 that thou mightst beleeve it consent and obey this and the worst is past As Peter sayd to Christ At thy command I will cast in though I have cast all night and catcht nothing So say thou I have long traded with mine owne inventions devotions and duties but now at thy command I will try what thy promise is worth and cast my selfe wholly upon it for pardon grace and life If I perish I perish Venture so and prosper Secondly proceed to other commands The same Lord of commands bids us love one another for love fulfilleth the Law Joh. 14. Jam. 3. 1 Tim. 1. All other commands issue from faith the end thereof being love out of a pure and good conscience and love unfained Feare this command also The person of man who is thy immediate object of love may perhaps seeme contemptible to thee for what can he doe unto thee whether thou love or love not But he that made thee and him too and hath planted you both in the body of his Church under Christ the head he it is who bids thee love thy neighbour love him by reproofe and murther him not love him by counsell example admonition compassion lowre not upon him curb selfe-love passion indignation wrath envie revenge slighting of him disdaining him Thinke with thy selfe it is not for nought that all the commands are said to bee done in this one of Love Thinke not that all shall be well if thou canst but beleeve in Christ Matth. 25. know that the Lord Jesus himselfe who will call for faith at his comming Luke 18.8 will call for love also The want of love and the due carriage of thy heart toward others is a spirituall solemne command of the Gospel as well as faith and one day will appeare to be so when God shall call thee to the Barre and convince thee how little fruit of love hath ever proceeded from thee Therefore close with this charge also look not upon man but upon that God who hath bound thee to him by this chain of love and who will hold himselfe wronged in the violation of it lay a more solemne charge upon thy spirit in this kinde then ever and feele thy soule to lye under the authority of this command as well as the former And what more should I say From these two well-springs proceed all the streames of Commands concerning God Man and thy selfe Hence issueth a Command of a close keeping the Sabbath ordering thy conversation aright Eph. 5.15 Jam. 1. ult hence comes that charge of walking circumspectly as wise keeping thy selfe unspotted of the world Hence it is that thou art forbidden to have thy course in covetousnesse to have any fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse Hence also it is that thou art bidden Redeeme the season Heb. 13.5 Eph. 5.11.16 Mat. 16.26 1 Pet. 3.9 Walke wisely toward them who are without To take up thy crosse daily to deny thy selfe to live by faith to sanctifie God in thine heart and make him thy feare And the like I might say of the rest for it were endlesse to speake of all Conceive of them all as comming from one rule of righteousnesse And know it hee that requires one urges all Perhaps thou wouldst thinke it equall to obey the Magistrate obey thy Parents keep the Sabbath but know it the same God commands thee to preach in season and our to execute the righteous judgements of God to be subject to thy husband to teach thy children the feare of God These are speciall ones and lesse welcome but if thou obey not them thou doest but play fast and loose with God in the generals For all sound obedience to God is equall and uniforme I know what flesh will say T is tedious to be so tied and tasked to be held to it from day to day never out say not I could be content to fast and pray one day to redeeme liberty for many I could walk close for a Sabbath so I might be mine owne man all the weeke But know that the law of love takes no thought for continuance it is no violent compulsion as a slave to ply his worke but as naturall as for the fire to burne or the sparkes to flye upward Let the Law bee once written in thy heart Jer. 31.31 and it will teach thee holy wisedome love and delight to accommodate and apt thy selfe to each one in speciall equally and constantly Simile The Law and Art of musick in the minde acts the fingers ends to such a nimblenesse and presentnesse of service as is admirable And if the writing of letters and characters upon Fringes and Frontlets were so powerfull as to prompt a man to the obedience of each occasion what then is the law of grace written in each faculty of the minde and will in the reines and the spirit of the Soule But here I cease
with it passe it by Their severall objections have been answered before Now I onely presse reproof upon them Light is sowne for them Psal 97.11 but they will not see it but goe on with their burden as if they would offer their eares to be boared for slaves As those mentioned last are in one extreame and snatch at that which is denyed them for stollen waters are sweetest so these cannot make use of that which belongs unto them when yet it is pind on their sleeves To whom I say as Esay did to Ahaz when he refused to aske a signe Is it not enough for you to grieve men Gods Prophets but you will grieve my God also What Are you too well offered Esay 7.13 and cannot see when you are well used nor discerne your friends from your foes Doe you thinke it is enough to nod your head as Asses doe at a promise beleeving it onely as a tale told but with-draw the affiance of your soules from it Is it enough for you to moane and complaine to desire and mourne Are these faith Is it better for you to shrugge in the cold weather and to wish a fire yet in the meane time to starve for lacke of that which is offered you To goe naked and let the garment lye by unoccupied Oh! checke your selves bitterly for this irregularity whatsoever the cause be whether unworthinesse or sloath or sullennesse it is not according to a promise that I am sure of Oh! get your soules out of this emptinesse into the life and marrow of a truth Learne the truth as it is in Jesus that you put him on being naked Not to marry the promise being faire for it is contrary to a promise But to beleeve and to cast your selves upon the Word to rid your selves of staggering accords most kindly with it So much for this Branch 2 Of Reproofe Ephes 3.16 Psal 78.19 Secondly this reproves all limiters and restrainers of promises for that is not according to a promise The truth in Jesus is the largenesse of it Its length depth breadth height all dimensions are in it Thus those Israelites straitned the holy One of Israel Can hee prepare a Table in the Wildernesse This is our cursed spirit when a promise seemes true in the generall yet in the particular not so as Martha confesses the power of Christ to bee able to doe all things Joh. 11.39 but when it came to the point of raising her brother then she said Lord hee hath been buried foure dayes he stinkes What a base carnall limitation of Almightinesse is this Limiters and restrainers of promises reproved See what a contrariety is in our hearts to a promise according to the extent of it As the Cable seemes to a Needles eye so doth all the points of an extended promise seeme to our hide-bound hearts Gods enlargements worke by contraries and make us the more straitned as in the point of the same or the kinds of promises and so the rest Now I thinke God hath heard my prayer but how long he will that I saith one know not it seems too much to presse hard upon him so long so often for so many favours True if he were a man Jer. 2.13 Esay 26.3 Heb 13.8 or a dry pit but hee is a God a fountaine of living waters Men will bee weary of doing good but it is Gods nature to doe it as the streames to flow Who thinkes it a wrong to a fountaine to draw from it daily Doth it not come alway more fresh and sweet It is the honour of a Prince to look at himselfe in giving not at others The ofter thou commest to a promise Sundry instances of it the welcomer It is according to the truth as it in Jesus Oh saith one I have trusted God for pardon but as for purging my corruptions of pride ease vanity the world or if so yet for purging or weakning this or that beloved lust 1 Kings 20.28 cannot beleeve it Why Is God the God of the valleyes onely not of the Hills also So saith another I can trust God for heaven but not for outward things for my selfe but not for my children while I live but not when I must dye loath I am to heare of that or for the present so farre as I finde my needs but what may hereafter betide mee in my name health state safety liberty God knowes Doth God know and dare not you beleeve Is this according to a promise and the extent thereof Truly Popery cares for no faith we have all a Pope in our belly that 's unbeleefe we go farre onward in Religion But we have hearts which shrinke in the wetting and hold not out in breath and pace with promises grudge and cannot beteame our selves the wealth and fulnesse of God lest we should be compleate in him and too wealthy by him Ionah grudged promises to others but we are envious to our owne soules I remember what once a devout â—otary prayed Lord saith he grant me my petition this once I come not often to trouble thee and on condition thou wilt grant me this I will never trouble thee more Oh base wretch Is thine eye evill because Gods is good Thirdly this reproves all such as stretch out promises beyond their Branch 3 bounds and set them on their owne Tentors till they rend them Enlargers of promises beyond their due bounds to be reproved They could beteame the temporall promises of God to themselves and the Church for deliverance and redemption from all enemies for peace protection and welfare were unlimited But those which touch their souls especially to kill their lusts they care not how narrow they frame them even as the bed and covering of which Esay speakes that is so narrow that it will not wry them warme They beleeve not promises as they are but fancy them They chuse rather that the bush would not burne at all then that it might not consume in burning where God straitens they enlarge Shalt thou teach Jesus how to frame his truths Surely this kind of receiving of truths is not according to Jesus and the honour of Jesus but according to Self and carnall selfe-love Thou maist as well take upon thee to alter the whole frame of Scripture as of promises for God hath bounded them and their land-marks cannot be removed Apply thy self unto them as they are for they will not accommodate themselves to thy humor thy seasons or contents Fourthly this is reproofe to all who beleeve not promises according Branch 4 to the intention of them Not to beleeve a promise according to the intention of it is sinfull They make them weaker and insufficienter then they are This doth intollerably trench upon the honour of Jesus this of all the rest is farre from embracing the truth as it is in Jesus What is it which Jesus hath not done or suffered to stablish and ground truthes And yet how basely doe we
shall fall into some scandall 3. Fear of falling into some scandall and not persevering and never persevere but he who hath delivered will deliver from every evil way and work He wil preserve the souls of his Saints he wil write his law in their heart they shall not depart from his feare I am perswaded nothing shall separate c. He is faithfull who hath promised Sometime sicknesse poverty debt disquiets and how then In six troubles he will keepe thee and in the seaventh that it shall not oppresse Hee put his hand under my head and will make my bed in sicknesse when I was weake the Lord holpe me Againe the soule complaines 4. Sicknesse debt enemies unfaithfull friends and the like But I have enemies Well but if thy wayes please the Lord he can make them thy friends If not though an Army of them compasse mee about yet will I not be afraid But perhaps friends faile and turne unfaithfull Well yet Mica 7. When I dare trust no friend nor wife I dare trust the Lord. When my father and mother forsooke me but the Lord took me up Can a mother forsake the childe of her womb Yet will not the Lord. He will sustaine and redeeme thee In all their afflictions hee was afflicted Esay 63.9 Oh! but they prosper and I decay They beare all the stroke and my cause is sentenced Stay a while and their green Bay tree shall wither True it is it is long first Psal 73. Psal 37.6 But fret not thy selfe roll thy way on Jehova and be doing good and hee will effect it Hee will bring forth thy righteousnesse as the morning Hee will plead thy cause Mica 7. When there is casting down thou shalt see a lifting up and hee shall save the humble person Job 22.29 But thou wilt say My prayers be not heard Not presently but it is that thou mightst pray oftner and earnestlier that so God may deliver thee from that thou fearest and his grace may bee sufficient for thee Thou wilt still object 5. When prayer is not heard My troubles are as no bodies secret and stinging unknowne to any But not unto the Lord whose eyes are in every corner of the earth and knows the heart and reynes yea the most hidden sorrowes that he may be strong with the weak and contrite ones Oh! but I am darke for lack of faith Yet let him that is in darknesse and seeth no light trust upon God Esay 50. But I want meanes The Lord is my support Psal 23.3 leads me to the pastures and streames and when I am lost yet sustaines me So that although the Olive and Vine should faile though there should be no Calfe in the stall nor Sheep in the flocke Habak 3. yet will I make the Lord my salvation But my temptations and assaults by Satan are fierce to Atheisme to deny providence the Scriptures and such like molestings It they be tedious they shall bee short and faith shall quench the most fiery darts 6. Temptations and fierce assaults of Satan Matth. 5.12 1 Pet. 4. But he stirres up his instruments to vex and pursue Well they may cast thee into prison tenne dayes but hold out and I will give thee a Crowne of life Gods hook is in their nostrills Blessed art thou when thou art persecuted for the name of Christ The Spirit of glory shall rest upon thee Fear not man whose breath is in his nostrills Esay 40.7 But I feare evill times will plucke me from my stedfastnesse No Thousands and tenne thousands shall fall on both sides but thou shalt goe free in the midst Matth. 24. If possible the Elect should be deceived But it s not possible I have prai'd for thee that thy faith faile not The just shall have a shining light upon their pathes Luke 22.31 Oh! but perhaps I am in perplexing straits what course to take Well but a voice shal be behind thee and say This is the way walke in it Oh but my sorrowes are the miseries of the Church Esay 30. The gates of hell shall not prevaile against her Be of good courage I have overcome the world The ship that Christ is in Matth. 18. John 13. ult Mica 7.8 cannot be drowned He will rebuke the waves and cause a calme Rejoyce not over me O mine enemy for when I am down I shall rise Christ hath naild my enemies to his crosse led captivity captive Esay 26.1 Salvation hath the Lord set for walls and bulwarks Esay 13.5 God will defend Jerusalem Light is sowne for the Righteous Beare the yoke because thou hast sinned and the Lord shall breake the decree Mica last and tread them as mire in the streets In the meane time Jer. 46. I will correct them in measure and Esay 28. Did I correct him as I corrected them who afflicted him No but in measure But how shall I doe when the King of feares comes The sting of death is sin which being taken out thou shalt triumph 2 Cor. 15. O death where is thy sting But I have poore children to provide for Well Exod. 20. The Lord shewes mercy to thousands of them that love him And the children of the righteous inherit the earth Psal 25. But when I am dead what shall become of me Take no thought Esay 57. They shall rest in their graves perfumed and softned by the grave of Christ and be purged by it from corruption Their names shall be sweet on earth as the pretious ointment And their soules shall reigne with God in full perfection of happinesse above sinne sorrow and all enemies till it shall joine with the beloved body againe at the day of Christ to enjoy in heaven perfect consummation These and such like promises let every poore soule cull out for herselfe out of the treasury of the Scriptures and enlarge them to her owne use that it may goe well with her and that the promises may be beleeved according to their extent for this is the misery of the soule that God hath fulnesse for her in his promises but shee will not see it acknowledge it embrace it accommodate it but let them lye rusting there without regard as men use to suffer their Armour to doe because they have no use of it Thus much shall serve for a direction in this kinde and for this Use as also for the whole Doctrine and former part of this verse containing Naamans obedience Now I come to the latter part of the verse The last generall His successe Three things in it which containes the immediate successe of his washing And that is first the expression That his flesh came againe c. Secondly the cure it selfe He was cleane And thirdly now we heare no more of his former distempers all are vanisht and washt away with his leprous skin in Jorden These points I note here As for the remoter consequences following upon this cure afterward I shall come to them in
cold We see all come to passe Therefore let us all whom God cals by tongue or by penne looke to the safeguard of Truth and say as those did to David so we to Truth Thou art worth ten thousand of us if we dye wee may be supplied but if thou shouldest miscarry all of us must perish As the life of old Iacob was bound up in Benjamins so ours in Truth As in some former Treatises I have endeavoured to give Section 5 my poore witnesse to the practicall truths of Religion as a most sworne enemy to all Schisme and Novelty so in this I aime more especially to encounter prophanenesse and lukewarmenesse and both to convince the former and rectifie the latter As Sinne lies deeply rooted in the one so even Grace it selfe for lacke of quickning lies dead in the other Those that are not sunke into a prophane way yet may be sunke from a zealous I consider with my selfe that as Treatises doe well for maintaining of truths so Sermons are more peculiar for the suppressing of vicious manners or lukewarm profession In Treatises we speak Gods conclusions in Sermons God seemes to speake his owne so great the oddes is in what way a truth be uttered our owne or Gods As Israel thought herselfe doubly strong having got the Arke into the Campe to fight with the Philistins so in preaching we seem to doe as the Angel who went to heaven in the smoake of Gods sacrifice There is more of God in this method then in any and wee had need use the forciblest corrasives to eat out the dead flesh of vice and the keenest spurres to drive others out of the declining temper of their lukewarme profession and neutrality Moses we know might serve to teach people Truths and Ordinances But when the great worke of scaring rebels and convincing the conscience was to be done God himselfe was faine to descend in his likenesse with terror and smoke and all too little and questionlesse that is the most noble Ordinance which works most upon and most prevailes with the part of man which is noblest and whereby we draw nearest to God the heart I meane and the affections In Gods sacrifices we read not much of the looking upon the braines or offering them up to God by fire but of the heart liver and the inward parts the fat of them as choice was Gods part The reason no doubt was that although the understanding is the guide of the soul yet because the object of it is onely truth But the object of the will and affections is properly good and by embracing and affecting of good we come nearer to God then by meere understanding of truth therefore the word preached most affecting the inner man by drawing perswading convincing quickning and comforting of it must needs have the preeminence of all other Ordinances There is oftentimes in the unregenerate alway a gulfe set betweene the understanding and the affections so that the one never comes at the other but when once affections are truly stirred this gulfe vanisheth and an easie path-way is made in the soule to welcome Gods grace and to expresse it in the life neither seeme we in any other respect to excell those wicked Angels save in the goodnesse of our affections I speake not this as an enemy to knowledge without which the heart is nought but because the wofull age we live in above all other things is most empty and yet most carelesse of getting good affections Every one thinkes himselfe to be happy in that he knoweth not in that he affecteth beleeveth or loveth whereas in these latter our union and communion with God consists The heart and spirit of the man his bent his frame that is the man and I beleeve that as they say of the materialls of the world they would soone dissolve if the soule of it were taken away so the vast body of Light and Knowledge of many professors will ruine and oppresse herselfe ere long for lack of sutable life spirit and affections This notion seemed to me very forcible to perswade the publishing of these Sermons after some other Treatises formerly set forth But will some say we grant all Sermons are indeed as you say powerfull instruments to stirre the soule bâ—â— what is that to printing and writing You know no peâ—cill can fully reach a living face The Presse cannot comprehend the Pulpit and writing of a Booke is but as the picture of a dead man in comparison of the lively voice To whom I answer Time hath beene when I have beene so farre transported with this thought that I would have preferred the preaching of a Sermon to the printing of a Booke But now I must sing another note and therefore I answer further although the objection in part be true yet consider God hath covered the uncomely parts with greatest honour and although the grace of the Spirit in preaching and giving overtures of lively impression to the heart cannot be equalled by printing yet printing hath also that peculiar use which preaching it selfe reacheth not that is constantly to represent things which while they were in uttering seemed pretious but yet are soon forgotten Luke 1.4 I say to present them alway to the eye and so to hold them there as a naile fastned in a sure place from wanzing and leaking out And moreover when the Preacher shall with diligence and observation both marke wherein God assisted him most and hold himselfe as neare as he can to his expressions somewhat more may be compassed in this kinde then otherwise But however he is a foole who counts not halfe a loafe better then no bread or despiseth the Moon-shine because the Sun is down and I hope that such as were once attentive hearers of these things when they read these Lectures shall in some sort recognize the savour and grace which in hearing they seemed to acknowledge Wherefore to conclude as I for my part thinke it a favour that I may be the overseer of mine owne Bookes which else by audacious and unskilfull adventurers might have beene defaced and also that I may set my base heart on work any way to prevent sloth ease So I shall desire thee good Reader to apply thy self with thy best care and prayers to peruse what God hath herein presented thee withall And if thou pickest any thing out blesse God and pray for me even for Thine in Christ D. Rogers The list of Contents TOuching Gods Soveraignty and Freedome in decreeing Touching the preventing assisting and perfecting grace of God in mans vocation Touching Selfe and Selfe love Touching carnall Reason How farre policy lawfull Touching Gods way in humbling the soule or the condition of the Promise Touching Servants and their duties with Masters a full discourse Touching Faith a discourse thereof at large Touching the due reverence support of the Minister by the people Touching the Promises and Performances of God Their nature and use Touching the effect of Faith and
for the deed 2. Looke upon thine owne grace and hide my defects 3. Betrust me with the principles of sincerity and faith working by love which will make a little goe a great way 4. Make my lusts to be my clogs as Sauls armour to David 5. Make the yoke of hard dangerous disgraced solemne duties and crosses to be tollerable pag. 374 People exhorted to love honour and support their Ministers How that may bee pag. 392 People that will seeme to love their Minister that so they may snort in their sinnes odious pag. 400 Popish Martyrs against the Scriptures not to be regarded notwithstanding their pretended selfe-deniall 415. Popish falshood in all their wayes pag. 415 People must be sincere and open to receive good counsell pag. 425 Poore men have a priviledge above the rich in this That they may bee reproved pag. 425 Proud harts terrified by Gods resisting pag. 468 Plead hard for faith if once wee bee under the condition pag. 481 Promise must be pleaded for sanctification as well as pardon pag. 511 Perseverance in beleeving breeds assurance pag. 513 Promises must bee beleeved according to their nature and kinde 567. Reasons of it Popish abusers of promises terrified pag. 579 Preposterous appliers of promises reproved pag. 582 Promises must be beleeved according to the utmost extent of them wherin it stands in three things 1. A promise must bee sounded to the bottome 2. Wee must draw out of the wells of salvation 3. The promise must not bee given over though wee be long held off pag. 583. 584 Physitians must know themselves to be only instruments of providence for such as God will have to recover pag. 588 People are very fond in magnifying the outward instrument neglecting God ibid. Popish Miracles and Cures what they are to be thought of pag. 590 Pelagian spirits which cavill at the freedome of the grace of God far from the true spirit of cure and conversion 869. So are Popish spirits likewise pag. 870 Prayer for healing the numb palsie of the spirit of our times necessary pag. 886 Q. Quarrellers against the Minister for not comforting the distressed sinfull pag. 456 R. Rebellion in all whom God meanes to save shall worke greater humiliation in them pag. 60 Repentance goes not before faith pag. 103 Religious Selfe how dangerous Vide Selfe Rationall carriage not simply to bee condemned pag. 209 Religion stands more in wanting somewhat then in having pag. 237 Religion is like an harmony pag. 250 Religion grounded upon most sound foundations pag. 253 Religious servants yet failing in faithfulnesse are to bee blamed 306. Their trickes and qualities ibid. Resigning up of the soule to God is one chiefe work of faith pag. 500 Revolters from their first zeale and grace of conversion are in a sad case pag. 871 S. Scriptures filled by the holy Ghost with rarities and wonders and why Two causes pag. 2. 3 Sensible and outward objects the meanes by which God workes upon us ibid. Scriptures bark and outside not to be rested in but the scope and sense pag. 6 Soveraignty of Gods will and pleasure must cause us first to confesse it 14. 2. To lye humbly and quietly under the conviction of it 15. in sundry particulars 1. By considering the root of this soveraignty ib. 2. Bee content that God dspence his grace according to his owne measures 16. 3. Iudge not God in the effects of soveraignty as in the sinnes penalties or snares of the wicked ibid. 6. Nor for punishing the sinnes of parents upon their posterity 17. 7. Doe the uttermost that lies in thee to obey ibid. 8 Be charitable to others a farre off ibid. 9. Break thy hard hart hereby lay down thy pride and rebellion 18. Then the â—â—use soveraignty is free to save as well as destroy 19. Look not at election but at the tree offer ibid. Assay to beleeve and that upon sound warrant by venturing upon the promise 20. 21. Lastly know this is the greatest honour which thou canst doe to God pag. 22 Straits and extremities are Gods season to pull downe a proud heart 29. In how many respects See the reasons ibid. Straits both publick and personall do but little humble men in these times pag. 36. 37 Straits doe make hypocrites onely to counterfeit 33. Not to be trusted ibid. Straits are very unpleasing to flesh we are lâ—â—th to heare of them lest wee shouâ—d humble our selves and profit bâ— them pag. 38 Shun not straâ—ts for first it is bootlesse and then they câ—nnot bee mâ—ssed 39. Pray for â—n holy use of them not to awe thee violently but change thy heart pag. 40 Signes and Sacraments why used by the Lord in effecting spirituall things pag. 85 Sacraments differ from common signes ibid. And why 1. To stop mans bold inventions 2. To assure weake faith of his sincerity ibid. Suspect trials bee comming upon us when our state is calmest pag. 96 The manifold snares in the way of Gods people should make them watch and bee armed ibid. Selfe the main enemy to rob the soule of grace when all is done 98. and why because most inward and immediate pag. 101 Selfe in the root of it is nothing but the instinct of old Adam and the frame or vent of a corrupt heart ibid. Selfe of two sorts either opposite Selfe to Christ or mixing Selfe with Christ ibid. Selfe opposite what ibid. Of how many sorts it is ibid. Five named Prophane selfe Naturall selfe Carnall selfe Creature selfe Religious selfe ibid. Selfe prophanenesse described ibid. Self natural or civill described pag. 164 Carnall selfe or savour of the flesh what The sorts of it many ibid. Selfe sensuality or in the Creature what pag. 111 Selfe-religion what The branches of it three pag. 115 Mixt selfe in what particulars it discovers her selfe 121. Ten or twelve mentioned Nature of mixt selfe discerned in foure things 1. Familiarnesse 2. Generalnesse 3. Violence 4. Tenaciousnesse pag. 127 Selfe supports her selfe by false comparisons pag. 128 Satan imbarkes himselfe more deeply in Selfe then in other corruption pag. 129 Self deludes by Gods just giving her over to her selfe pag. 129 Selfe may be discerned by three degrees or properties ibid. Passages of Selfe may bee conceived three wayes 1. By the ground 2. The carriage 3. The scope pag. 131 Selfe is but flesh in all the worke of Law and Gospel and how pag. 132 Carriage of Selfe is sutable to her ground which appeares in foure things 1. Her instinct 2. Her eagernesse 3. Her endeavour 4. Her disappointment ibid. The ends of Selfe and her scope is sutable to the ground and carriage pag. 138 All seekers of salvation must abhorre Selfe and how 1. In discerning her trickes divers of them mentioned 139. Shee will deny herselfe in somewhat to satisfie herselfe in other things 2. To mask sin under holinesse 3. To defile it selfe in that it knoweth 4. Pretence to seeke God but intending it selfe 5. To offer God more service then he
unperswaded or halfe perswaded of the truth Hebâ— 2.2.3.4 Saint Paul to the Hebrewes Cap. 2. tells us if they who despised Moses Law upon two or three witnesses were condemned what shall become of them who despise so great salvation who still distrust that truth of God which was first spoken by the Lord of heaven and earth comming in the flesh Miracles serve to convince the soule of the truth sealed thereby afterward confirmed by such as heard him by miracles and the power of the word in those who were converted So may I say here this very text of Naaman shall stand up and convince all that maintaine selfe and selfe-love carnall and corrupt reason against the truth and power of the promise yea this miracle whereby the word was strengthned with all those miracles by which any truth of Christ hath since been justified shall rise up and convince all unbeleevers I meane such as live under meanes in that day For why Though they saw none of these miracles yet hearing the word beholding the seales receiving them into all our sences I say such a word as hath beene ratified by all the wonders of the Old and New Testament serving to beare down a base heart of unbeliefe about the truth power love al-sufficiency of God if they beleeve not by all these they shall be condemned justly by that authority which they have despised yea the very frame of the Scriptures and the expressions of so many strange and admirable passages serving to raise up a base and crawling spirit to heaven if we shall be found unbeleevers in that great day of Christ shall be brought forth as a witnesse against us for our horrible insensiblenesse and stupor of minde and heart Unbeleefe of Scripture and Truth of God after so many miracles very damnable For by these the Lord hath as it were striven to engraven in our spirits as with the pen of a Diamond the truthes of God and mystery of Christ If then our soules shall be found so hard and flinty that this point hath not pierced them if wee be still unconvinced and this instrument of gold hath no more left impression upon us then if a straw or rotten sticke had beene used to write in our tables of stone oh how fearefull shall our condemnation be If any man shall step in here and demand Quest Miracles how far ceased hard to say hath God so sufficiently confirmed his truth by miracles that there shall neede no more I answer I know its the opinion of many that they are wholly ceased and that because the use of them is ceased Answ For that spirit which attends the Ministry of the word carries a conviction of the truth into the mind according to all that is in the truth Now if it be so then that spirit perswades the soule of all the truth aswell in respect of the confirmation of it by miracles as otherwise but as I stagger much about this opinion so yet I am loth to affirme that the Church hath any warrant under faith to looke for the gift of miracles to be assuredly vouchsafed her although the ends thereof may seeme very weighty Who can or dare deny but that the calling of those Americans to the knowledge of the truth may seeme a weighty occasion to expect from God the gift of miracles partly by reason of their language almost impossible to be attained except by either a miraculous or at least a marveilous gift partly because there be poore inducements to draw such imperswasible and brutish spirits to cast so much as their eyes upon any meanes to induce them to beleeve In both which respects I dare not deny but that as Satan by lying wonders prevailes much with such as perish so the Lord may vouchsafe this spirit of miracles to his Church when his time is come to effect the conversion of such Only I adde that when his time is come he will grant his Church an instinct of spirit to aske it and joyne seriously in the meanes to attaine it which else he will not incline them unto his time not being come For wee must weigh the ends of our travell into remote parts whither for our owne ends or for publique If our owne respects be chiefe we have no cause to looke for miracles But I chuse rather to leave the thing in Gods dispose Vse 4 Lastly let it exhort us both generally and specially first to sue earnestly to the Lord Jesus our Prophet Exhortation the Word of the Father and the first inditer of all Scripture Spirit of acknowledgement of God in his word is to be sought by prayer the contriver of all the passages thereof the worker of all wonders and the Author of all grace and wisedome that he would vouchsafe us the spirit of revelation and acknowledgement of him as Saint Paul speakes Ephes 1.18 That we being enlightned in our mindes may conceive aright of the true scope and intent of the Spirit in the Scriptures Branch 1. generall and that he would intimate our hearts with the purpose thereof which is that our soules might be captivated under the power and authority of the speaker That we rest not in the outside of miracles wonders parables similitudes which we heare or read but considering their aime be carried downe the streame of the thing spoken yea the power To rest in the barke of the word or of miracles Parables Similitudes is dangerous soveraignty and faithfulnesse of the speaker Not only thereby conceiving more cleerely in our mindes of the Lord his Attributes and the truths revealed but much more ravished in our affections towards him for the good things whereof we have tasted Many chuse patheticall texts histories and accidents actions and speeches of speciall note to read and please themselves in some delight to read of the building of the Temple others of the passion of Christ others other parcells of Scripture to provoke admiration and discourse even as they might read any other booke of tales and wonders some also read texts of devotion and holinesse as the Psalmes or wise sentences as the Proverbs with a morrall spirit and scope only but never muse of the severall ends of such places nor the spirit of grace therein save onely to amuse their mindes and stirre up pangs of affection But by these to come neerer to know their owne base hearts or to close with the examples of such grace to feare the judgements of God the more deepely to beleeve the promises better to subject themselves more to the commands of God and in all to see his foote-steps and to adore the speaker few attaine it Therefore let us read these texts with prayer to God for sence and savor of their meaning and scope that we may attaine the spiritualnesse of them Else we shall answer heavily to God for making the solemne and reverend truths of God an occasion to nourish and maintaine that corrupt disposition
novelty carnall admiration jangling and unprofitablenesse which the Scripture especially serves to mortifie in us To give a taste of my meaning in an instance An instance of the exhort let that be the miracle recorded 2 King 7. to wit the Prophet Elisha his causing of the Iron to swimme when it was fallen into the water he that reads it as a bare miracle will onely vanish in a wondering humor but he that reads it with faith and reverence will behold the power of God over-ruling the creatures quality and causing the waighty body of iron to float like a chip contrary to the nature of it And what will such a meditation picke out of it Surely a sweet consolation in the power of God viz. to over-rule a worse nature in a worse subject even the dulnesse and lumpishnesse of an heavy heart in matters of God and cause it to mount up from this base dunghill whereunto t is fixed unto heaven and holy thoughts yea to change this hard heart more hard then a flint or iron and make it a soft and fleshy heart to write his covenant in it and cause it to walke in his Commandements where from t is as farre as iron from swimming If then the casting in of a sticke could worke such an effect if the bare power of God onely for a witnesse that the worke then intended was from God without any respect to the iron it selfe could doe this great thing what shall be the power of God working in and by the bloodshed and intercession of the Lord Jesus upon an heart of heavier frame and harder which thereby shall be much the better in it selfe besides the infinite honour which the worker of this miraculous change shall purchase to himselfe by it although to carnall reason it may seeme impossible And in particular 2. Branch particular let this exhort us all to be more studious and zealous observers of this text in hand Our Saviour could set a speciall marke upon it as containing peculiar instruction for us to cast down those strong forts and high thoughts in us Naamans story and the passages thereof very remarkable which doe destroy the simplicity of selfe-deniall faith and the obedience of Christ Surely if strange things will affect us as who now adaies affect not Athenian wise new and strange reports and accidents to heare and to tell them though emptily and as passages for present talke this text hath cause and may plead to be specially marked above many Which containes the cure of the onely leper to whom above all them in Israel Elisha was sent Naaman a stranger and Heathen Aramite sutable whereto are all the circumstances making toward it The very roote and first occasion of it was strange Particulars of it summed up by a poore damosell and captive yet one that had taken notice of Elisha to very good purpose The disease strange an incurable leprosie the cure strange by the applying of common water to his flesh to reason incredible The course by Naaman strange in mistaking an Idolatrous King for his Physitian in steed of an holy Prophet the redresse of the error strange by an intimation from God to fetch him the right way to the Prophet his carriage strange in humble sliding before a poore Prophets doore and to come neerer the text the message uncouth and strange for a Prophet not to vouchsafe to come to the doore to a petitioning Prince but to send an aloofe message Naamans enterteining it strange and promising but a sinister successe for what likelyhood is it that a patient raging at his Physitian should be cured The perswasion strange even by servants not likely either to perswade aright or to prevaile by perswading But above all the effect of this counsell strange that he should obey his servants who cavelled against the Prophet the successe of his obeying strange to recover his flesh as the flesh of a child And to conclude the consequents of the successe strange both his spirituall cure of Soule-leprosie the extraordinary zeale and resolution to renounce Idols for the true God and the most sincere detestation of that most predominant and beloved lust which before had prevailed to wit to worship Rimmon himself be his Masters leaning stock in that worship So many strange concurrences might I say justly force our attention to this story and yet the chiefe thing contained in it is no stranger thing then that which we daily carry about us I mean self and carnall reason But so intricated and wrapped about us so deeply seated and hidden in our spirits that without the great goodnesse of God we shall behold it read it over and over wonder at it in Naaman but see none of it in our selves and so leave the perusall of this Treatise with as small fruit as we began it Which penalty the Lord keep from us and so meet with us and match us in our reading hereof by the inspiration of his spirit that this story may be a looking glasse in which this great blur of selfe may so be discerned that the promise and word of God may present a better image unto our soules and transforme us into it from glory to glory that he that boasteth may not boast in himselfe but in the Lord. A second generall of the whole text The person of Naaman the Subject of it A second generall as equally concerning the whole text and mixed through it as the former is the subject of this whole text the person of chiefe note Naaman the leper The words used by our Saviour do occasion me to touch upon this point it s of no small importance To wit that the Lord passing by all other lepers in Israel neerer hand and liker to make use of the Prophets helpe then one a far off who onely by a report of a silly wench at second hand had intelligence of him should out of his meer grace send him to this Naaman and Naaman to him which phrase imports a sending of spirituall efficacy to conversion and make him a marke of greater mercy then his owne people yea an upbraiding to them in all succeeding generations Many lepers saith Christ there were in the daies of Elisha but to none of them all was he sent save only to Naaman the Syrian Whether no other lepers at all were healed by Elisha it s heard to say and me thinkes as hard to imagine that all lepers should so scape his hands Perhaps they did not and partly the Damosells report evinces it for how else should she so readily point at Elisha for the cure of Naamans disease if she had never heard of his healing others in that kinde Howbeit I affirme nothing she might speake from a generall honour she bare to the Prophets worth but this is sure although some lepers might come to Elisha yet he was sent to none save to Naaman that is the Lord used him not to the spirituall good and salvation of any other
had the proudest hearts to say we are Abrahams children and free men and never served any The cause whereof is within our wofull bosomes viz. that as we have lost our first honor of Creation so we have lost both understandings to know and wills to yeeld and bee convinced of it being like drunken slaves that dreame of liberty and make themselves merry with their owne woe Even so doe we struggle against the prerogative of God and scorne that any difference at all should be made between us and others Numb 16. Hence comes that fulsome conceit of the most that all who professe Christianity are in an equall condition to God-ward all the people of God are holy They thinke that those Ministers who put difference betweene one and other except open monsters and odious livers take too much upon them and out of singularity of spirit and factious pride doe but sow the seed of dissention betweene men and women who else would live alike in neighbourhood and amity And as for the worke of grace and conversion which indeed puts the difference either they conceit themselves to be as forward in it as the best or if they be convicted of the contrary that notwithstanding the common profession which they make with others yet they come short of them in the spirituall power and fruit of the Covenant and Word of the Seales and Sacraments oh they storme and rage as a Beare robbed of her Whelpes Judg. 18.24 Micah did not make such an out-cry after them who stole his gods as these doe after them who would rob them of their Idoll of formall profession Which in truth argueth that their hearts were never truly meekned nor subdued under this doctrine of soveraignty But let all such beware for every blow which they give to God lights upon their owne skin and they carry a blacke marke about them of such as must perish while they scorne to confesse the misery which they are fallen into and so to apply themselves to the humble seeking of that peculiar mercy in God which must if ever they be saved bring them home to him Sure it is that the winding themselves up in the common sheet of other men hoping they shall doe as well as they and abhorring to thinke that others should be better then themselves whiles yet they let others goe before them in humiliation and faith themselves rejecting the meanes of grace this pride and fulnesse of selfe conceit will sooner seale them up to hardnesse of heart and arme them with weapons of pride and envy rage and rebellion against Gods soveraignty then bring them into the least degree or step towards salvation Secondly Lie under the conviction of Soveraignty let us be exhorted to lie under the conviction of this sad Branch 2 truth that God is the Soveraigne Lord of his owne grace to do with his owne what him listeth The neglect of this duty is the meane to foster in the heart of man a roote of bitternesse and rancor against God and so of enimity treachery jealousie the high way to hell And therefore rest not till thy soule can fully accommodate her judgement to confesse this truth that grace is free and without all respect of persons To this end first consider the root of this soveraignty 1. partic Consider the root of Soveraignty I meane that infinite advantage which thou hast given the Lord by thy wilfull fall in Adam The little weighing whereof hath caused as many errors and mistakes in Religion and Divinity as any one Confesse it to be righteous with God to take the uttermost advantage against thee which the most strict justice of his can devise Admit no carnall corrupt colours of reason or cavillers against this truth but lay thine hand upon thy mouth and say Thou hast shut up all under disobedience Oh Lord most justly that thou mightst by their sinne set forth the largenesse of thy Power justice and mercy yea although thou canst not sometimes unty the knots of carnall objections comming from thy rebellious heart yet loose thy selfe in this truth of God and tremble at it saying this is a depth too deepe for me to fadom and too high for me to reach my reason is as the short arme of a poore child which cannot reach farre But whether I reach it or not I am sure there is an eternall truth in it wherein I rest And this step is a great degree towards mercy and a marke of one whom the Lord will save I meane to rest convinced and well apaid concerning this soveraigne pleasure of God A rebell hypocrite and enemy of God dare not commit himselfe to this sea he chuseth rather to creep by the shore of his owne carnall reason though it be to his owne perdition It was the speech of an Heathen man concerning a profound oration which he had heard a Philosopher make what I understood said he I admired as excellent and I beleeve also that was excellent which I understood not How much more shouldest thou bear in thy judgement such a reverend conviction of Gods matters though above thee And secondly let us rest well contented in the Lords free dispensation of the severall measures of his grace 2. Instance Be content that the Lord dispence grace in what measures he pleaseth If he please to be found of some that sought him not Esay 65.1 to make a shorter worke of it yea to intercept them ere they are aware in the midst of an evill course and to powre in mercy by large measures battering breaking and subduing them betimes and as it were all at once whereas he suffers others to goe on by the yeare and the seven yeare without working any great matter in them sensibly but suffers them to welter in their fears doubts and complaints let us not murmur but acknowledge his Soveraignty Of which more in the use following 3 Judge not God in the effects of his unlimited Soveraignty either in sinnes See also Rom. 9.17 Likewise let us not judge God in the effects of this his unlimited will I mean in the trialls commands penalties which he exercises the wicked withall for why he created them holy and accordingly may in equity trie them with strict charges though exceeding their strength to obey For he looks upon them according to that grace which they have lost not which they have So I may say touching those penalties which they incurred by their sinne they were just Had they clave to their duty 4 Or penalties of wicked but in the matter of it they had bin highly rewarded and therefore falling off in coole bloud from doing the outward act which was in their power in the midst of so many encouragements how just was their overthrow Why did the Lord inflict so heavy a plague upon all the posterity for Adams sinne Because it was a bundell of all sinne in one and if he had stood he had enjoyed all happinesse for
weapons and tremble at thy wretchednesse Branch 6 Sixtly let this doctrine not onely convince thy judgement of a truth that the case thus standeth Lay downe thy pride and rebellion between God and thy soule but let it proceed to bring thine heart and whole selfe under the authority of this advantage at which God hath thee That is let it worke exceeding humiliation and feare of spirit in thee and cause thee to pull downe thy peacocks fethers and lay downe thy pride rebellion and gainsaying heart and be as one out of himselfe As that jailor when the earthquake had broken the prison doores Act. 16.27 and loosed the prisoners thought himselfe but a dead man Act. 9. and Paul being under the arrest of Gods might and power lay for dead So the thought of this thy wofull disadvantage under the hand of God should cause the jollity of thy spirit to quaile and thy bog and bold heart to be abashed saying if this be thus whence comes my impudent resolute purpose to go on in my course I see I have not mercy at my command nor grace pind to my sleeve when I can but use three or foure good wordes at my death Alas I perceive I my selfe am infinitely under the advantage of Justice and wrath both in Adam and by my owne wicked courses Is this then Oh my soule a season of revelling of casting care away of adding drunkennesse to thirst Is this a time to contest to provoke to increase sinne by wilfulnesse What do I think to scare God by my murmurings and cavills against him Oh no! this is the way to make judgement inexcusable and hell seven times hotter then at first See Esay 28.22 Therefore lay it to heart as those in Act. 2. did when they heard Peter shew them what pickle they were in for murdering the Lord of life Oh! their hearts were gored as with a swords point So let rottennesse enter into thy bones tremble and say What if the Lord should take this advantage of his to destroy me What if his long suffering all this while hath onely spared me as a vessel of wrath that he might with the fuller swinge come upon me and all at once sweep me to hell what a taking are those men in who are at their enemies curtesie as having lost all they have or condemned in as much as they are worth and at the mercy of their adversary who hath got an execution against all their estate surely hee were an odde man for stoutnesse of stomacke who should stand it out and dare his enemy to ceaze upon him Alas Esay 27.4.5 what a poore wretch should he be made So here what rescue hath the dry stubble against the advantage of fire if once kindled in it Oh! if thou canst bring downe thy base and sturdy heart by this meditation how thou standest at the meere curtesie of him who cannot only destroy thy body Luke 12.4.5 but cast body and soule to hell if this will master thy proud heart and make thee crouch and put thy face within thy knees for confusion and sorrow thou hast attained some part of that end which this convincement serves for Seventhly yet rest not in this dejection onely Consider that the soveraignty Branch 7 of God doth not reach only to destroy the creature Soveraignty is free to save aswell as to destroy but sometimes to abase it and save it There is a soveraignty of mercy a free and bountifull grace aswell in that God who hath thee at this advantage as a power to condemne And therefore apply thy selfe to the beholding of those cords which the Gospell puts in and offers thee in this dungeon and of that ladder which is thrust in for thee to come up by as to the meer implodding and sadding thy thoughts with the likelyhood of thy confusion Consider its one step to pardon to lay to heart Gods advantage For who are they who perish who carry a blacke marke of wrath about them Surely those who either acknowledge no such thing live at hearts case and elbow-roome and come leaping forth in their chaines with Agag or else if they heare of it murmur fret and kicke against it 1 Sam. 15. If then thou hast escaped both one thing remaineth escape also an unbeleeving heart Rest not in these suburbes of hell but behold the freedome of mercy in the promise And do not reach first at Election and so fal backe and breake thy necke Election not to be first lookt at but the offer of grace But take this first worke of humiliation in thee as an hansell of hope that more shall follow and as for Gods secrets they must attend faith not goe before it Therefore nakedly and without further dispute convince thy judgement of a possibility of escaping this advantage which God hath thee at Not by thy struggling and fighting against it as Pharaoh against the waters returning but by thy meeke and humble stooping under it And know that this doctrine of Gods soveraignty serves to try the spirit of men of what mettle they are made of and to condemne none save the finally rebellious Those who cease whetting at Gods secrets as not belonging to them and only betake themselves to the softly streames of Siloam beholding with stedfast eye Deut. 29.29 the freedome bottomednesse and unchangeablenesse of the promise have a marke upon them of such as shall be saved the soveraignty of Gods advantage against the poore creature notwithstanding Come then to the Lord and say thou mayst indeed justly damne me yet thou mayst also save mee O Lord doe not destroy thy creature let it please thee to have mercy and desire not the death of a poore wretch with thee the fatherlesse shall find mercy of which I am What boot shall it be for thee to have my bloud Oh spare a little let me recover my selfe if thou must needs be just powre thy wrath upon despisers but spare the penitent and such as lye at thy feet as lost Eightly let this conviction of judgement turne thy soule to make an adventure and where thou seest a breach made there to lay the battery Branch 8 of faith to assay an entrance into the City of grace The Lord having cut off his plea by as strong a remedy Assay to beleeve and redemption yea stronger then ever the former advantage lay calls thee to lay hold of it strongly in the blood and satisfaction of thy Redeemer How dost thou find thy selfe affected in this case Whether chusest thou to curse God and dye or to breake and pull downe thy stomacke and live judge thy selfe herein acording to the rule if ever the advantage of God dranke up thy spirit how wentest thou to worke didst thou recke thy teene upon God and quarrell with him for his forsaking thee or soughtst thou after a way of hope by Gods cutting off his owne advantage in his Sonne Dost thou behold the Lord
to the use And first it might be instruction and admonition to such of us as goe for the forwardest Christians Use 1. of Instruct Instruction first to teach us to adore the wisedome of our God in the administration of the times in which we live in The word seemes to have done working upon the consciences of the most few are gastred by the terrors thereof few sustained by the promises few are sensible active watchfull walkers I doubt not but God hath his jewells in corners his secret ones whose hearts and waies lye close to him in these degenerate times But for the body of hearers either to bee converted or in appearance converted already strange it is what a numbe palsey what a Laodicean temper of indifference ease and selfe-love hath covered us over scarce one in a long time gastred out of his neast of forme or profanenesse and such as are keepe their consciences at such loose termes that few can discerne them to be under the Banner or authority of any Soveraigne Now what doth the Lord Surely he is faine to lay men upon the bayard and to afflict them with one yoke or other either personall or generall straights Selfe-love hath over-growne all that except God stept out of his ordinary path of speaking to doing and did cause each face to waxe pale and each hand to be on the pained plat some by poverty others by debt or imprisonment or losses or reproach or pursuite of enemies malicious tongues unreasonable men desperate unfaithfulnesse treachery and injuriousnesse of such as they live with Sure it is the word would worke but little upon us Even the wise Virgines are all fallen asleep with the rest Matth. 25. How should the Lord search us what conscience truth and sincerity lyes at the bottome Surely now if ever we should rouze our selves and say the Philistins are upon thee Samson Judges 16.22 When the power and purenesse of worship when the substance and matter of religion growes questioned when men teach professe and walke so as if any profession would serve their turne yea many such as have seemed most zealous sincere and faithfull waxe cold maintainers of disorder in their places live in contention and jealousie with the best plucke in their former hornes of forwardnesse others play the Time-servers and leave God to shift for himselfe saying now see to thine owne house David Is it not time for the Lord to come with his sharpe triall among us to search what is in us To gaster the consciences of some who were never awakened by some outward straights hardnesse to live banqueruptnesse and ruine of estate beggery and misery others by searching trialls and extremities that either they must carry their lives and states gifts and hopes in their bosomes ready to let out or else they must prostitute their consciences to sinne and treachery yes surely or else he knowes if we might be let alone we would grow to the formality softnesse security commons and fulsomenesse of others who have no sparke of grace in them But now perhaps being searcht to the quicke and put to it we dare not for shame lay our names at the stake of perpetuall reproach by giving God quite over now perhaps we will shake our selves and say shall such an one as I betray God shall I pollute his worship shall I defile that truth which I have received incorrupt from others shall I helpe to destroy Gods lawe deface the power of goodnesse sort my selfe with such as are enemies separate my selfe from my brethren No sure I wish I had looked to it sooner yet better late then never At last I will give witnesse to God to his truth honor servants Sabbaths I will no longer give aime to the religion of these times their saplesse dead and powerlesse profession my soule loathes it I long to reprove and confute all Popish Pelagian superstitious and formall religion and therefore let parts let ease let liberty preferment honor gifts outward prosperity goe where they will my darling I will not lose I will not bite off that precious stone for which I am hunted and cast it to the hounds to save my life But I am resolved through mercy to my uttermost to justifie the power of truth both in my judgement and practice Oh it is the wisedome of God to send such straights and snares among us for the discovery of hypocrites and base counterfeits and for the exercise of that secret grace in his owne which else through ease and selfe-love would rust and cankerfret Vse 2 Secondly let it teach us to lay it sadly to heart that God is so crossed of his purpose both in generall and speciall by such as abuse his judgements and terrors in the world Admonition Lay to heart the little humiliation of the land under publique straights I will more sparily touch forraine nations and Churches French Dutch or other yet let it not passe us without notice that after all these hurliburlies and havocks of warre of persecution of famines pestilences and such miseries as scarce in any age have beene heard of the hearts of those nations remaine still as secure profane contemptuous of God blasphemous drunken contentious yea in the midst of their late victories so regardlesse of Gods honor either in abandoning Papists and Popery or in setling power and purity of worship but still as desperate the Ministery as saplesse and the people as fruitlesse as ever Oh how just were it with God for these evills to turne the wheele backe and to suffer Papists and heresie to encroach againe and make their second bondage as much deeper then the former as the loines are greater then the little fingers yea as their latter evills and abuse of Gods providence have exceeded the former But to leave them and come to our selves how doe we at home generally beare off all Gods straights and pressures with head and shoulders No man laying to heart any thing but as Esay 64. saith No man seekes after the Lord nor stirres up himselfe to lay hold upon him All lick themselves whole with false tongues every man taking thought how to save one Esay 64.6.7 none understanding the Lord in his way what he should meane by his wasting us by plagues consuming our people with poverty destroying our foules with cleannesse of teeth depriving us of the lives and labours and worthy services of so many Ministers Nobles Warriours good Governours and Christian professors of his truth few consider the scope of God in these differences that are between Prince and Subject Subject and Subject Complaints are in all mens mouthes sorrowes upon all states But whereas the Lords scope is hereby rather to unite all the Nation against the common adversary to draw all to an holy consent in seeking mercie for the Church and agreement between divided parties that by a generall humiliation and preparing to meet the Lord we might prevent ruine Alas when was there more powring out of
our hearts to sensuality ease Sabbath-breaking lusts excesse of pleasures riot gaming and stretching of our selves upon beds of Ivory that the clamours of the oppressed the afflicted people of God might not be taken to heart or regarded Who considers how the hearts of the fathers have been estranged from the children Malac. 4. and the childrens from them who trembles at it and feares lest by a common enemy the Lord should smite the earth with cursing who hath humbled his soule under our moth-eatings and seekes to prevent the Lions tearing of us in peeces But all of us abhorre to acknowledge any pressures please our selves with such contents as we enjoy in private that we might oppresse sense and conscience Hee that could bring us newes of all well hopes of good welfare and prosperity should bee a welcome man to us but as for sadder times to search the sound from the hollow we are loath to heare of them because wee are loath to prepare for them The effects of those things cannot please us the causes whereof we are loath to bestow the cost to remove In the meane time how is the Lord frustrate of his expectation for hee pinches and yokes us that hee might heare of us that our beloved pretious lusts might bee divorced from us We pray and fast but the Lord tels us wee cannot speed because we still keep a breadth in his narrow Esay 58.5.6 and in our afflictions are light-hearted our hearts are not broke enough our speciall lusts wee have pleasure in when heaven is falling upon our heads wee can beleeve nothing ere we feele it lest it should cost us labour to cast it out Our Babylonish garment secret plague of heart pretious sin wee dare nourish in the midst of all terrours and crosses thundring about us So mad wee are that wee cry peace in the midst of ill tidings ruines of other Churches troubles in our owne dearth unseasonable weather losses of our estate and evils both suffered and feared Surely God hath us down now Joel 2.12 common stuffe will not serve us I might speak as much of our abusing of personall streights The like complaint in respect of personall pressures How many of us are privie in our places and dwellings to sundry who in the extremities of horrour and guilt of conscience upon their sick beds have sent for the Minister whom they have scorned before and there vomited up all their gorge accused and condemned themselves for their pride malice drunkennesse contempt of religion have shed salt teares in abundance wrung the Minister by the hands cried him mercie for all wrongs covenanted and taken witnesse if they lived they would be new men They have been neare to death and had reconciliation offered them But no sooner hath the hiew and cry been over but they have returned to their vomit their bowing like Bull-rushes hath turned to stand bolt upright and they have growne more base and wicked after 1 King 13.6.7 then before As Ieroboam while his dried hand lasted was tame and penitent but when restored fell to his Idols double and treble What was there not such a deep pressure upon them as spent and consumed their flesh and marrow and brought them to the graves brinke Yes But yet it was not deep enough it pierced not to the inner man the heart was the old one still so that wee Ministers had not need to bee over confident of them for if that had been pierced then the thoughts of their heart the affections and lusts had been galled and purged As the Philosopher being beaten with Clubs Men not to be trusted on their sicke beds said You beat my Tun meaning his skin and flesh but you beat not me so may these say to God Thou layest me upon my bed breakest my bones takest away my stomack abasest humblest my flesh and terrifiest my sense but my heart is whole my stoutnesse unbelief hollownesse and prophanenesse remaine my soul was never flayted who would ever have thought it Surely if the Lord then mean thee good hee must put more drammes and drugges into the Physicke else they will never worke Note Take heed Ieroboam had a command first that hee broke then a Prophet him he scorned then a threat that he out-grew and at last was left so hardened that meanes ceased because God meant to destroy him Beware this be not your lot Vse 3 Thirdly this should teach us not to wonder that men are so loath to take any notice of streights Wonder not that men so little joy in hearing of streights either generall or personall Surely they see that they are searching humbling taming things sent to pull the heart low and lay it open before God this they flye from as Moses from a serpent therefore as Pharaoh by his Sorcerers and Ieroboam by the death of the Prophet hardned themselves against the streights that befell them so do these with fool-hardy courage flye against the returning waters lest they should be stopt in their course All the wits that men have are mostly spent upon these two objects either dispensing with the strictnesse of commands Or when judgements come avoiding the dint and pressure of them Mens shifts agâ—inst their streights Men shuffle them off thus either they concerne not themselves or they befell by chance or may be bought off with money or shunned by policie or worne out with time or lessened by comparison But to take note thereof to lay sin to heart and repent of it they are utterly opposite to it David was not more resolved to lye in his filth and when Vriahs death was told him 1 Sam. 13. hee did not more equivocate with his conscience saying Tush the sword kills all sorts what 's his death to me then these professe to goe on blind-folded with sweet inchantments or fool hardily with rebellion and to give no way at all to divine yokes and pressures to pinch them What argues this but a desperate heart to fight it out with God 1 King 7. end with him that said This comes from the Lord shall I attend him any longer Such a cursed hard heart doth but keep all to the last heaping up wrath and when long-suffering hath spent it selfe in pulling them to repentance then shall they bee left to conflict nakedly with hell and vengeance till it carry them away quicke and there be none to deliver Oh! be admonished take note in season rather of Gods meaning and fight not against God What doe yee thinke that God hampers you either by word or workes to destroy you If his meaning were so he could doe it without warning And as for shifting off Gods yokes bee sure of it there is no counsell against him if you balke him one way he can match you ten wayes Better stoop betimes No râ—sisting of God 1. 2 King 16. and come in freely for he can make thy whole life a pressure fill thee with
and prophane way stopt her and changed her heart Paul to be sure did so 1 Tim. 1.17 having shewed how God found him a persecutor blasphemer and wronger of innocents yet abounded in mercy and called him home Oh! he cannot wonder enough at it tells it out to others and himselfe concludes Now to the immortall invisible olny wise God to sway all to his ends be all honour for ever yea and we should never cease to call upon ours aswell as our selves to doe it when I sent thee forth my child as Iacob to Laban the Lord did order thy journey for the best defeated thee of that thou wouldest and diverted thee to that which was farre safer and better for thee Dost thou not see how hee leaves others to themselves doth not prevent them with any softnesse and tendernesse provides not well suffers them to run wild and to tire themselves in their owne vanities Thus good Naomi perceiving that God had heard her prayers for poore Ruth a stranger Ruth 3. to rivet her into the Church and make her the mother of Davids grandfather provokes her to wonder saying who art thou my daughter And hearing her to entitle God to the worke she confirmes her to trust God for afterward Branch 2 And secondly it should stir up in us prayer for our selves and others that the good hand of our God may alway attend and overrule our intentions and waies for good Our prayers should succeed our prayses Gen. 24.12 Eliezer beleeving the Lord to be such a wise and powerfull disposer fell to prayer that when Rebecca should come out to draw water for the cattell and for himselfe the Lord would prevent her with such thoughts as might promote and succeed his enterprise So should we in our journeyes travailes attempts of weight changes of our estate going to the congregation meeting good company beseech him that his good haâ—d might appeare in all these and through all the occasions of the day for the furthering and not dismaying us in our holy course See Job 1. end Yea even for others we should earnestly beg and say Oh Lord this day my husband goeth to such a Sermon Thou knowest he lookes at nothing save his owne ends rests upon his smooth civill bottome that he is no grosse person his wordly wit ease and pleasure are the wheels to carry him on Oh Lord oft have I begd mercy for him to open his heart and change him Now prevent him Lord let thy Minister be in his bosome convince him lay some block of thine to stop him Ezek. 14.3 remoove the stumbling block of his owne iniquity send him home more humble then he went though thy spirit blow never so weakly yet let it blow and by little and little bring him home Let me be no let to him and thy worke My unquiet heart is ready to discontent my selfe and so the husbands to the wife when I see matters goe amisse and so give way to passions unkinde and unsavoury words But alas The worke is thy prevention So for others Lord when I send forth my children to the University or to service I hope all shall be well They shall meet thy good hand to prosper them they shall be brought nearer to thee in knowledge and thou wilt blesse studies tutor company to bring them to better passe But all is in thee I have hitherto been too confident they have miscarried and stumbled at base examples Lord now at last prevent them for good Gen. 43.13.14 and lay such hold upon them that they may not slip Iacob sending his sonne Benjamin to Egypt little thinking what God intended yet intreated God to blesse them and to send his Angel before them and to give them favour in the sight of the man The Lord heard him in that and added a further blessing for he so hampered them by Iosephs wise austerity and policy that their conscience began to check them for their selling him and so by degrees their sinne comming to light they could crie out God had found them all out in their basenesse Some of them incestuous as Reuben and Iuda others murtherers as Simon and Levi and the rest like them Cap. 45. but in likelihood this became the first step to their reclaiming Oh! so should we beg Lord we send them out into the wide world or wee are to goe to our long home and leave them behinde among Lions Beares and Wolves and Foxes Lord let them find favour with thy Majesty let thy good hand goe but with them All pray for wealth and prosperity for their children Psal 4.6.7 But Lord shew them thy countenance and that they are of thine Elect and therefore within thy Covenant wheresoever they become prevent them with grace let thy Ministers and people love them let all turne to their good their services their dwellings tradings marriages Ministery and let them see that none can finde out any thing after thee that thou art in all because things could not have any way framed better for them then they shall finde Stop all lets and crossings either from within their proud vain hearts or from without Satan his subtilty and the baites or snares of this world Adde so both these It should breed humiliation in our hearts It should hold us in an holy awe and reverence of God and teach us to set his Crowne upon his head when we see t is not all our counsells Ministery be it never so powerfull education thought and care which can prevent our owne hearts or the hearts of ours or others who belong to us with any goodnesse we may pray and commend them to God as Isaac and Rebecca did Iacob in that sad pilgrimage of his to Padan The Lord it must be who must succeed him Gen. 28.1.2.3 who must encourage him at Luz and set forward his journey with prospering So that this should abase us in all best attempts Salomon could not with all his wisedome foretell whether a foole or a wise man should inherit all his travailes I confesse it ought to stay us from discontent Eccle. 2.19 if God have not heard us for our children but suffered them to run riot if we have as Iob jealously offered sacrifice for them and commended them to the good hand of God but all this will not exempt us from greefe when we see them scapethrifts and unhappy ones when we doe not commend them to the word of his grace we may thanke our selves if they thrive not yet in our best and most solicitous desires wee must not rest satisfied in our endeavours but still humbly tremble under the power of that God whose prerogative it is to prevent them with mercy to accommodate all occasions to stop all obstacles and to succeed all helpes for their good Oh! the woefull ruine of thousands who have bin children of the choysest prayers teares cost and care should teach us to lie low before the Lord in this case
Monica was so carefull for her sonne Augustine that Ambrose told her the sonne of such prayers could not perish and as it fell out he was a true Prophet for never had any man greater and stranger preventions as may easily be seenâ— in that life of his written by his Deacon to excellent good purpose as the lives of many other Worthies both ancient and moderne have bin for the setting forth of the blessed fruit of Gods preventing providence both for the salvation of the parties and unspeakable good of Gods Church by the labours of such instruments And for this use so much Vse 3 Thirdly this point should be a great consolation to all such as have had experience of such mercy preventing them Of Consolation It should comfort and Branch 1 encourage them from all those doubtfull distempers which arise up in their fearfull mindes Experience of former prevention should encourage us for time to come that God will leave them in the midst of his work unperfect and unfinished It is a wofull unthankfulnesse in many who having found God gracious to them and theirs beyond expectation in preventing much evill seasoning them betimes even in their tender years and stopping evill That yet they dare not trust him forth on especially if they perceive any staggering in themselves or delaying of their desires so that God proceeds not on with them and theirs according to their hopes Judg. 13.22.23 But let them learne of a woman Manoahs wife to correct their folly who hearing her husband to feare least God would slay them answered no for then God would never have freely discovered himselfe to them at all touching a Son which should save Israel Surely if those first free preventions and gales of grace were so prised and so thankefully entertained and observed by us wee should not dare to give over God so easily for the finishing of his worke Dallyance with Gods first preventions is the cause to change his course But it is commonly mens dalliance with the first grace of God and his early preventions of us and ours yea it is our presumption upon free mercy as if it were pinned to our sleeves which causes us to winde it about our fingers and carry it loose about us as a pearle in a loose pocket and which causes the Lord to blast us to change his first course with us to suffer us to wax pearke and sawcy with him and to venture upon such occasions companies and actions as at first we durst not thinke of And so the Lord frownes upon us and changes our first motions into cold qualmes and loose affections and the base fruit of our presumption to trie whether his grace be pretious or no and whether we will forsake our fatnesse and sweetnesse of first beginnings to exalt our selves our wits conceits and humours and through embracing of lying vanities forsake our mercy If we doe let us know the Lord prevented us rather to make our destruction inexcusable then to convert us But if it be otherwise then let it appear in our extraordinary humiliation and teares Jonah 2.8 repentance and recovery of our former workes and affections let not Satan stall us in our own mire of sinne nor oppresse us with distrustfull bondage and despondency of heart to drive us to despaire let all our vanity be vaine and all our stollen waters bitter our pride and new-found selfe-contents odious unto us in comparison of former old compassions let us bee zealous I say and amend rather then harden our hearts so far till the print of our first preventions tendernesse feare and conscience be quite worne out This by the way not impertinently But to returne if there have been a levell and even eye to walke according to our first Grace let us not warpe ungrounded feares out of unthankfull distrust to thinke like that wretch 2 King 3. God hath brought us to this point to forsake us or as tâ—â—y said to slay us in the wildernesse Read Jer. 2. and we see how the Lord speaks to such as cavilled against him Oh! saith he I remember the love I made toward thee in the wildernesse a barren drie land and the first love of thy youth when thou wert dainty to me and still I can beteame thee the same love if thou wert not weary of it A sweet place Could God finde in his heart to be so to Revolters to Idolaters such as had forsaken his fountaine and digged pits to themselves and shall he not much more poore soule of little faith remember thee Art thou of no more worth then so Oh! the Lord remembers his first love still its pretious to him he cannot forget it and is it not so to thee Put case his assisting and perfecting grace seemes not in thine eye so proportionall at the first May there not bee cause Is it not to teach thee to claspe about the first as the Ivy about the bow to suck out juice from it to support thee Doubt not but proceed He that prevented thee first perhaps when thou soughtst him not or soughtst him but formally he will not faile thee now he will sticke to thee by his assisting grace also uphold thee in thy zeale meanes using make the mystery of Christ more cleare and evident draw forth reall desires and hungers esteems and diligence yea he will not give thee over till he have also finished the worke of conversion and effectuall calling in thee by the worke of faith and by daily familiarising with thine heart by his promises create the fruit of the lips which is peace in thee Isaih 57.17 Onely suffer not thy selfe to wax lazy loose and dallying with him to give him over thy selfe and then lay the fault upon him That he was very forward to lay the foundation but was not able to finish his building None but hypocrites dare bring in such verdicts rather slanders upon God Luke 14.30 Be not thou the first And againe it may be consolation in a second regard to all such to Branch 2 wit that he who not being tied to them by promise yet called them of encouragement Rom. 5.8 will now much more sticke to them having a promise to plead Which I speake because many forgetting the old mercies of God by a worldly unthankfull and estranged heart make that part of their lives most sad which should be gladdest of all And that What to doe when feare of our corruptions masters us by distrusting God for the mercie consequent upon their calling They feare that God will never make them masters over some speciall corruptions of theirs pride world ease nor increase any grace to any fulnesse but onely leave them to a poore pittance nor yet uphold them in their outward wants and crosses of poverty or infamy Deut. 32.13.14 c. by his all-sufficiencie nor rid them out of their streights by unreasonable men nor recover them out of their revolts to their former
abased him very farre to such an inferior as the Prophet was Now we see he receives an affront from him by him whom he so submitted himselfe unto being so far from healing him at the first that hee comes not out to salute him And why To teach him to cease his crouching to the Prophet and crouch to God another while Some might say alas poore man he had sorrow enough before but Object I answer spare your pitty This second winde shakes no corne It is not Answ in an outward crosse nor the power of it to subdue the heart to God it may handsome a man in his outside to manward and make him stoope to man but it cannot doe it to God Wherefore now the Lord puts a tongue into the word and Message of Elisha whereby he comes a little further to consider whom hee had directly to deale with even the Lord himselfe who suffers not the cure to proceed to the end that hee might looke better about him and see into his base heart which hindred it And wee must conceive that although this wrought not presently yet the Lord being with it it wrought somewhat at last Let it briefly teach us beloved thus much Bodily crosses can reach no further then bodily ends Job 33.13 no crosse nor bodily strait of it selfe can reach further then to a bodily end There must bee a word added to the workes of God before the heart will breake The Lord must as I noted before speak once and twice ere pride will be hidden and the soule humbled in kinde and then it stoopes Well said Habacuc Cap. 2. I heard thy voice and my lips quivered my limbes trembled and rottennesse entred into my bones that I might have peace in the day of trouble And Esay Cap. 28. asketh whom shall I cause to understand and whom shall I teach wisedome Heb. 4.12 even him that is weaned from the brests and who trembleth at my words The word and voice of God onely able to pierce the heart It is the voice of God which must pierce the heart till it tremble The voices of sicke mens repentance wanting a word vanish The reason is because the workes alone are a brute sound and have no tongue in them The word is all onely God hath blessed it and therefore other meanes are unblest The word must be the interpreter Nay many times under a crosse alone the heart waxeth more hardned and rebellious or at least wise it puts off God with confessions under the rack or else it windes out it selfe and counts it as a common accident befalling mortality It s my hard lot saith one God helpe me to be thus afflicted Even as blessings alone bring none to feele love from God of themselves being common things bestowed upon all sorts as it hits so is it with crosses Nay some blinde idiots imagine Popishly that their portion here in trouble and straits is a signe that they have their hell here and shall not therefore have it hereafter But however sure it is let a man have never so much sickenesse poverty reproach feare of death upon him none of these are blessed to search out his pride jollity carnall ease unsavorinesse Atheisme worldlinesse or the poyson of old Adam These all may lurke and abide under a crosse a man may still nouzell himselfe in his sensuality security rotten peace unbeleefe and hope that he is in Gods favour But when the word comes that dashes out all errours and false conceits Why so because it brings God into the soule as the Arke into the campe and causes the soule to behold herselfe in the glasse of his perfection the neerer it comes to God the more it loathes it selfe Job 42.2 I have now seene thee saith Iob therefore I abhorre my selfe in dust and ashes Let it teach us never to rest till the Lord hath turned us out of our common path and brought us into a narrow way even to deale with himselfe His word will present him unto us as in a glasse wherein we may behold him in his excellent Attributes his Justice Wisedome revenge of his enemies a Judge of the wicked a rewarder of the righteous This sight will coole our courage as it did Naamans here stop us in our headlong courses make our owne conceits and errours odious teach us to wait upon God till he shall hearken to us till he shall humble convince and perswade us Doubtlesse when wee come closely to behold his face and to feele his authoritie over the conscience how severe an avenger he is of all our pride rebellion and that he whom we have to deal with beholds our inward man and all the corruption thereof nothing is hidden to his eye but all things are naked and manifest before him then all our heat of spirit Heb 4.13 confidence of our happy condition disdaine of others pleasing our selves in our carnall hopes applauding our parts our duties performances will vanish as a private mans lands and livelihoods vanish in a great Mappe of the world Then our plumes quaile and we say depart from us O Lord sinfull wretches In the sight of this Sunne all our darkenesse and unrighteousnesse Luke 5.7 become irkesome and all our corruption is swallowed up in this sea of his perfection So much for this The third and last short meditation from this ground is this The last meditation that as the Lord began before to humble Naaman in part so he holds him still close to the worke of humiliation and enlarges him not Proud nature of man quickly forgets humilition till he had brought him to sound humbling of soule It shewes us what our nature is in this behalfe We are like to light Corke which will floate aloft and except a man hold it under by strong hand will pearke up to the top When we are downe and low one would thinke it should be a great worke to raise us up to any cheere againe But no sooner is the stone blown upon by a little puffe of winde although it have been steept in water a whole night but it waxes dry againe presently as if never wetted The hard and stony heart of proud man can never sufficiently be battered and tamed but it wil returne to her course againe instantly And the truth is These dayes especially and why the dayes we live in have a peculiar disease in this kinde above former dayes Gods wrath revenging our former contempt of his law and terrors of conscience and our dallying with them and shaking them off through a base heart weary of trouble To be abased and low when and while the Lord will have us so for our own good and to think well of it is a rare grace We are a kin to Ionah Jona 3. and 4. who was no sooner out of the Whales belly but contrary to vow and covenant pearkes up again presently and quarrells with God for converting Ninivee and for his slaine gourd
colour is to confute the Prophets message The summe is the Prophet hath sent for me to make a gull of me pretending to heal me when he intends nothing lesse For if he did to what end should he prescribe me to wash in Jorden If washing there would serve how comes it to passe that there bee so many Lepers in Israel unhealed And if so be Jorden be such soveraigne water what are our rivers at home Abana and Pharfar which yet never were knowne to be medicinable for the leprosie What a message then is this to send me Wash in Jorden and be clean Lo I beseech you to what a man may come who is blind-folded with selfe He will stiffen himself in his error by any argument comming next hand Carnal reason then here offers it selfe to confute the message as a mockery And how I pray doth it argue Thus It s a senslesse unlikely thing nay impossible to reason What then hast thou forgot thy selfe Naaman Camest thou to be healed by reason or by a Prophet What a consequence is this Carnall reason judgeth otherwise therefore it is ridiculous that Jorden should heale Nay rather if a Prophet from God will heale by Jorden why may he not For he heales not by Jorden as Jorden but as by an instrument of Gods divine power Therefore rather to argue against God by carnall reason is more ridiculous Thus much for the opening of these two verses The first generall handled viz. Why God delayed the cure still That he might know himself I will first give a briefe touch of the triall which God put here upon Naaman in delaying his cure Why was it To try all which was in his heart and to make him see what metall he was made of God was loath to send him away with his cure and a proud wrathfull heart withall Therefore now he discovers him to himselfe and rather by this delay of the miracle chuses to make all his crouching and humblenesse breake out into rage and distemper bewray him openly then he should nuzzle up himselfe in a faire opinion of that which is not in him Question But it wil bee demanded Did Naaman feele the Lord present in this worke Did hee not as a carnal man in all this or is it any wonder he should be a wrathful raging man being a Heathen and crossed in his maine aime I answer Answer We must not so much conceive him as he is in his owne sense as in Gods shaping him to his own end by grace and conversion Naaman to be conceived of as one under Gods workmanship When once Naaman truly came to himselfe both the former rubs and this affront of delaying his healing wrought a marvellous abasement in his soule and set forward the worke exceedingly I have already handled the reason why the Lord stopt Elisha from comming out Now I would briefly adde this how God tries him in disappointing his haste and thereby occasions him to rebell and break out that he might know himselfe yet more thorowly And let it teach us this That the custome of God is Doctrine Whom God will save he will teach them to to know all in their heart when hee is working any great change in any hee will try them deeply and make them know what is in their spirits They shall finde many a stop in their course things shall not succeed as they desire God wil hide himself from them and seeme not to regard their labours prayers teares endevours but suspend their hopes and desires from such successe as they look for And why To try them of what frame they are whether their forwardnesse Reason 1 and zeale bee well planted in them or no whether they will wait or make haste attend meekly or run headlong If they fall to distemper and wearinesse God will shew it unto them that they may afterward watch and have themselves in a deep jealousie and not bee deceived with the appearance of grace in stead of substance If they stick to the triall and carry themselves meekly and quietly under Gods delayes and prolongings of his time that then they may acknowledge by what strength they stand However it is very fit they should be tried Thus the Text saith Deut. 8.2 Deut. 8.2 that the Lord dealt with the Israelites in the Wildernesse First hee would not lead them the right way by the land of the Philistims but by the Wildernesse and there hee would so hold them occupied that whereas they might have been there in fourty dayes he led them a traverse of fourty yeares Hee held them to hard-meat and when he gave them a supply yet hee gave them but from hand to mouth and why was all this Moses tells them even to try all that was in their heart to turne it up-side-downe that by all the weary journey of the Desert their hunger their wants Gods provision their unthankfulnesse Gods judgements wasting them delaying and crossing their lingring after Canaan a land flowing with milk and hony by the ruine of all the carcasses of them that came out of Egypt the Lord might cause them to know themselves the Lord thorowly deny themselves wait upon his promise and enjoy Canaan with a more humble and thankfull heart then else they had done Otherwise what boot had it been to have brought thē into Canaan with their fathers spirits The land certainly had surfeted them and vomited them out else as soone as they had come in but now Reason 2 experience of the Wildernesse taught them how to walke before God God begins with his people as he means to proceed The Lord begins with his owne as hee means to proceed Hee meanes to make them patient meek enemies to selfe privie to more corruption then the world knowes of jealous and watchfull and willing to be as God will have them and to thinke it best to be base when God sees it meet this I say the Lord is faine to deale with his betimes even in the first beginnings of his grace as a man would bow a twig as he would have it grow after And therefore in the very threshold he stops their hasty course and whereas they would thinke they might be converted and beleeve quickly asoone as they feele their need and heare of a promise lo the Lord makes it a longer worke then so and delayes them till he have laid a foundation for after times till he have made them know all that is in their heart and not think much of Gods corrections afterward as having been traind up to the yoke from their youth Ephraim was as an heifer unaccustomed to the yoke Jer. 31.31 but when she was yoked and humbled she converted to God and smote upon her thigh and so was fitter for mercy then when she was wild and unbroken Reason 3 And to say the truth if the Lord did not thus delay us in our haste and put a stop upon us in our proceedings
our families and living quietly with our wives hearing Sermons and the like But the Lord who will have us knowne to be such as feare God and eschew evill and declare our selves to be further off from mortall ones then so will take a course to try us further what is in our heart We see a lowd winde may long blow upon a rotten tree on the good side and the tree make a shift to stand But at last there comes a shrewd right winde and gets into the hollow of the tree Similie and affronts it on the rotten side and then it puts hard to it ten to one if it lay it not under feet Let us not then fence the hedge where it is highest but where it is lowest strengthen the feeble knees and rectifie that which is crooked seeke not praise to our selves for our gifts and labours but know there is a greater worke lies upon us to stick to our tacklings when the Lord tries us if God will bereave us of our onely beloved lusts and take from us the pleasure of our heart and that which is pretious in our eyes as he told Ezekiel if hee so bring it about Ezek. 24.16 that we cannot have him and our credit ease and carnall content also then let us consider what we have to doe and whether we will bee faithfull or no Now is our day of triall now to magnifie our selves and seek applause and spare our owne selves for ease for outward respects is unseasonable Thinke of these matters ere they come let us not be so busie with cockle shells and toyes upon the sea side that we forget the tide and so be swept away all on the sudden Despise not Gods trialls nor put the thought of preparing for them out of our minds as matters of lesse import thinke not to carry our course so smoothly as that we shall never be moved lest God gaster us with some such enemies as come with the necessity of armed men upon naked and unprovided ones and so make each veine in our hearts to ake because of our rashnesse Beware lest they make us examples unto others of more wisdome and prevention who might have given example to others of self-deniall uprightnesse of heart and trusting God in the greatest streights For surely if wee do thus seeke to save our lives Matth. 16.26 we shall lose them and no great thanke for our labour and that which we have preferred before God and peace of conscience shall come out at our nostrils as most irkesome vomit Amplification of the point John 21. The day of triall will not bee to us as the day of our freedome and ease but as our Saviour tells Peter When thou wert young thou girdedst thy selfe and wentst where thou wouldest but when thou art old another shall gird thee and lead thee whither thou wouldest not Prepare we for that day in our day of liberty Know that Halcyon dayes will not last alway but it is meet that offences and stumbling-blockes bee laid in our wayes to try us And commonly when we thinke our selves most stapled in our ease and exempted from trials then are they at our heeles So that it were our best wisedome to suspect our selves most when our way is most pleasant Suspect trials most when our estate seemes to be calmest and our neast warmest and best feathered Iob did thus and when sorrow came upon him in the midst of his prosperity yet if came not before it was feared Use wee our best outward contents as if we used them not and so the forgoing of them shall not be so excessively distastfull nor lye in our way as stumbling-blockes when God shall try us Behold them as things which may give us the slip when we least looke for it Nero that tyrant having a faire woman to his Empresse would sometimes take her by the necke or chin with these bloudy words O goodly face and necke but when I list it shall be cut off Such an Item should we give our best contents lest perhaps if we trust them to far they suddenly betray us to sorrow in forgoing or an ill conscience in retaining Oh faire mercies but when God will they shall bee cut off And not so onely but labour wee to stand upon good bottome and to trade not like banquerupts with other mens stockes who when they breake are found never to have been their owne men but with our own stocke be it never so little if it be good that is the love of God soundnesse of heart to the truth good conscience and faith unfained These being joyned with zeale and courage in the defence of a good cause will be armour of proofe without and a continual feast within whatsoever our affronts and discouragements shall be Faith shall then beare us out as a shield beares off blowes and assure us that let this cursed world bee never so disastrous yet God will keep us from absolute straits and so order it that wee shall not depart from his feare nor forsake his covenant They say that the Bezor that creature which hath that cordiall stone being hard hunted by the hounds and knowing by instinct also what it is she is hunted for not her skin nor carcasse but her stone will bite off her privities and leave them to the dogges to save her life And the like I have heard some affirme of the Fox that being catcht by the legge in a snare she wil gnaw it off flesh bones to escape with her life Let us take heed of such policie to wit when our pretious conscience is pursued which to some Nimrods is a more pretious thing then the pretious life of a man to an harlot then to bite it off and throw it to such Beagles Prov. 6.26 to save our skin carcasse They will make themselves as much or more sport in rejoycing at our flesh and nakednesse Judg 16.25 Gen. 37.30 then the Philistins did at Sampson their enemy and when we have lost that Jewell as poor Reuben spake of Ioseph how shall we behold the face of Iacob without confusion Or what shall it profit us to fish with a golden hook for a poor fish and lose it for our labour In vain is a net laid for that which hath wing or the deceitfull meat of the wicked ruler set before us to snare us Prov. 22.1.2.3 when we are jealous of our appetites and put our knife to our throats Let us also to conclude walke in this dangerous world Conclusion of all with admonition as a man would walke in a place full of snares laid to catch him Not onely with no purpose of committing evill but with a full purpose and armed minde not to commit it Watch we to the occasions of triall Seeing our way is so strawed with snares let us watch and bee armed which are offered us small ones may discover us to bee weake if unarmed when strong ones shall not
to containe townes corners and Kingdomes in peace and order which being so extensive a good within her compasse must needs cause men to imagine some excellency therein Fourthly 4. The examples and opinion of men rarely vertuous the rare parts and endowments of such as are thus qualified excelling in shew the vertues of some such as are in an higher ranke of christianity and religion and blemishing their weaker qualities must needs reflect upon them more then ordinary esteeme among such as behold them especially when they shall bewray more bounty liberality compassion and mercy forbearance and patience with other usefull and admired vertues then they who claime the chiefe name goodnesse Fifthly when besides all these Civilities and Moralities 5. Some tincture of religion they adde some varnish and lustre from a tincture of Religion keeping their Church applauding a forme of serving God and discoursing of such matters which although they doe not for any perfiting of their vertues which they â—ount to be their strong hold but onely for complement and formality 6. Similitude with the godly yet hereby they stop the mouthes of any who might brand them with irreligion and prophanenesse Adde hereto the similitude which they seeme to hold with the godly for they also have their slips and errors sometime blemishes of note and vices of deepe dye and alas these have no more and therefore so long as outsides only may hold water there will seeme little difference There are none so bad and base None so bad but some shreds of good may be found in them 2 Sam. 12.27 1 Sam. 11.7 Gen. 27 41. And what use a civill person makes of it but have some shreds of goodnesse in them Ioab a vile cruell and bloody wretch yet a valiant Captaine who fought Gods battels and was usefull to the Church in destroying the enemies of it Saul a notorious hypocrite and self-lover yet adorned with abundance of heroicall martiall politique and morall vertues wisedome awe and authority courage and resolution equity and justice love to his followers till his spirituall treachery of heart quasht them Esau himself had his restraint of malice and so had Haman till their fitter opportunity And in a word as there are few so good but they have their tincture of some evill so neither are there any so bad but they have some morall reliques left in them of vertue and praise And this causeth them through a base heart balking God in his way of Christ to rest themselves satisfied in that sufficiency which they finde in these things as thinking they neede seeke no further for any superiour happinesse because they finde this to give them so abundant content both from within and from without feeling these feathers and colours of their owne both to heat and to adorne them And the truth is this selfe of morality and nature is so much the more dangerous by how much in shew it seemes so glorious for how vast a gulfe seemes to be betweene the former vicious forlorne caitiffe and this painted moralist Alas nothing is more apt to puffe up a naturall man then the abused privity to a former estate of excellency such and such they were bred and although they have lost all yet their breed and the reliques of their old ruines are enough to make them some body As we see it in them who having bin well bred Simil. and fallen to decay though they have nothing to take too yet even in the necessity of forced begging beg with indignation at the basenesse of it and will say good Sir shew some respect to a poore Gentleman putting on their hat instantly and scorning to bee as they are even so is it here That which should most abase us doth most pride us our very ruines seeme rarities unto us and nourish a sufficiency of our owne in us so that wee canâ—ot resigne it up and throw it at the feete of Christ to purchase a better But then much more prone are we to be puft up if we thinke that wee have raised our fortunes to a pretty estate the second time by our owne improvements and industry None are prouder then such as being privy to their ruined estate of creation yet make themselves beleeve that by their owne worth they have raised themselves from it to a very faire competency of estate in morall and civil vertues others remaining still in their beggery of viciousnesse and base evills Use of the point Briefly then of this second sort this I adde Oh how lamentable is it that a man borne to bee a sonne of God and beautified with his owne image should become so disguised as having lost grace in the substance to rest in a meere shadow thereof destitute of a principle of divine life and goodnesse and to stay all such from their conceit of selfe-sufficiency herein A civill estate dangerous let me tell them first their vertue is copper coine and wants of the nature of gold as much as kennel water of the purenesse of spring water therefore their sufficiency is but a dreame a fruit of their ignorance and owlelight of discerning nay it is but a madnesse as he must be a foole who really can satisfie himselfe in counters as if they were peeces Secondly there is no safety herein for the error of their conceit may more harden them against Christ then the prophanesse of the wickedst if God vouchsafe them both equall light Thirdly if God leave them in this hardnesse of heart they may prove as desperate opposites and pursuers of all grace of Christ and Christians as the most horrible open swine yea worse as we see in Saul and Iulian. Therefore to conclude let all such know that till the Lord have lighted a torch by his word of a greater discovery of themselves then yet they have seene they are farre off from the embracing of Christ they are wedged already into so deepe a sufficiency of their owne that Christs is unsavory And therefore although I will not advise them to renounce the vertues themselves nor judge them as vile as open offenders yet I wish them to come under a better banner and cast their owne worth upon the dung-hill They are gone up to heaven by a ladder of their owne framing and setting But they must come downe each step thereof with more shame and confusion ere they can set one step towards Christs ladder in which respect I see not but he who stands upon the ground still and never went higher is somewhat nearer the bottome of Christs ladder then they And so much also of this second kinde of grosse selfe viz. selfe-naturall morality I come to the third The third carnality or flâ—shly savor Rom. 8.6 And that is carnality or fleshly savor of the which I spake somewhat in the tenth verse shall say more in verse twelve Here therefore I will onely touch the point and shew wherein this grosse selfe opposeth Christ
for that which is cursed for ever not onely through the want of Christ but through her enmity to Christ 4. See the ugly hue of this sin Fourthly They shall see the ugly shape of that creature which they have made an Idoll and committed spirituall Sodomy with it as degenerate a villany as to commit filthinesse with a beast They shall see what a dampe it brings the soule into when it places her happinesse in the earth and the hidden treasures of it how it makes the word and ordinances most fulsome and unsavory 5. All the savor of a creature rests upon mercy 5. That all sweetnesse which any creature can afford must come from Christ dropping fatnesse into it by his footprints in it what savor then can it afford when it opposes Christs sufficiency by her own vanity and so robs him of his what savor can the soul suck from a creature which is a dead carrion what is all the comfort of a creature to a dead soule not only destitute of the life of Christ but stabbing Christ to the heart rejecting his life yea 8. It will worke the soul to a revenge of it selfe chusing to cut off the creature from it self then it would not be cut off from it By these the like convincements the Lord will cast down the fort of self in the creature stripping it naked of all her false sufficiency shewing her she is but a gull not able to afford that which she crakes of that shee hath nothing but bare walles to boast of that so this strong hold being razed and made levell with the earth poverty of spirit may enter into the soul and Christ and his sufficiency which onely belongs to them who are brought to nought in themselves may come into it 2 Cor. 10.4 Therefore let all such as have felt this disease in themselves cease to marvell why their hearts have beene so empty of Christ Conclusion of the point and beene left to such a wofull staggering of heart in point of comfort For they have forsaken the fountaine and digged broken pits to themselves which will hold no water Let them renounce them for hereafter and say Ashur shall not save us wee will not ride upon horses upon these vaine creatures for with thee the fatherlesse shall finde mercy make them no prop of support either by greedy seeking Jer. 2.13 Hos 13.2 sensuall keeping or loathnesse in forgoing And Lord I finde my selfe as destitute and forlorne a wretch in point of grace notwithstanding all my deep portion in the creature as if I were the veriest begger in the Country I see all true sufficiency to be in thee and that thine exceedes mine both for kinde roote quality and degree of content as much as a carnall a fading blasted and vanishing yea a vexing one is inferior to a spirituall immortall incorruptible and satisfying sweetnesse wherefore I count my selfe the same man whether I want or have abhorring my selfe in dust and ashes I renounce mine own and rest at thy dispose for the creature to have more or lesse of it and cleave to thine And so much also shall serve for this fourth branch The last kinde of grosse selfe is Selfe-religion or Religious selfe The fifth Branch Selfe-religion And this is the invention of Satan Christs deadly foe that whereas all will not be prophane nor naturalists nor epicures but will be religious lo he hath a baite for every fish What it is and can insinuate himselfe aswell into Religion it selfe as into lusts and pleasures and so provide that in all the duties and priviledges which professors of Christ boast of yet there shall bee a cord upon their heele which shall pull them backe from all power and savor of Christ aswell as if they had never been towards any Christ at all And so the nearer Christ they seeme to goe the more dangerous shall their selfe-delusion prove and the more confident their sufficiency of devotion makes them the more wofull shall their defeat at last bee and all for want of soundnesse and sincerity And in this point I would insist in three things Priviledges Duties The branches of Religious selfe three and degrees of Religion All these strengthen Selfe-religion in hypocrites and time-servers and shroud them under a false covert and protection of that which is farre from them for the first it was alway is and will be 1. Privledges the boast of Jewes Papists and common Protestants They were the children of the free not the bond-woman Abrahams seed such as whose all the promises were to whom the Ordinances and Oracles of God belonged others were dogs and swine and accursed to them they cried the Temple the Temple they were of all other nations the chosen generation Matth. 3.9 the peculiar people all others rejected save themselves The Lord must want worshippers if he cast them off and by this meanes they were so puffed up in themselves that when Christ came in person to offer himselfe for salvation they abhorred and slew him and cast him out of the vineyard that fulnesse and sufficiency they felt in their priviledges Privledges of Religion great enmity to many in keeping them from Christ caused them to live in a practice of horrible treachery and impiety against God and desperate contempt of the Lord Jesus as it were under a banner of defiance Just the like is the practice of Papists who under colour of the Church the Church the succession of Bishops the ancientnesse of their Religion the glory of their outside of worship pompe and bravery of rites and ceremonies their prosperity and worldly happinesse their large and generall extent in government their superstitious devotions and what not which flesh can desire make themselves beleeve that they are the onely Christians and all other are upstarts and counterfeits So doe our common Protestants and hypocrites they boast of their baptisme their part in the communion of Saints their right to their word and ordinances they are no hangbyes no Gibeonites no recusants no prophane ones no morallists nor epicures but constant worshippers of God frequenters of the sacraments and partakers of all the priviledges of the Church When Constantine restored the Church to her priviledges she began to degenerate And this puffes them up the divell blinding them that they should bee bewitcht with his charme and looke no further then a bare priviledge comparing themselves with such as still walke in a loose and prophane course and in respect of such deeming themselves very religious But what is the effect hereof surely this that under pretence of their great priviledges they are full of themselves so that the pith and marrow of them for all tend unto and end in Christ or else are empty shells faith I mean and Christ in his sufficiency to forgive save and sanctifie them is a meere stranger unto them The Church was purest when her priviledges were fewest The
is a better comming in place when all is done say of thy selfe as Luther of those devotions I count my selfe no nearer heaven by them then if I had plaied the Publican all this while nay in some regard further off The Divell else will cut thy veines in this warme water and cause thee to perish insensibly Consider that to have this selfe of thine may seeme somewhat But to cast all this off and be naked and nothing can onely prepare thee for that fulnesse and sufficiency of Christ which can onely save thee Which grace the Lord grant thee Thus for a more cleare handling of this argument I have digressed from the streame of my doctrine it is now high time to returne to it againe So much for this time Let us pray for a blessing c. THE FIFTH LECTVRE continued upon the eleventh Verse VERSE XI But Naaman was wroth and said Behold I thought thus in my selfe surely he will come forth and call upon the Lord his God and strike his hand upon the place and recover the leper VERSE 12. Are not Abana and Pharfar rivers of Damascus better c. HAving in the former Lecture beloved made way to settle this maine Doctrine of close Selfe upon her bottome Returne to the maine scope of the point of mixt selfe by severing from it some kindes of self more grosse and palpable I must now taking it for granted that you remember what I have said of it already proceed to the handling of the point And lest any should thinke there is no finer spunne selfe then that I have spoken of First I will mention some branches of this roote mixing themselves with the soule in her strife after faith and as the Ivy about the bow twining about the best endeavours of the poore soule to hold it off from the promise This being done I will prove the doctrine by Scripture and reasons Thirdly I will lay downe an answer to a question for the opening of the dangerous nature of this enemy And lastly come to some use of the doctrine First of the first First then that you may perceive brethren what manner of thing this mixt selfe is Mixt selfe wherein it discovers it selfe I will name some of the chiefe instances wherein this disease discovers her selfe The which I mention without any curious order and leave them to the godly wise to consider of every one to single out his owne annoyance The first is selfe error 1. Error imagining that the Lord in his promise and offer of Christ doth not so offer him as therewithall conveying power and efficacy of perswading and inabling the soule to accept and beleeve it of it owne power thereby creating in the soule the fruit of lips Esay 57. Jam. 1.16 but rather upon some condition of our owne strength mixed with the Lords goodnesse to concur of our selves with the promise Secondly selfe-conceit 2. Self-conceit such as Naamans here was fancying a way of our owne speedier and quicker then we have warrant for to wit that if once the soule bee under a condition and prepared for Christ by sorrow desire and diligence the worke of beleeving is as present as the grinding of the corne when the upper milstone runnes upon the nether whereas faith is the stampe of the spirit which bloweth when it listeth 3. Self-preparins at his pleasure Thirdly selfe-preparations that is a taking up of a rest in the soule that if she can but attaine to these she need goe no further for these can be wrought in no other then in such as shall be saved whereas first the question is whether they be truly wrought or from selfe-love and although they proceed from the promise yet happinesse consists not in them but in the omnipotent power of God carrying the soule by them into the streame of the satisfaction of Christ the onely blood whereof is sufficient to save it by faith 4. Selfe-bondage Fourthly selfe-bondage which is when the soule is so extreamly oppressed with the reliques or returnes of slavish feare through corruption and guilt too deeply apprehended that it is dazeled and held under from beholding the free and cleare truth of the promise to set her at liberty yea if melancholy and frowardnesse of will be added hereto mixed with the ill custome to conceive so deepe enmity in God against the sinfull creature that she will hold her owne peevishly against all the light of the word or counsell and perswasion to the contrary viz. that God the offended judge is the first mover in this frame of conversion and hath cut off his plea willingly and intended the way of reconciliation himselfe The fifth is selfe-love 5. Selfe-love when the soule so lookes at the promise as an object of immediate good to herselfe and for her owne ends and welfare not subordaining her owne salvation to the glory of God and the declaration of the depth of his wisdome 1 Thes 1. and the riches of his grace that he may be admired in them that beleeve 6. Sloth The Sixt is selfe-sloth when the soule hath a wambling and fulsome aime at the promise not indeed seriously and sadly digesting the ground of Gods so free offering the inestimable jewell of Christ to her for pardon and peace called in Scripture the strength of God Esay 27.5 I meane the full appeasing of his justice by the paiment of a price nor yet with how faithfull an heart full and free grace he offereth but loosely forgetting that all is yea and amen in Christ and looking at the promise as at a thing naked and unfurnished hath a strong consolation and refuge Heb. 7. Heb. 6. penult The Seventh is selfe-treachery and doubtfulnesse whereby the soule having the generall offer of God to all under the condition 7. Treachery yet because she is not named in the word therefore doubts that in speciall she is not intended in the offer and so growes to thinke that she may separate the things which God hath joyned whereas she should rest in this That the Lord debarres no soule from grace which debarres not herselfe Esay 55.1 saying Ho every one that thirsteth come c. and the particular is included in the generall and if every poore soule should thus goe betweene barke and tree and cavill who should ever come to beleeve Eightly 8. Infidelity selfe-infidelity which is a deadly dart of Satan piercing the heart even when the fruit is comming to the birth tempting thus why art thou so bent to cleave to the word How knowest thou whether it be Gods word or no If it be how canst thou prove it If not whereupon dost thou build thy great confidence And this dart often so prevailes that all the former witnesse of the spirit touching the truth of God by many evidences seemes to be lost Ninthly selfe-cavilling 9. Cavilling when the heart is set upon excepting against the promise either from her
seeing hee might not build him a Temple Salomon might build it not looking at the doer so God might have it built And Paul would have Christ preached any way rather than not preached by any as well as by himselfe rather then not at all yea chose rather to lose his owne happinesse then Israel should not be saved To draw to an end what subtilty is this 5. Instance To offer to God more then he askes to imagine that the offering of God more services then he ever commanded should discharge the conscience for breaking such commands as hee expresly enjoyned What else was the religion of them Micah 6. save to baffle Gods eyes with their selfe worship And this is a true marke of Selfe to outbid true worshipers in the multitude of our devotions that we might bee dispensed within our underbidding of the price which God calls for why is this but that we might be spared in the maine work of selling self and all our out bidding the Lords owne asking is no marke of our selfe-deniall but rather of subtill-selfe which would teach God to pitch a new price upon Christ but not offer him that price which be demandeth when the Lord bids thee bring nothing wilt thou bring him thy cost and when his price is thy selfe dost thou offer him other things to keep back that price what is an handfull of brasse worth to him when he demands a dram of pure gold why doe we loath Popish superogations save that they come short in their kinde of that which God asketh within the kinde offer to him the least dramme of selfe-deniall and soundnesse but else out of kinde no performance is welcome seeme it never so plentifull what shall thy subtilty do thee good when thy issue and Gods issue will not joine thou bringest in prayers teares duties devotions abstinences affections and he called for none of them as his price but thy will Prov. 26.23 thy wisdome thy conceit thy selfe give him his asking and as for the other thou shalt be in them all as a defiled clout and they shall be no more unto thee in point of Christ then if thou hast never done them And this may serve for the first branch Branch 2 Secondly consider the danger of this disease enough hath beene said of it in the reasons before of Admonition See the danger of Selfe Now I adde two or three things to the former And first to urge that maine danger in the doctrine mentioned That it threatens to deprive the soule of grace it selfe when all is done and to throw downe all the false building thereof at once as if one should with his foote dash a little childs house of oystershels which it hath built with much labour Esay 55.2 2 Joh. 8. Now what a sad thing were this to lose the good things which thou hast earned with much travaile so that thou shouldest never enjoy the fruit of all thy toile and labour under the Sun of Gods ordinances Selfe forfeits all her labour and cost in worship and dutâ—es nor eate of the worke of thine hands what a misery were it if it were but to lose the cost of thy plowed field thy compasse and husbandry the cost of thine orchard and garden planting graffing setting sowing how unpleasing a thing is it But then what is the losse of a few bushells of wheat plumbs or apples berries or flowers to the losse of Christ thy eternall crop Selfe will come betweene thee and home in this kind if thou prevent her not The Estrich laies her egs in the sand Job 39.13.14 as Iob saith and leaves them to their lot to the feet of beasts to tread on but why God hath denied her understanding to lay them in secret and to hatch them Art thou destitute of understanding to value so meanly thy cost in hearing in questions in travaile in trialls in duties as to forget what they cost thee If a Schollar should see all his note-books papers a great rich man all his silver and gold his evidences a Farmer all his corne and graine to bee consumed would it not sting him Are they not the fruit of his travell which every man naturally more priseth then a thing that befalls him which he never took paines for when the ship makes shipwracke in the haven what saith the merchant It grieves me as much for the losse of my voiage as for my ship is this the issue of my three yeares sailing over the seas my adventures my exchange of wares mine escapes of rockes and quick-sands so shouldst thou say in this case Oh! it grieves me as much for the losse of so many sweet Sabbaths Sacraments Communions Ordinances as for mine owne soule shall I thus lay heapes upon heapes and die for thirst Judg. 15.16.18 how much better had it been that I had never travelled to beate downe some forraine enemy of lust and prophanesse then that this inbred elfe this selfe and selfe-love as a viper should eate out my bowells and defeate me of heaven To what end should I come up to the City as farre as the suburbs to lie downe there and die for lacke of heart to enter the City gate Thus hast thou done O poore soule thou hast given faire onsets and hopes Thou hast felt thy selfe lost mourned prised Christ laboured and held out longer then many of thy companions here thou hast left some behinde thee sticking in the deepe slow of the earth others have turned backe having the winde the sunne the stormes of persecutions crosses and enemies in their face others in their pleasures and lusts which have overtooke them and shall a bosome enemy doe thee as much hurt as these and shalt thou for all thy twelve houres toile fare no better then they who came in at the last Oh! consider how desperate thy case will be and what a world of regret losse of heaven will be when so narrow and small an oddes must deprive thee Oh! it will sting thee as fire to see that such an offer of an invaluable purchase was made thee which thou biddest faire for and forsookest at last in a tech that thou wouldest not give a penny more whether have it or lose it This parting penny shall sting thee as much as now it troubles thee little Oh! there is but a little oddes betweene thee and home thinke that now the loving heart the heart bloud of the Lord Jesus wooes thee in this manner saying one thing yet remaines besides all thy preparations adde but this let none of these be thy Christ mistake them not they are but sparkles comming from my fire that onely can put life into thee deny these let me and my promise be thy pardon thy peace thy strength and thou hast bought the pearle I say do but consider the mischiefe of this selfe which causes in thee this sad mistake and will worke in thee so remedilesse repentance Besides in the second place The
surviving nature of it the surviving and outlasting nature of this Danger 2 enemy should strike sad thoughts into us Doubtlesse its the conceit of many in whole bosome it liveth that at one time or other they shall bee rid of it it shall not alway lodge in them but in the meane time that pleasingnesse of it within the bosome doth bewitch them so that they rest in wanzing hope of it without serious using of such meanes as might serve to cast it out of them and so their thoughts perish and selfe lives still in them and so will doe some Sermon fast or meanes they hope shall destroy it for they would bee rid of it but this enemy hath nine lives and will never die quite onely they might quell the poison and power of it if their hearts were serious but then the meanes to effect it require such attendance that they chuse rather to sit still with ease And although they doe take good paines yet they doe but make themselves beleeve they would be rid of it for indeed long custome hath stupified their hearts and made them senslesse of their ayle they have lost their old tendernesse and feeling of the mischiefe of it and therefore they carry it with them to Church to fasting to sacraments and to all good duties but they lose it in none of them all it returnes as it went and out-lives them all Alas no wonder how should a body of death be destroyed by shadowes except that body of life or rather that quickning Spirit be brought in to cast it out how should it give place What wonder if after all vowes Bare offers â—mpâ—ements or means cannot encounter a body of death and experience of the contrary still Selfe of uncharitablenesse privie revenge censuring unmercifulnesse selfe-ease selfe in the creature survives in the soule and out-lives all affections of complaint and dislike so long as the stronger man is not really sought unto to cast out this strong and to beare it downe by his promise and power with head and shoulders This would make the soule resolute and cordiall to say I am resolved indeed to be rid of it for I would not else have done that I have done to cast it out I would never really have admitted the Lord Jesus into me to doe it for he comes strong and will throw him out ere he have done He that doth but wish a bad and noysome Tenant were out of his house Luke 11.21 may hold him in and lose his rent all his life long but if he get a writ of ejectio firmae and bring the Sheriffe in person to throw him out by force and armes he may be beleeved that he would have him out Doe then in this case as the poore Shunamite in the case of her dead childe 2 King 4.30 comming and moaning to Elisha when he hastily sent Gehazi with his staffe to lay it upon the childes face that would not serve her turne she caught the Prophet by the feet saying As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee and lind not till she had brought him to the corps where he found the worke to be of more hardnesse then the laying on of a staffe by Gehazi himselfe by the omnipotency of God was onely able to doe it Danger 3 Thirdly adde this one more the closenesse and inwardnesse of this enemy of Selfe The closenesse inwardnesse of Selfe consider how secret and scarce discernable it is Take one or two instances for many in the use of spirituall communion of the Saints how difficult is it to discover the closenesse of this Selfe and how privily it scrues it selfe into such fellowship not for the true and spirituall ends thereof but for some by respects as the admiration of holy persons contentation to a selfe-loving heart seeking her credit or perhaps some knowledge or the like Oh! how hard is it to finde out this that the scope of the soule is meerly and simply to draw up as with the bucket of an hungry empty heart that grace understanding which is hidden in it Again so close and secret is selfe that it is a great difficulty to discerne selfe-joy selfe-content comming from the creature from entire and sound content flowing from Christ It is as hard as to separate confused sorts of corn mixed together Not but that the difference is great but earthly Selfe so scrues and mixes it selfe with religious that oft-times the soule markes not the difference so shee may fare well and please her selfe shee doth not so discern the principle whence it comes but either preferres the content of the creature or else mixes and confounds it with the best content till the creature creep in too farre the heart wax wanton and defiled yea so snarled that it must cost her the vomiting of her morsels ere she can recover a cleare appetite againe so closely and as it were betweeene the marrow and the bones doth this lurking enemy lodge within us So much for the danger Now from both these considerations be we admonished to conceive of to abandon and cast out this enemy I might call it as Paul calls death this last enemy of our peace Overcome this Pressing of the admonition 1 Cor. 15. and all other shall give place as we would obtaine that we run for so in Gods feare let us beware of this enemy Let us not bee as that foole in Salomon when all is sayd Though we bray him in a mortar yet will not this Selfe depart It is even as Saul was whom as Samuel found 1 Sam. 15. so hee was faint to leave with this wofull marke Honour me before the people so saith she Forgoe not thy selfe but if the doctrine be true shee will bee that last foe which will keep thee from conversion Then either renounce her or else say as that wofull wretch said of his harlot I will have her though I go to hell with her So it must be whether thou say so or not therefore renounce not thy Lord Jesus and his free grace to melt to soften to save and change thy heart for the sake of her with whom if thou wilt needs keep her in thy bosome thou canst not possibly have a soft a tender a repenting heart thou canst not thrive to heaven-ward she will lye in wait for thy pretious soule she will be as a canker to thy growth and prospering thou shalt toyle and moyle but she shall blast thy labours and as once one said of the cankers of a state what 's become of all our great Treaties Voyages Nothing so I may say here what 's become of all my strife how chance I grow no faster Surely nothing Thou art as thou wert if not much worse heaven is further off an hard heart neerer the doore Oh thou art smitten and yet knowst not who smote thee But now thou dost prevent the blow I may say of this Selfe as we say
all these thou complainest of no man need bid thee be revenged of them or watch them a shrewd turne but I tell thee an enemy within thy bosome counted thy darling and close friend one called Selfe is a more deadly enemy and can doe thee more hurt then all of them together hereafter raile not upon the evill world thy cruell Landlord thy false friend bankerupts who have runne away with thy goods or thy bad wife that stings thee with her tongue thy bad children ill neighbours thy persecutors not one of these but may set thee a steppe forward to heaven none can deprive thee of it but Selfe can and will world divell and his instruments could not hurt thee were it not for this traitor which sets open the doore unto them to tempt to defile thee See Naaman here in what a wildred case he is except the Lord had made him see his enemy and undoe all his crosse selfe-willednesse and waywardnesse and to stop to Gods way yea and glad to scape so too unto what a perplexity had he brought himselfe after besides his pudder for the present even so know thou that when thou hast runne into thy long error thou must come backe againe this way of selfe-deniall or else the further thou goest the worse will thy case bee Oh! it is a tugging crying sinne it wearies ten Preachers to denounce against it Oh! to what a sweete peace had the Lord brought many an hearer of the word had it not beene for this Beloved we have had some faithfull servants of Christ both living and happily dead among us who have confessed that by this Selfe and her meanes they have spent forty years ere they could come to beleeve and do we look to make it a short cut of forty daies therefore mutter not at thine enemies much lesse at the Lord but at thy selfe and say thy perdition is from thy selfe God is enlarged Hosea 13.9 but Selfe hath hidebound thee and straited thee in thine owne bowells count that Sermon which hath taught thee this lesson one of the best that ever thou heardest Luke 5. There were many lepers in the daies of Elisha but he was sent to none save to Naaman the Syrian and hee had beene sent to him also in vaine if Selfe might have borne sway A second Branch of Instruction is of Instruction Be not offended with crosses to stay that impatience of our spirits Branch 2 which usually falls from us under the visitations of God either upon our whole man or body soul and conscience state posterity or whatsoever For why should we murmur against him that by wounding our side should let out an impostume which would else kill us such an one as no other meane would have cured save this doubtlesse as Hezekia saith By this man liveth And Iob cap. 33. Elihu tells us Hereby even by the corrections which he hath sealed such as he there mentioneth consumptions Esay 3.8 fevers and diseases which take away stomack and the like the Lord hideth the pride of man which is selfe he brings to the pits brinke of the grave that he may keep the soule from hell even the nethermost pit Oh! when the bladder of Selfe and Pride and Presumption is prickt and the bubbling froath and windy puffing thereof is let out a man comes to see himselfe as hee is a forlorne creature then his duties affections hopes sorrowes desires and performances vanish no man can so basely thinke of him as he conceives of himselfe then hee is vile dust and ashes in his own eyes Who is more free from all arrogating to himselfe and his owne righteousnesse then one that lies all pale and consumed with paine and sicknesse When we doe meet with one except some desperate blinde Pharisee who in his extremity dare trust to himselfe where is then his vain-glory his boasting of devotions fasts prayers and alms Alas the image of them is despised the pride of life is crack't and the great stomacke is broken and then his high thoughts which exalted themselves against Christ and an humble heart quaile and come downe Crosses are great meanes to let out Selfe out of the Soule Then if an interpreter come one of a thousand to declare his righteousnesse how welcome is hee When the heart is empty of Selfe then doth the Lord commonly fill it with good things and when it despaireth of selfe-hope then the Lord saith Deliver him I have received a ransome Hence it is that Iob cap. 10.12 saith Thy visitations O Lord have preserved my spirit And the truth is it is well in these dead times if any thing will doe it As Paul Phil. 3. saith If by any meanes I may attain it The word without some afflictions upon mens spirits or name bodies or posterity and that in some stinging kinde pierces not the spirit is straitned Sometims after long struglings and wrastlings of men with this Selfe hoping to picke somewhat out of their owne strength they are tired and wearied in their way and their former feares come upon them a-fresh so that they can finde no rest in their bones Then they begin to consider seriously of it and conclude There is a pad in the straw still they crosse the worke of God in one kinde as fast as they further it another Surely they resolve an heart of hollownesse sloath unsoundnesse and loathnesse to renounce the creature or their stoutnesse and sullen heart or the warmth of their owne feathers their zealous affections These or the like oppose the nakednesse and simplicity of the promise and keep the conscience in snares and defilements and they cry out Miserable men who shall deliver us And sometimes by other affronts the Lord is faine to sharpen the point of his convincing ordinance that the Soule may think the Lord is in sad earnest when she findes him to hunt her out in every corner and give her no rest till she can be content to be saved any way so she may be saved A very Papist in his straits will disclaime himselfe and say It is safest for the avoyding of vain-glory to cleave onely to mercie and shall we that professe none but Christ come short of them To conclude then as we read Heb. 12. My son refuse not the chastening of the Lord Job 7.18 nor grudge at his visitations as Iob once murmured Why dost thou visit him every morning and try him every moment Why dost thou set mee as a marke against thee But in the issue of that great trouble he was of another mind saying cap. 9.31 My very cloathes defile me And cap. 42.4 Now have I seene thee therefore I abhorre my selfe Let us doe likewise and abhorre our owne murmurings at our crosses for although they are irksome to the flesh yet they are wholesome for the spirit as we say of the body that when the spleen is smallest that is best So the body of grace is at best when that Spirit in
the necessity of it and the true sense of utter perishing without it lo then the case is altered John 10.10 then as Peter on the suddaine would have Christ wash him throughout so she growes resolute to beare downe all selfe le ts disswasives feares losses discredit then so she may have Grace shee will have it any way let all goe shee cares not so she may enjoy that pretious thing she loveth she tramples upon her pride ease and all that hangeth on as a clog without or as a let within glad if with the forfeit of all she can purchase it Heb. 12.1 Marke this good brethren let the Spirit of Grace prevaile a little and it is strange how it subdues that loathnesse of Selfe to yeeld the rebellion and fiercenesse of the Spirit Oh! it causes the Lion and Lambe to feed together it tames the soule and carries it captive bound hands and feete content to abase it selfe to the lowest and poorest tearmes to be taught and directed in the way of God by the most despised instruments which before she disdained to learne of Curiosity now and choice of Preachers and accepting of the Grace of our Lord Jesus in respect of persons is base and unsavoury Now shee sees Grace is onely in the hand of God to give or restraine now it is a dainty commodity indeed and beares prick and prise in the soule any thing will be given for it if God will now sell it her let him but aske and have and whatsoever before was in high esteeme shall now be vile and as dung unto it Oh! beloved trie your selves also by this marke and if ye finde the least dramme of this geason worke of the Spirit in you dampe it not nor quench it lest Selfe returne and set such a deepe price upon it that perhaps yee will never recover it againe If a spirit of frequent and unwearied hearing travell conference meditation questioning consulting with such as can resolve us a spirit of wisdome to devoure sinfull bashfulnesse and modesty and coynes in revealing our doubts be given unto us if wee feele an heart in us loathing that lither listlesse dead spirit which was wont to withdraw us beware we lose it not nourish it and although all the world should mock us and our own base spirit should tell us we shall be noted for our labour let us make never the lesse of it nor be discouraged Fourthly 4. Marke Spirit of Grace resists those speciall pangs of selfe in every soule the Spirit of Grace resists those particular and personall pangs of Selfe self-love which the soul especially is distempered with Selfe is a stock of many branches even originall antipathy to Christ and Grace at every rate but some appeare in one some in another as in the body some humors settle within the intralls others breake out into sores and swellings So here In some there appeares a base lither heart in some a spirit of the world lusting to rake and scrape in others subtilty and hollownesse to colour over their owne corruption in some a barren deadnesse of heart in others secret pride and resting in their gifts in some selfe-conceit of their owne way in others revenge pettishnesse 2 Cor. 10.4 frowardnesse Some encline to the right hand of selfe-confidence and content in their owne hopes others to the left hand of feare and slavery Now the Spirit of Grace In some stronger in in some weaker is as fire devouring that corruption which is next hand and searching out the peculiar distemper of the Spirit which beares most sway against Grace and Christ It descants not about other mens lets and maladies but lookes at her owne in speciall saying I doubt not but others finde their owne home and bosome hindrances let me see to mine owne for other mens shall not hurt me I feele a very stout heart loath to take a reproofe blustering at any that should taxe me what Do they know what I am my parts or thus I feele a very froward spirit God himselfe must not crosse and unsettle me lest I fly in his face or thus I feele a stiffe heart of Selfe loath to doe good to sympathize the necessities of others so I may fare well my selfe by visiting by advising admonishing instructing them I say each one hath his peculiar ayles and humors which take off the edge of grace in him and all because there is not that meekenesse tendernesse and brokennesse of spirit there wants the power of Christ to beare downe such distempers But the Spirit of Grace encounters every speciall disease discovers to every man his owne abandons that spirit which reignes in an hypocrite who can make a pretty shift till his owne basenesse be found out but then he buskells and takes on like a mad man Not so here For the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is a Spirit of sagacity and search never linning till it can follow her selfe by the sent and footings to her very den and there strives to drive her out of her hold by violence For why It presents to the soule the safety and happinesse of selfe-discovery This marke cleared and the infinite danger of the contrary causeth it to delight in the convincing of her conscience and to be loath to foster in herselfe any such michiefe as might destroy her own hopes She sees how hypocrites doe exchange Selfe with Selfe but purge it not out wholly desires to resigne up her chiefe fort and freehold to the Spirit of Grace without tergiversation or shifting And so shee cries out heartily to the Spirit of Grace Lord how long shall this close enemy of mine maintaine her selfe against thine authority and trie masteries with thy Spirit Hast thou not yet a further strength to cast downe this bulwarke Oh! if thou shalt cast out this defilement to the bottome so as I may feele a sweetnesse in thee to supply and equall it how sweet a mercy shall I count it Beloved search your selves by this Can you say of all these dregs of Selfe Oh that I might bee rid of them at once Oh when shall that happy day come When shall I feele the Spirit of Grace thus working to put all out of question that which is the bane of the false heart is the chiefe joy of a sound one when shall I feele my soule as sensibly sustained by the Word as ever I have beene by Selfe Oh! if now the houre were come that all the unclean pleasures I have taken in my own bottome and selfe-ends were quasht how should I rejoyce And yet I know well what I must forgoe even that which hath been my meat and drinke and pastime but I speake advisedly and in coole bloud I should be glad of it and hazard all and I know they should be as drosse to me if thou canst truly professe this thine estate is comfortable And hereto I may adde this as a fifth marke that the Spirit of Grace settles and compounds
our places and callings and be not too indulgent to our backs bellies companies travells and the like sensuall recreations and contentments many men affect such a breâ—th in the uttermost of their liberties and jollitie that their very garbe bewraies them to bee men who savor not much of denying themselves goe to the Lord often with this thorne in thy heele and bemoane thy paine unto him 2 Cor. 12.6 till he ease thee as Paul did and ceased not till the Answ 6 spirit was sufficient for him Beseech the Lord not to leave thee to thine owne findings but to take thee into his own patronage maintaining thee at his cost and charge It is said that Ieconia long after his obedience to the Prophet Ieremy Jerem. 52.31 to yeeld up himselfe to the King of Babel was so honoured by God as to become of a vassall and captive a favorite and to be nourished from the Kings owne dish to have a portion of meate from him daily meditation of the Pearle Matth. 13.44 caused the Merchant to sell all and buy it How doth Paul Phil. 3. heate his heart with the Lord Jesus till hee cast out himselfe as dung Dâ—vid Psal 73. recovers himselfe out of his temptation of distrust and impatience by meditation and then breakes out Whom have I in heaven but thee Luke 2.51 Mary bred Christ in her soule by pondering the message of the Angell against her feare and doubting Nothing a greater nourisher of Selfe then unacqaintance and slothfull neglect of the promise Againe behold the practice of the Saints both in Scripture and experience both living and dying Heb. 13.7 how they have moulded their souls into the truth of God and have been content to hazard their own salvation thereupon saying if I perish I perish Let also as I toucht before the afflictions Answ 8 of God whether in our bodies or soules breake us off from our wilde olive stock and implant us into the naturall and sweet olive Say Lord it is a sweet mercy not to live to my self though it cost me deare to learne this discipline but to be at thine allowance As an idle wench chuseth to live basely and idely at her owne hand rather then under a Mistresse so would Self do if God did not over-rule the soul But when she is corrected and instructed then she smites upon her thigh and repenteth Lastly Answ 9 be not too eager in pursuit of our worldly affairs but quietly let us set our boate upon our streame of providence to crosse our selves in our carnall appetites and though God crosse us not yet deny we our selves inuring our hearts to mercy compassion to such as are in necessity bodily or spirituall Let not Papists the chiefe favorites of Selfe condemne us Protestants in this kinde farre it be it from us to foster a spirit of envy which lusteth in us after uncharitablenesse indignation morosity austerity censoriousnesse anger revenge suspitions contentions Jam. 4.4 discontents either with men or with providence and Gods administrations that please us not for these morall distempers will defile us spiritually if we be not aware of it Seeke not honour repute respect and acknowledgement from men let God alone with these Joh. 5.44 and let us not for such base scurfe yet highly set by in the world destroy the worke of God Oh! beloved consider what I have said of this weighty argument and the Lord give us understanding in all things for mine owne part I have cause to mourn that notwithstanding all I have spoken I have so small hope to prevaile with men because I goe against their edge and speake riddles to men of another metall What are we but signes and spectacles to men and divells in preaching these doctrines What serve we for save to harden their hearts For they will fulfill the doctrine and Selfe is like to quash their hopes when all is done The Lord prevent it in you for his mercies sake And so much also shall suffice for this whole use of exhortation to them that seeke conversion Now concerning the latter branch of Exhortation 2. Branch of Exhortation Gods people must practise selfe-deniall in their conversation to them who through mercy are converted already Let me urge this upon them so much the rather to deny all for Christ and his name by how much they have already obtained favour to count all as drosse in respect of pardon and reconciliation If in the former respect that of our Saviour be true how much more in the latter He that will bee my Disciple must deny all if the case so require take up his crosse and follow me And the truth is such are the times we now live in that I am in a manner forced to adde this point of use to the former For you must know the former is secret from the view of men though one day it shall be knowne to men and Angells so that we should doe men a world of wrong if we should judge them to bee other then selfe-denyers and beleevers Matth. 16. end But indeed there is another selfe-deniall a consequent upon faith and that is an outward renouncing of our selves and selling our selves out of all our profits pleasures ease and liberties for the name the truth of doctrine the profession of Christ in power That rather then we would betray these to the enemies thereof neither liberties nor lives should be deare to us Now herein what doe men Alas they shew that either they never knew what it meant to cast out Selfe to receive Christ or else they have found a narrow distinction between barke and tree to save themselves harmelesse viz. That although they deny themselves inwardly for him never so yet they have a dispensation so that outwardly they will not lose a dramme of wealth credit maintenance ease love of wife child will or appetite for his sake And at this plat the world of our professors now fall off Causes They love Christ with their hearts but they will not lose one straw for him Alas what wonder that it is so with them For why Why most men so little deny themselves for Christ To deny a mans selfe for Christ requires a better bottome then they have any The Lord Jesus never denyed himselfe to the death for the redemption of their soules never gave himselfe as a price to wrath for their pardon and peace The Apostle Rom. tells us Doubtlesse for a good man one would be content to dye Christ hath not been a good Christ to them for if he had they would deny themselves to the death for him They are upon their owne bottome still their owne ease will health pleasures life and liberties are too deare to them they love them as pretiously as a zealous Christian loves Christ therefore they will part with nothing for him If Christ were their Selfe their inner man their joy and content they would cleave to him as their
naturall and beloved object The truth hath not made them free for if it had they would forsake all for it and buy it whatsoever it cost them but not sell it whatsoever they might have for it Besides they know not what spirit they are of while peace lasteth and the Gospel runnes in the streame of their liberties gifts services commodities and advantages who but they An humble and zealous Christian would almost tremble to heare their protestations their engagements for God and truth the cause of Christ and Religion who but they in their fastings and prayers deepe detestation of the sinnes of the times and mourning for the sorrowes of such as suffer But let the winde turne to another coast so that they see the enemies of truth lay hard to their free hold and they must either sadly suffer indeed for that they have professed or else bewray themselves to be hypocrites Then they shew upon what hinges their doore hanges and turnes even upon Selfe and selfe-love Then they wax stiffe for themselves then they cleave to the creature their ease and welfares their liberties and worldly contents Why this Alas They understood not their owâ— spirit and therefore it laid them in the suds ere they were aware Now their great declaiming against the sinnes of timeservers and selfe-loving hypocrites is turned to apologize for their inconstancy selfe-love and ends of their owne Moreover another cause is they sought not Christ simply and honestly for himselfe but for somewhat which might bee gotten from him to serve their owne turne by his meanes They know not how to licke themselves whole upon the Lord Jesus for any thing they lose for him and therefore they are loath to venture any more then they must quite make forfeit of If they knew whom to trust for amends or could beleeve that hundred fold requitall for God and his Gospel which is promised to all that lose any thing for him Oh! it would lithe their hearts exceedingly to suffer any thing for him To conclude they consider not what a poore bargaine they make of it when they sell the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus for the redeeming of a poore transitory content here below they consider not that they fish with a golden hooke for minums if they lose their hooke upon a shrag of triall and temptation they can never make amends againe for it by all they catch though the fish were fairer Conscience is no commodity to weigh in the balance against ease and carnall profits and pleasures as Elisha asked Gehazi Is this a season to purchase olives and vineyards and menservants or maidservants They consider not what poor and silly figleaves they sow together to cover their nakednesse when they pretend a necessity of serving God their owne way that way which will hold best agreement with their own ends to shun serving him his way of suffering which contradicts their self-love In all these respects and in many more let us not wonder at the wofull declension of these revolting times which leave the Lord Jesus himselfe to sinke or swim Nay further let us not be offended overmuch at such as at their first entry and onset upon Religion seemed so zealous as to chalenge all enemies of Christ and began to suffer for him But having born the brunt a while and felt the triall too hot and too heavy for them have with more shame and reproach revolted from him then ever they began to suffer with honour and commendation And sithence it fareth thus let all whom it concerneth Counsells to helpe this Exhortation to approve their faith and fidelity to the Lord Jesus as it doth concerne all who will not prove hypocrites now in these wofull daies strive for the holding up and preserving the entire honour and esteem of Christ his Grace his truth profession and Gospel both in their owne soules with sincerity and before men without shame or cowardize Consider poore soule by whose strength thou standest do not look too wisely upon next hand examples of staggerers and timeservers though perhaps thou hast admired them for their zeale and gifts know them by their fruits stagger not at their revolts But looke to Jesus the author and finisher of thy faith Heb. 12.2 who for the hope set before him and the love to thy soule and salvation despised the shame and endured the crosse Behold if examples do so much affect thee the patternes of those faithfull ones who in all ages have borne witnesse to Jesus and not esteemed their credits or goods or lives so that they might vindicate the glory of Christ and discharge the trust which in baptisme and much more in their conversion to God was committed to them to be faithfull souldiers and to contend for the truth against Divell and his instruments the world and their own fleshly selfe-love The Lord hath had in all ages some who have though it a businesse of importance to sticke to Christ and his honour whatsoever it cost them although thy strength be small the trialls of the malicious sharpe and fiery as darts yet if thou canst deny thine owne selfe humble thy soule be little in thine owne eies be above thine owne ends and sensuality Then that God who hath suffered thousands of subtill selfe-loving hypocrites to fall on thy right hand and thy left shall keepe thee safe in the midst under the covert of the wings and shadow of his Almighty power Psal 92.7 Counsells And to this end and purpose first get faith in Trialls more pretious then gold and looke not to suffer for Christ by thine owne strength but get strength from him whom thou sufferest for Get thee his innocency be sure thy cause be good joyne with it a good conscience two excellent banners to fight under and then by prayer beg from Christ that strength courage meeknesse simplicity selfe-deniall unashamednesse to confesse him and to suffer for him which becommeth one who hath received thy being of grace and the hope of welbeing of glory for ever from him Beleeve that hee who nayled all enmity of Satan and the gates of hell to his crosse hath risen by the might of his Godhead and is at his right hand will so provide that the remnant of their conquered and captivated malignity and malice shall never prevaile against thee If ever thou tookest hold of his strength to save thee from hell and from perishing trust him for strength to overcome all earthly enemies he can and will subdue them unto thee divert them disarme them disable them and give thee full redemption from them If ever hee built thee soundly upon his rocke feare not neither stormes nor sands nor tempests nor any assaults shall ever cause thy building to ruinate but thou shalt stand because built upon a rock Secondly be not heedlesse and carelesse of trouble but be well settled and informed in thy judgement concerning the weight and the importance of the truth of God Let
be not onely willing and well content to beare for God if we be called to it justly without thrusting our selves upon troubles but especially labour to quite our selves well in our sufferings True it is to shunne God and seeke our selves our owne ease and welfare betraying our conscience is a fearefull treachery but yet there is a further mischiefe then this to be shunned and that is be we sure that wee suffer for God and have him that knowes our hearts to beare us witnesse that setting aside humane frailty the sincere aime of our hearts in suffering is the promoting of the glory of God and the entire and tender respect we have to preserve his truth inviolable There is a white divell corrupting us in the bent and aime of our sufferings as well as a blacke to disswade us from suffering at all one Divell under two colours aimes at this either at the losse of our soules when we wickedly seeke to save our selves from suffering or the losse of the honour of our sufferings when we lose our reward through our base and hollow seeking our own selves Such as suffer in these dayes for Christ had need be well bottomed and carried upon such grounds as will beare us out and save our stake For such as suffer out of a proud presumptuous singularity of their own to be thought some body hoping they shall be able to licke themselves whole by some outward encouragements or otherwise rush upon crosses in their heate and rashnesse are like in such a world as this to meet with a wrong match of it And we have seene some examples before our eies to verifie this by wofull experience Note this experience that others may learne by their shame and harmes to beware of their selfe-heate and rashnesse The Divell getting ground and the cause of God losing exceedingly by such Merchant venturers not to speake of the shipwracke that such make of their owne peace Suffer therefore for Christ and suffer so for him that thy conscience may stand by thee for the sincerity of thine intentions and the Spirit of glory shall rest upon thee and with Stephen he whose cause thou sufferest for shall discover himselfe unto thee not onely in his allowing of thee 1 Pet. 4.14 Acts 7.55 but his crowning of thee both here with the honour of suffering and hereafter with glory for suffering as 1 Pet. 4. end and in neither respect will he suffer thee to repent or bee ashamed But I must not here in this use of addition and by consequent runne out into a common place some other fitter occasion will offer it selfe for this purpose Thus much shall serve for the whole exhortation and so for the whole doctrine of Selfe so farre as the Lord hath given grace Now what shall I say brethren for conclusion but presse us all to seeke God who suffers not his raines and dew to returne in vain Esay 55.9 but to fructifie his truth in the hearts of his owne people that he would not withdraw his blessing from this doctrine which wee have at large insisted on in this and the former Sermon Let us pray that with Pauls planting and Apollo's watering God would give encrease THE SEVENTH LECTVRE upon the words following in the twelfth Verse VERSE XII VERSE 12. Are not Abana and Pharfar rivers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel may I not wash in them and be cleane So he went away in a rage c. VERS 13. Then his servants came neere and spake unto him and said Father if the Prophet had sayd some great thing c. 2 Kings IN the former verse beloved in the Lord wee have examined the ground of Naamans distaste of the Prophets message and that was as wee have shewed a prejudice or pre-conceit of a way of his owne devising The clear ng of the coherence sense of this verse without bottome or ground of truth Touching the which as we noted whence it came even from the root of Selfe so we raised a generall ground of doctrine from it and have said what God hath suggested unto our thoughts concerning the reasons openings and severall uses of it repeating nothing thereof let us come forward to this twelfth verse For although the holy Ghost doth omit sundry passages of this story as the thing was carried yet hee will not have us ignorant of any materiall thing which might profit us And therefore here he relates the amplification of Naamans distaste from a second allegation of his and that is from a supply of Selfe by carnall reason No two friends in the world are so ready to succour each other at a pinch as carnall reason is at hand to succour Self The more is said the worse the disease rankles but yet that which sound reason cannot make good lo carnall reason must be faine to supply A poore help I grant but a poore one is better then none with a corrupt heart If the former answer and bottome of his distaste had been as good as it was large he had not now needed to have multiplied so many words as he doth but being crazie in them hee must make that good with words which wants substance and therefore hee now comes in with an argument of another kinde to stiffen himselfe in his former conceit drawne from the nature of the message it selfe to wit that it was unlikely ridiculous and in truth upon point impossible And therefore he did well to turne away and be angry as he was The words come to thus much as if he had said How he baâ—keth one evill with another There was cause enough to reject the Prophets answer because it crosseth mine expectation my thoughts were farre otherwise then his message I looked hee would have come himselfe and dispatcht it therefore I had reason enough before to recoile from his answer But now put case my conceit be ungrounded and I my selfe faulty therefore yet let me but examine the message it selfe as it lies and there is great cause to distaste it in that regard also For why What sense or reason is there in it Forsooth he bids me goe wash in Jordan And what likelihood is there that Jordan should heale leprosie When was it ever heard of till now What need Israel have one Leper in it if Jordan will heale him And sure I am if waters were able to doe it then much more would better waters doe it Wee have two famous rivers in Damascus Abana and Pharfar by name farre purer streames and in repute better waters then either Jordan or any other waters of Israel whatsoever And if they never healed a Leper much lesse I trow can Jordan This being thus who should blame me for rejecting this message Yea for distemper and anger Can flesh and bloud endure to be sent for to a Prophet and to be thus mocked I conclude therefore his meaning is nothing lesse then to cure my disease he doth but try
vessel without a bottome thou canst not endure the talke of such things 1 Cor. 1.20 Matth. 16.21 they are an offence unto thee There is a peece of the Jew and Gentile in thee as yet Gods matters are a stumbling blocke and foolishnesse unto thee and thou art as yrkesome and fulsome a creature to the appetite of God and good men as a potion is to a sicke stomack Try thy selfe I say by thy taking up the customary errors and speeches of worldlings as thus what make yee of this precisenesse What Thinke ye there was no Religion in the world ere these singular fellows came up What Will not indifferency and reason serve men to bee honest and no medlers to pay all men their due as quiet folke should doe but men must pester the world with so much zeale As for these Preachers what are they Meane fellowes such as the world might want yet subsist few of them have any learning and they are bad for a common-wealth And as for these yong hotspurres let them alone but a little and by that time they have wife and children to look to and feel what the hard world is we shall have the wind in another doore then they will be lesse in their heate and fall to their businesse as other men By my faith and truth or as God mend me I love Religion well so that too much of it make not men mad I would I were dead or hangd if I love not an honest man with my heart so it be with reason Ah! thou saplesse and barren wretch thy language of Ashdod betraies thee and that exceeding emptinesse of good utters it selfe in thy very speech and carriage thou art weighed and found light Secondly try thy self by thy Protestant carnality which is an addition Instance 2 of some divine light to the dim light of nature Protestant common savour whereby carnall reason is somewhat alaied and abated but yet the old principle abides still and Religion prevailes no further then carnall reason will admit Try thy selfe about this also Dost thou drive two trades a spirituall and a carnall Dost thou heare pray receive and professe with thy carnall savor and sent still unpurged So farre as thy wealth credit mony pleasures and worldly appetite will suffer so farre thou wilt be Religious upon condition thou maiest lose nothing by Religion but keepe the bredth of carnall jollity ease and content still nourish thy old thoughts and affections close sanctifie a rest upon the Sabbath so farre as will stand with thy businesse taking mony hireing workemen paying rates debts and recknings maintaine so much Religion as will keep thee from open prophanenesse but as for conscience alas there is little thou wouldest please a carnall husband wife friend rather then God and lose thy repute with God rather then thine ease credit living and maintenance in the world and yet thinke thy selfe to have as good an heart to God as the closest worshipper in spirit and truth To equivocate with thine owne conscience to flatter to lye to cog and play the timeserver thou carest not so it make for thine ends and yet Religion shall be the stalking-horse all the while and that shall be the soder for all cracks examine thy selfe is this thy condition Then is thy state as bad as the former and in this respect worse because thou art a subtill hypocrite further from sincerity then a downe-right carnall person thou art just of the temper of the times and if a Religion of bowing to altars to images and pictures of Saints and our Lady and the crucifix should bee obtruded or a worship of blinde devotion or Popish pompe void of all sap lo thou wert the man most like to imbrace it For why Since that a mediocrity best contents thee betweene Atheisme and Precisenesse what were more like to agree with thy humour then such a medly Nay thirdly try thy selfe by this Perhaps the Lord is so full of thy Instance 3 carnality Gods leaving of thee to the savour of the flesh that he hath secretly given thee over to the sway and swinge of thy carnall reason so that thou bewraiest thy selfe what thou art as the rat behinde the painted cloath Try thy selfe by this also Is thine heart thy tongue thy penne thy carriage let loose so farre that no Preacher no perswasion can unsettle thee from thy dregs but still thou holdest and wilt hold thy base principles they grow from a twig to a strong arme and bow of an oke past bending thou wouldest pull out the throat of any man that should rob thee of these whelps and as a chaste matron is to an harlot so is a spirituall Minister or Christian an offence and indignation unto thee Dost thou say as once a Pharisee did Wife let our children goe to our Parish Church so they go no further for they are green and raw but as for thee and me we need it not we are not now to learne the way to Heaven it is tedious to our old age to keepe our Church we may doe as well at home in reading upon a booke verily many such there are who thus lye in their mire and there like old jades dye and will not come out Art not thou such an one Nay art thou not growne so rooted in thy carnall reason that it makes thee little better then a politicke Atheist swaying all thy course by it sitting at the helme of it and adoring it as then Idoll Achitophel was a worshipper of God too 2 Sam. 16.21 but a villaine who for his politicke ends would have Absalon spread himselfe a tent and defile all his fathers concubines to make all Israel to know there could be no reconciliation what Was not such a thing against God Yes but what is God to a politician Tush tell yee him of selling Church livings of following his lusts and pleasures of serving the times and framing his conscience to the Religion of his betters Is not that the way to be quietest to have the favor of men to have our lusts and to be furthest off from a Puritan As Machiavel was wont to say truth of Religion is hard and needlesse a forme is easie and to as good purpose I say examine thy selfe perhaps thou hast overlived thy hope and accomplished thy destiny being now growne to measure all by thy owne fleshly meet-wand and to count gaine and lust godlinesse Instance 4 Againe try thy selfe about these particulars following First about Godâ— attributes Dost thou limit that infinite power providence alsufficiency of God to thy carnall sense So that God cannot change the miseries of the times cannot restore the integrity of his Gospel and the power of practice cannot curbe and restraine the malice of bad instruments because it seemes unlikely Secondly about the way to salvation Instance 5 Dost thou cavill unweariedly with restlessenesse of arguments against the doctrine of selfe-deniall the utter inability of flesh to convert himselfe or
walkes plainly in his course and deales faithfully in reproofe of evill shall at last have more peace in death and be more honoured then all crangling and worldly wise braines who have so many wayes to the wood The fox and the cat were talking of their tricks but when the hounds came the cat knew one thing worth all the foxes skill for she leapt upon the tree and was safe when the other was torne in peeces Death or the crosse will try us who hath best skill either the subtill or the simple As he once said to the Crabfish which he had alway observed to goe backward and to gather up her joynts when she was dead and lay open and spread abroad Oh so you should have lived So say I to you to such as one day shall wish plainnesse Oh you should have loved it all your life Doe so still it is never too late to amend if your hearts be not hardened Oh! turne your swords into mattocks and such of ye as have delighted to bee perillous and shrewd fellowes affect plainnesse fly with Doves as birds of that feather let the little child play at the hole of the aspe Call not in question the truth of your Religion affect not darke close and doubtfull carriages but be as little children void of guile And so doing as Peter saith 1 Epist Chap. 2.1 casting off all guile and falshood come and welcome as new borne ones to covet the milke of the word It would never trouble me then to preach to you but now I feare you defile the truth or your selves rather with that you heare An eminent patterne There comes a thing to my minde really done of which I will tell you Once a simple minded traveller upon a poore horse was overtaken by two or three swaggerers well mounted who asked him whither he would and how farre hee went that day He told them to such a place twenty or thirty mile off and he hoped to reach it if God let him not They scorning him and his poore horse pransed away having a journey also to goe but at next Alehouse or Taverne they stayed an houre or two upon their tobacco and wine and having so done to their geldings they went and put hard on by that time the poore man was gotten a good way forward keeping still his plaine course and race and being againe overtaken was againe mocked by these gallants but in fine so it fell out that their oft turnings into the Taverne at each five miles end spent their day and kept them from their journeyes end whereas the poore mans eaven and honest pace overtooke them and cast them behinde Walke plainly and hold on with simplicity and that shall bring you safer home then all the flourishings of carnall men though now and then at a start they may seeme to outstrip you So much for this second branch of the Admonition A third caveat may serve from hence Admonition Gods people must so shun carnall reason as yet not incurring the just aspersion of folly to teach Gods people to shun Branch 3 the contrary extremity of foolishnesse and indiscretion in all their course and conversation True it is carnall reason and fleshly wisdome is an excesse and overflow yet want of wisdome prevention activenesse and dexterity in managing our affaires is another extreame in the defect and to be avoided as prejudiciall to the repute of the godly dishonourable to God and occasioning base scorners to cast aspersion upon Religion as if none but fooles were so precise All that feare God therefore doe not under colour of abhorring carnall reason abandon reason and all from your attempts Wisdome makes the face of a man to shine Proverb and makes a man to stand before his betters Proverb however it is the counsell of the wise man establish thy thoughts by counsell and by counsell make way And Saint Paul saith Be not slothfull in businesse Rom. 12. Some men are like those who bend crooked sticks they cannot mend one extreame save by bowing the stick to a quite contrary bent till they breake it Some to avoid one rocke of sensuall and worldly reason rush upon another rocke of rash incogitancy and precipice running headlong about their matters Act. 20. end Right reason may be kept as the Townclarke told them of Ephesus though carnall be abhorred which is but the dregs and lees of the other God hath not for nothing planted understanding in the minde of man to bee as the Pilot to steere the motion and course of our ship through this vast sea-faring life of ours and therefore he will have all his to ponder their way and tells us Proverb That the eies of a wise man are in his head as the fooles are in his heeles And therefore as in divine especially so in humane matters also it becomes a Christian to walke as exactly as wise not as fooles It is the part of a wise man to thinke thus Ephes 5.17 I make conscience of contention and quarrells goings to law Therefore to prevent ill report reproach losse and repenting too late it behooves me to goe wiseliest to worke of all Wranglers and leud ones if they have overshot themselves will helpe themselves many waies but a Christian must forfeit and lose that which by discretion he prevents not Therefore deale and binde sure if thou wilt finde sure leave not bargaines doubtfully and rawly require bills or bonds in matters of weight take not things upon trust mens bare words and promises saying neighbour you and I shall agree take it or let me have it But take witnesse Jer. 32.10 rest not upon bare meanings and forgotten covenants which breed many differences in the upshot unwelcomely and sutes needlesse and unkinde There is I confesse diversity between men religious and carnall Sundry instances of folly in the dealings of Christians but let not that forestall discretion I have dealt saith one for so much with my friend without script scroll and I hope now we shall not disagree yes it comes in a day which falls not out in seven yeare againe and death may cause as great difference betweene the best as the worst Abraham would not take Ephrons shuffling words Gen. 23 15.16 What is that between me and thee But weighed him out the silver and tooke witnesse And David when Arauna would have given him his floore would not so slightly goe to worke 2 Sam. 24.24 but paid him his price Oh! it is not the speech of wise men but fooles to say I had thought thus and thus or I thought not of this or that Did ye not Why did ye not that in time which after will bee too late to redresse What a shame is it for a Christian who must judge the earth 1 Cor. 6.2 not to be able to manage his owne businesse Not to stoppe a breach with the cost of a shilling which after may prove a ruine
an union with him and all his graces Faith in the promise of the ordinance will as well give thee a spirituall savour in Christ sacramentall as ever it did in thy reconciliation Both being planted upon a word of God whereto the Sacrament is an inseperable and sure seale Let carnall reason judge of a Sacrament and what will it make of it A peece of bread a cup of wine She beleeves no more then she sees What wonder A man may draw water out of a deepe well without a bucket as easily as a carnall man can gather sap or savour out of the Sacrament except Christ be his wisdome and righteousnesse Spiritualnesse in the first promise tasted by faith gives a relish to the soule in all other parts of the word And so I might speake of each part of sanctification Faith onely can get a spiritualnesse out of each promise of God to purge the soule of her corruptions To guide her in her way To answer her doubts her feares her objections To support her in her crosses and straits To season her blessings and to preserve her unblameable untill the day of her salvation A carnall man savours no more of these then a dog savours a chip for he wants that whereby such priviledges are spiritually revealed Shee harkens not to the word as the Pilot neglected Paul Act. 27. But Paul had the revealing of the safety of the ship which the Pilot wanted and therefore slighted the Pilots judgement farre more then he could doe Pauls Sixthly I exhort thee to savour spirituall things Savour spirituall things and to be able to prove thou dost so and that thou art made truly wise for spiritualnesse Quest How may I prove it Answ By these few markes First such Sermons Ordinances Ministeries as savour most of spirit and life affect and ensue such as savour of flesh and basenesse forme and carnall reason reject and detest Read and heare the word with seeking out the true scope and true savour thereof prying into it as the Cherubins into the mercy seat not resting in the barke and surface Blesse God for any wisdome to weigh and judge aright of holy things and their difference cleave to a spirituall worship of God and abhorre a carnall serving of God Heare the word with humility faith attention obedience for to the humble and trembling at his word God reveales wisdome Psal 25. Esay 28. Prepare thy selfe reverently to the sacraments with faith repentance love and hunger whatsoever savours of flesh as pride pompe ease self-ends world pampering of the body suspect it not to be from God Learne with Paul 2 Cor. 5. to accept Christ according to spirituall not carnall respects It is death to the spirit to be carnall or the flesh to be spirituall but to the spirit it is life Rom. 8. Secondly love simplicity It is a companion of spiritualnesse 2. Love simplicity get the one and the other will follow Affect not a subtill overreaching close and worldly-wise conversation It will justly cause Gods people to suspect thee Let not a double winding shifting heart and practice be found in thee either to God or man-ward Wisdome I dislike not seasoned with grace and meekenesse but carnall and politique wisdome of the world abhorre we are called Protestants Professors bee not ashamed to be according to our name let us be without welt or gard not bordering upon defence of evill or cavilling against the reproofes of the word Be not simple onely in point of Religion but also among the Religious Be not ashamed of God or of Gods faithfull ones for their meannesse Better is he that walketh in his simplicity then he that perverts his way and is a foole Condescend to meane things Rom. 12. Gods pretious ones come out of cottages yea sometime caves and dens of the earth Thirdly labour for heavenly mindednesse Phil. 3. Col. 3.2 3. Labour for heavenly mindednesse Our conversation is in heaven Let your affections be above where Christ sitteth Resurrection of the soule with Christ and an holy activenesse of spirit with fruitfulnesse is a steppe to the soules ascension with Christ and converse with God This world full of carnall occurrences of profits pleasures companies earthly courses and delights will make the most savoury Christian forget himselfe without great grace Be armed therefore against this temptation Know these things well and behold them aright they are nothing happinesse is not in them they promise but keep not touch use them therefore as if thou usedst them not as wings upward not as clogs let them be as water and grace as oyle which will swimme aloft passe through them as that fresh river is said to goe through the salt sea without taste or brackishnesse If grace bee chiefe shee will be a true moderator betweene these things and the world but if the world be chiefe shee will so bribe and bewitch thee that the best things will lose all savour and welcome in a short time 4. Preferre the words verdit Fourthly heare the word before the judgement of reason in all the promises and governments of God personall or publique Censure not God as unrighteous It came from God that Absolon should preferre the judgement of Hushi that he might overthrow both him and Achitophell Say of carnall reason as he did the judgement of it is not good in case And when Achitophell hath counselled then call for Hushi and say I dare not trust carnall reason Is there never a Prophet of the Lord Baals Priest are too pleasing to be faithfull in this case So much for spiritualnesse 5. Be wise in all thy course Lastly bee wise in thy whole course Quest How shall I try it Answ If first thou have the properties of a man truly wise As first to chuse the one thing necessary To discerne betweene things that differ To be ready for the hardest To make safe thy retreat Secondly true wisdome is planted in Gods feare Eccles last Deut. 4.6 Thirdly shunne the waies of error to discerne betweene the way of the foole and the wise Col. 1.9 Fourthly practise wisdome both in deliberation for God and in determination Psal 119.57 More fully be wise for thy soule and selfe Matth. 6.23 Redeeming the time Ephes 5.18 Project and plot savourly seasonably and wisely for God and his glory and ends Rom. 8. Savour the things of God and be wise for God are all one in the Greeke word Use all watchfulnesse against all enemies especially spirituall Marke 13.34 Meddle with our owne businesse finding still enough to doe at home 1 Thess 4.12 2 Thess 3.10 else we be inordinate and busiebodies as Peter Joh. 21.21 Be sure in all cases of doubt to cleave to things holy pure of good report Phil. 4.8 A comprehensive rule Of two morall evills chuse not the lesse but abhorre both Of two evills the one of sinne the other of sorrow chuse the latter though great rather then the former though lesse Rom.
better bottomes Therefore they have met with snares Beware also of being irresolute upon the grounds of God either in judgement or practise Irresolution in matter of Religion as dangerous as utter blindenesse Stagger not admit not doubtings and demurres upon principles formerly confessed Some by Satans injections have consulted with flesh after their conviction by the truth of God and have faln to dispence and distinguish upon them and as those that seeke interpretation of Statutes when they feele them too strict to alay and adulterate truths as being willing to procure credit ease and security to their owne estates and lives But what hath it wrought them after a short time save endlesse accusation and torment And no doubt many feele a sad heart within and keep their conscience at a bay from breaking out although they make faire weather of it set the best side outward Others for love of preferment have beene weary of truth and have fallen from being Protestants to bee Pelagians then Papists then Neuters and Atheists The wofull example of Francis Spira seduced by a Popes Nuncio to renounce his profession and of others whom I name not are still in fresh memory If wee will needs change change for the better and prevent an endlesse vexation as Luther Vergerius and that worthy of eternal fame Galeacius did by renouncing their false principles Againe refuse not to amend any erroneous grounds which have broken into thy course admit any information of truth Be not stubborne and resolute to maintaine any evill in thy course but mend it discover those manifold offences and evills which have molested thy conscience and life while they were undiscerned when God hath once discovered them beware of nourishing them be it never so great vexation to thee to undoe thy former errors and mistakes yet if God reveale better grounds and rectifie thee with better principles feare not the worlds aspersion and censures but redeeme a perpetuall inconvenience although by a present mischiefe as the Proverb saith pulling down a bad chimney with some cost rather then induring a perpetuall smoky house sore eies Look up for courage and grace to the Lord and know that it is the high way to credit and peace Augustines books of Retractings and Recantings of errors are above all his other workes because above himselfe he was not forced to it but of his owne accord chose it to avoid such inconvenience as was else like to have ensued Finally beware of all speciall errors Beware of speciall errors such as threaten the perverting of thy peace As for example If thou finde any rooted lust any seed of loose liberty in the secret of thine heart as the bitter roote of uncleannesse love of the world pride in thy gifts or what ever it be doe not let it alone because perhaps for the presenâ— thou canst bite it in and feelest not the sting of it to molest thee Thou perhaps dost not directly favour it nor nourish the flame of it with oile rather thou wilt suspect thy selfe and speak against such evills But yet thou consultest not with the truth as it is in Jesus to cast out such a lust Ephe. 4.21 and to defie it as one that would picke a quarrell with his enemy that he might goe to law with him and undoe him that thou mightest never more heare of it and what doth this breed in thy course at length Surely as coales under the ashes burne out in time when all are asleepe and burne downe the house so doth such a lust salute thee suddenly when a fit object is offered unto thee 2 Sam. 12.4 as a stranger is said to come to David when he killed his neighbours sheep and then thou and lust will feast together and breake out to thine unspeakeable sorrow How mightest thou have prevented it with seriousnes sadnesse in time and what sorrow will a Delila dallied with create at last Say not shall I cast it out and shall I renounce it but deny thy owne strength and as in anothers case thou wouldest doe in going to the Sheriffe of the Shire so goe to the Lord and perswade him thou meanest it and he shall cast it out for thee else beshrew thy self in vaine when it is too late a little matter would have done it at first Remember what Paul told the Centurion and Pilot Acts 27.21 in the midst of that confusion and feare of shipwracke Sirs saith he you should have hearkened unto me at first and have staied and wintred at Candy it was no season to goe to sea at such a time of yeare so should you have saved all this losse and pudder Oh! this loosing from Candy this forsaking the harbour of Gods safe principles is the cause of all our wreck and sorrow now therefore at last heare Paul and take counsell and cast out all your old tacklings rudders and mast of your owne principles into the sea be led by Gods truth and although perhaps you may lose your ship some comfort and peace which else you might have kept yet be content to pay that penance for your folly and will and so ye may escape safe to heaven with your soules count it a blessing of no small value and beware of the like afterward Vse 3 Lastly to conclude be exhorted to be wise in laying beforehand sound groundcells and bottomes in your owne hearts Exhortation Lay good grounds at first for the well ordering of our life to guide your selves by both in the life of faith and the race of conversation It is no easie thing I grant to be well grounded it will cost some paines to deny Selfe and old errors and to be set as a doore upon new hinges But the fruit of peace will requite it abundantly and a worke well entred is truly said to be halfe done Thinke not much of it therefore it will quit the cost and make thee a gainer Remember the rock out of which thou wert hewen even our grandmother Eve who in her innocency abusing her freedome chose to runne into an error which proved deadly to her posterity how easily then maiest thou doe so being compassed about with darkenesse Againe consider If meere mistake and ignorance can bring in such confusion as a witty though wicked heathen tells us that the mistake of a glasse turned a man into an Asse what then may a chosen a purposed error bring to passe In these respects be thou choice of thy grounds whatsoever thou canst get by hearing reading catechising conference experience store it up as in a treasure Men shew this wisdome in carnall things how choice are men in their seed How will they picke it What mony doe they grudge to give for it Choicenesse of men in outward things to have good principles What choice sienes will they get for their stocks And what breed will they buy for the stocke of their cattell But come to the principles of their Religion and conversation
loveth silver shall not bee satisfied therewith And so at last they get moonshine in water for their requitall and is it not just that such should meet with many snares and pierce themselves through with many darts who will needs have it so They should have kept the safe harbour of Candy and hasted no further and so they might have saved all this losse either all or nothing proves nothing indeed at last Esay 30. Oh! your strength had beene to sit still not idly but contentedly and so if your gaine had beene little your losse had yet beene but small 1 Tim. 6.6 Godlinesse is a great provision with contentment I know not how I am slid into these discourses these hard times cause it but they will helpe you alway So much for this doctrine Now having ended the roote of his distemper we come to the distemper it selfe which although in part beloved offered it selfe unto us in the former verse yet we have reserved the handling thereof wholy to this place because the end of this verse is fuller for it then the former There it is said that Naaman at the hearing of the message was wroth moreover that he takes upon him to set his own thoughts against the Prophets in a queazy and coy pride of his own worth as if such an one as he were highly wronged and the Prophet deeply forgate himself to handle one so scornefully who at home was a Prince a great mans favourite and here in this verse he is so farre from being ashamed that rather hee is worst at last then at first for now his tetch is turned to a rage hee went away saith the text in a rage All the matter amounteth to these two points The former his coynesse and pride of heart The latter his breaking out into wrath and rage both in speech and carriage Let us beginne with the former in which I will be briefe that so I may come to the latter Touching his pride therefore he that compares his carriage in the ninth verse with this in the eleventh and twelfth might justly wonder at the suddaine change of Naaman For there he crouched like a Lazer and beggar and stood at the gate as one glad to dance attendance First part of his distemper Pr de and coynesse But now hearing the answer to jarre with his owne way he is as much in the otheâ— extreame and now he turnes mad frets and rages at the Prophet thinking him so disdainfull that a King would use him more curteously then he But lo in this taxing of the Prophet and falling out with him there is much more pride found in his owne bosome and that really whereas poore Elisha was still as humble as before setting aside Naamans conceit The point then is this Selfe if it be put to it is most coy and proud Doctrine Selfâ— is pâ—oud and coy if defeated although being quiet shee seeme very low and humble And hereof there be many reasons First because the heart still abides uncleane where Selfe is chiefe Reason 1 whatsoever the shewes are which she makes or graceâ— shee resembles Now to the impure all things are defiled even the conscience it selfe Tit. 1.15 much more then shew of crouching humility may breake out into pride and blustering There is a generation which seemes pure in her owne eies as selfe-deceiving hypocrites but they are not washed from their uncleannesse They are like those Idolls Deut. 7. whose corruption is still in them till they be quite defaced no washing with doctrine with meanes upon meanes no melting no turkeising could do them good till they be defaced As the house of fretted leprosie was past scraping it was to be demolished These types served to shew that Selfe of it selfe is incorrigible And the truth is the Lord would have us know that only faith is able to purifie the heart Secondly till conviction come sinne lurkes as a snake in her hole A Reason 2 man would thinke she were dead But try her and bring her to the fire and she troubles the whole house Who were so quiet in their Kingdome as those Pharisees ere Iohn Baptist and the Lord Jesus came How did they crouch But no sooner came the one with his thundering voice Oh ye generation of vipers how shall ye escape the wrath to come And the other Woe be to you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites But then they beganne to bluster and shew themselves in their colours which would not have beene if their outward painted crouching had beene laid in the oile of humblenesse indeed It is true of this spawne of sinne which Paul Rom. 7. saith of the whole corruption of nature That sinne without the Law is unknowne But when the Law came sin revived When once the power of the humbling Law of God came upon the soule soked and confederated with sinne as her partner and inmate then beganne the union betweene the soule and corruption to breake and then beganne sinne to bluster and be proud and mad So is it here When Selfe is crossed and her owne way rejected she is as proud and mad as Achitophel that went away and disdained and hung himselfe because that he was not preferred by Absalon befor Hushâ—i 2 Sam. 17.23 While Selfe may runne in her owne streame feele her owne heate and finde as shee looked for that her devotion duties and gifts are accepted and that she can fetch water of comfort from her owne well she is well appaid applauds herselfe and thinkes she hath scrued herselfe into the grace of God with finer ease and slight then a sound and honest heart could doe But when her mufflers once be pluckt from her face by the Lord and she is crossed of her owne way for why Flesh cannot inherit Gods Kingdome 1 Cor. 15. and a regenerate man is not borne of flesh nor from man but from God lo then she sees all her house of oystershells falling downe then she waxes stout with God and froward with herselfe Then she scornes the Preacher if God stoppe her not and rather then she will learne a new way to heaven she will perish in her old Oh! shee can tell what belongs to heaven as well as any Preacher of them all shee is not now to beginne she hath so long heard the word and better Preachers then any now are have approved her to be sincere till these curious fellowes came into the place whom none can please nor be good enough for them they were thought such and such Thus Selfe crossed of her owne way prides herselfe and waxes so coy that except she may enjoy herselfe she scornes all men Reason 3 Thirdly this effect must needs follow upon Selfe crossed of her own way that she must be proud and coy because she foresees that if shee be cast downe and humbled in the acknowledgement of her owne base error first she must be ashamed and confounded and nextly shee must chuse herself another
Naaman to see what a world of pride was hidden in thy counterfeit crouching and hypocrisie Levit. 13.45 Thou shalt cry out with that leper and say Oh uncleane Oh proud wretch I was humble in a way of mine owne while I had my will while all was well taken But when the Law came and convinced me that all was from and for my selfe then as Cain so did my countenance fall then I was mad and rebelled like a Tiger If I had beene truly humble I should have counted him my friend that would reprove me and his wounds to be as balme my kicking against the pricks argued what spirit I was of Oh! let this gaster all such in Gods feare And brethren if there be any such here let them beseech him who can turne all to the good of such at belong to himselfe that he would turne all their rebellion and pride and coinesse to the glory of his name and the making of their soules doubly meeker and humbler then before for so it is sinne is out of measure sinfull both in guilt and rebellion but grace is out of measure gracious to humble the soule for both else the word will prove the savour of death Vse 3 Let this be use of speciall Admonition to all Gods people to search and try their owne spirits Admonition to all sorts not to claw this itch of Selfe It is good to search the spirits of others But farre better to try our owne in this weighty case It is good for a Minister of God to beware of flatâ—ering men of this humor for Selfe is proud and coy because she would be soothed But it is farre better to abhorre flâ—ttering of our selves in this false humblenesse of our owne If Elishá should have come forth and soothed Naaman in this humor of his whiles God had him in taming what a confusion must have followed No he left him to chew upon Gods bit and so his heart came downe through mercy But flattery had puft him up to destruction Oh thou Minister of Christ Ministers beware of it or poore Christian wheresoever thou seest this itch claw it not sow not pillowes But above all beware of humoring â—hy selfe in it and consider this If thou canst be so willing in a way of thy owne to take such paines and to seeme so low and vile in thine owne eyes when as yet the Lord and thy soule know all is but to serve thine own turn and to keep a secret bredth in thine own loose heart Oh! I say if thou canst take such paines for nought how wise wert thou in season to convert thy paines to a right object I meane the way of God! If thou shouldest say unto me so I would if I could discerne my selfe I answer thee First pray God to scatter the mist from thine eies which Selfe hath long blinded thee with through a sweetnesse in affording God that pittance which thou couldest well spare him and yet hold thine own too Secondly search narrowly and thou shalt perceive that selfe-humility hath some markes of discovery to know her by These markes be warned against First she is very coy and queazy 1. Coy and queazy cannot indure to bee reproved Markes of Selfe defeated whereas true humblenesse in Gods way lyes open brested to receive every point of Gods weapon to let out her corruption and all because shee would be rid of it Learne therefore and bee warned to handle thine heart roughly in this corruption let none be more jealous and suspicious of thine humblings then thy selfe Be willing that the word teach thee that way of God wherein true humblenesse appeares shrug not at it but give way to it that it may worke kindly Refuse not reproofe inure not thy selfe to utter or heare thine owne praises thou shalt at last blesse God more for one Abigail and her counsell then for tenne flatterers Too tender skins cannot endure the pricke of a pinne How should they endure a corrasive then to eate out their dead flesh Secondly this selfe-humblenesse is lazy 2. Lazy and loath to take paines it conceives that if it should be convinced indeed it must be faine to put it selfe upon a sadder way then she is willing to heare of Abhor this ease be content to be informed of the worst the worst of it is to abhorre that which would destroy thee and God can give thee a safer ease in his owne way if thou canst trust him then thy way can afford if thou wilt suffer thine owne spirit to stoope to his Refuse no paines to amend a rooted error let it not seeme wearisome to thee to change thy course if the word will have it so Thou wilt censure a Papist that he will live and dye in the Religion of his forefathers when a better is revealed dye not thou in the antiquity of selfe-delusion To be willing to submit to any way of God for thy good is a sure marke of a humbled soule Thirdly false humblenesse discovers it selfe by this 3. Partiall she will love them that should teach her while they please her and no further if shee may not teach them how to teach her and put their lesson in their mouth she will none of them Abhorre therefore this marke Submit thy selfe to Gods discipline Naaman seemed humble when he stood at Elisha his doore but it was for a vantage when he had not that he looked for he became another man But learne thou to accept of the labours and counsells of any who are for thy good though never so harsh meane and despised instruments in the eyes of Selfe love them best who come most against her in the name of the Lord and crouch as humbly to the poorest adviser in this case as ever thou stoopedst hypocritically in thine owne way Lastly selfe-humility bewraies her selfe by this she is seldome in a frame but alway in her extremities observe thy selfe and thou shalt finde the symptomes to follow the disease of Naaman Thou shalt be but off and on out and in in thy mood very humble but by and by stout and coy againe It is not easily for a rolling stone to lye still But a falsly humbled heart will be alway breaking out Prov. 7.11.12 As Salomon speakes of a distempered woman shee may bite in her froward humors for a while as an hot gleame in a winters day but she is overcast presently and fills her house with clamors and chidings quarrells and passions because she is inwardly turbulent No painted white face doth so differ from the looke of a bedred man as the counterfeit humility of Selfe differs from the ingenuous hiew of a lowly spirit Beware therefore of extremities and till the Lord hath truly brought downe thy winter out of the sky know it will never rot there it must be the mercifull calme of grace which must bring a setled state upon thy soule It is no condition of safety to be trusted to which alway
is thus which yet cannot be avoided till the love of God come in stead of love of Selfe to enforce the soule as by a principle of powerfull perswasion to a sweet frame of spirit well appaid by the promise and abhoring such extremities Vse 4 In which respect lastly be exhorted to be humble in Gods way Be humble in that aâ—d spare not Be humble in Gods way Esay 55.2 there is no feare of excesse in the way which God hath chalked out Be earnest in prayer for this wisdome to spend thy labour to purpose and thy silver in that which can profit thee Ascribe this prerogative to the Lord that he onely must teach the soule both how and wherein to expresse humility and account all other a device of Selfe serving to no other end save to barre the Lord out of the soule in the maine point of selfe-deniall and to nouzle up it selfe in pride and ease the Lord onely who knowes the heart knowes the secret basenesse and pride that lurkes therein and by what meanes it may be best searched out and purged For us to affect other waies and to be humble where God requires it not is to set our selves on worke and to be wiser then God and therefore let no such looke for requitall at his hands Jam. 4. God resists all proud ones and none more then those who are proud under a maske of devotion and humblenesse Let us hearken what God saith and abase our selves in his way and then our hearts as well as our habits shall be so and we shall not lose our reward For so saith Saint Peter he giveth grace to the humble And he who denieth any thing for me wealth credit wife child having first denied himselfe shall have an hundred fold here and hereafter eternall life Let this use then be a spur to quicken our pace in the use of the former doctrine of selfe deniall of which I will now speake no more having handled it at large Thus much for this doctrine 1. Part of his distemper Rage The other point and last of this verse is Naamans rage It may seem as strange as the former For why What cause was given him to carry himselfe thus If Elisha had dealt by him as by Iehoram handled him roughly at the doore and chased him away with disdaine If hee had answered his request with a scorne as our Saviours did the womans Matth. 15. Away thou dogge what hast thou to doe with childrens bread Thy disease is past cure I will not meddle with such a nasty one as thou an enemy and Champion against the Church of God then indeed had he a just cause of wrath and rage The ground of the point opened But now he hath an answer of mercy and love and hope from one that sent for him for the nonce when he was at a set and lo because onely he crosses him in a circumstance that is that he concurres not with his humour for the manner of curing but sends him word of another way for this alone hee findes enough in his heart to picke a quarrell and to depart in a rage Ah poore wretch If thou hadst now seene thy waywardnesse and foolish strugling against mercy thou wouldest have abhorred this curst humor of thine and wondred that mercy could so have enclosed such a rebell in her armes as to heale him against his will For why Had it beene but a Physitian should have prescribed a medicine one of seven which he could thinke of wouldest thou have taught him how to cure thee Would not a Physitian have said If thou be wiser then I what dost thou here Goe heale thy selfe How is it then that in a desperate case onely in Gods power to heale thou art so carelesse of his counsell that thou railest at the messenger and art ready to goe away in a rage Oh! this is surely for our example brethren to learne by doe not cast off the point ere it come at you say not that he was an heathen a Noble man of great spirit and they will beare no affronts True it is so hee was But this was neither the fruit of ignorance properly nor yet of greatnesse although of both in part but of that disease which all of us carry in our bosomes that is Selfe and selfe-love be wee never so enlightned to know the truth or never so meane for poore ones without grace can be as proud as rich we may bewray this tetch and distemper as well as he well beloved now you have the ground lay aside descants and come with meekenesse to heare this point that you may bee rid of this disease which though all condemne in Naaman yet few see in themselves The doctrine is plaine Selfe if she be defeated of her hopes rageth Doctrine Selfe defeated rageth Naaman whiles he had hopes is at ease and a good point he waites and is patient now comes this crosse errand that turnes him over as drinke doth a drunkard now he can hold no longer his patience turnes wearinesse and waxes madnesse I doubt not but you see the bottome yet I doubt not but you would be glad to see it cleared marke then a little those texts and reasons which serve for it and so lead to the application of it to your selves Take that behaviour of the yong man for one proofe who comming in a deepe forestallednesse of conceit to our Saviour that his case to Godward was good and yet thinking so highly of Christ that he could enforme him thought it not amisse to aske Good Master what shall I doe to be saved Matth. 19.22 Our Saviour to beat downe his courage sends him to the Law saying Keep the commandments He being prepared and hoping to be riveted into his course by the mouth of truth as men if they can get but halfe a word from a Preacher of comfort they are safe ever after answers All these have I kept from my youth Our Saviour not to establish any rule as Papists dream but to quash his selfe-love replies then thou hast need of an eleventh command to be doing with seeing thou hast kept the tenne Goe sell all and thou shalt have heaven what a pickle is hee in upon this Oh thought he this is yrkesome this is to beat me off quite surely if it bee thus I am wrong and have beene long defeated my wealth I am loath to foregoe and therefore he went away sorrowfull What is that Secretly vexing at his lot out of love with Christ sad and discontent fretting and distempered at the counsell Another example for the ground of all rests upon a fact may be their practice of whom we read Esay 58. who fasted and sought the Lord from selfe-love as appeares by the context that they might under pretence please and flatter themselves the more in their oppression and stoppe conscience from biting and stinging them Now when they perceived this was no way to speed and themselves would
costes and be as nothing an unprofitable one when thou hast done all cast not God in teeth with them call not for them backe againe nor bring him his owne in a napking For these qualities poyson all thy labours Gods hearers will be at Gods dispose for blessing and drive the Lord further off rather then draw him nearer And when thou hast turned all thy selfe-defeated discontent into selfe-deniall and art willing that the Lord should doe with thee as he list then see how he will dispose of thee A little barley or an handfull of meale with a little oile shall make a more accepted meat offering to him with an heart willing to be at his dispose then all thy plenty of costly sacrifices without it Joel 2.13 Lastly it reproves all such as yet goe beyond these also and are content Branch 3 to submit humbly to all such waies as the Lord prescribes for the attaining of mercy but yet it mightily troubles them that God doth so delay his season and lets them goe so long without giving them their desire To whom I answer All yee have done hitherto is well Adde one thing more give all your humblenesse your labours your endeavours to God Waiting upon God necessary for such as looke to speed of grace and when you have waited upon him therein give him your waiting too for it is not too good for him perhaps there may be a Selfe in that also and sure it is the finer Selfe is spunne the more she will take pritch if she be defeated But be thou as Paul was 2 Cor. 12.9 who feeling no bottome in himselfe yet was content to be under that weaknesse and all to try what mercy could doe doubtlesse in such a case thou shalt finde that grace shall at least bee sufficient for thee if the Lord doe not also magnifie his power beyond expectation in thy infirmity And poore soule what gainest thou in the mean while by thy carking plodding and casting about with thy selfe If thou doe thy duty shall it not be well with thee And hast thou not a great recompence in this that thou art accepted and thy successe is with God Is it not much that a sinfull wretch who cannot lay claime to the aire earth water to breath in to tread upon and the like maist yet come and looke up to heaven with hope and come to the Lord as bound by his promise Alas his pay may be leasurely but it is sure the gaines may seeme small but still they are comming and will make a heavy purse at last And what Is there not some scurffe which the Lord must purge out thinke you Hath not a long course in evill hardned thee And may not a speedy course of thine owne hurt the more another way What if the Lord should leave thee to such corruption of thine owne as should cause thee to wax wanton were it not better prevented by longer delay And speake the truth to shame the Divell and thy slavish heart is it not better with thee at sometimes then at other If it be noâ— suspect thy selfe if it be suspend thy cavils cease thine enmity thine hard thoughts thine unbeteaming heart the Lord loves to be as freely thought of for his love as he deserves And for thy selfe if it be thy lot to lye longer under hope then others and to want the cheerings which some have yet sure it is if thou abide waiting in thine innocency not being tainted with shrewd dregs of thine owne stale and base heart the Lord will at length breake out so much the more in pitty to thy fainting soule by how much his delay hath made thee waite so long and it shall not then trouble thee that thou hast thus indured Mercy at last shall be sweetest to thee Esay 57.16 that thou faile not wholly Singularity of delay sometimes argueth an heart tainted with Selfe in more then a common manner And so much for the use of reproofe Vse 3 Lastly to finish this point and so draw to an end Let this be Admonition both speciall and generall Great men must submit their great spirits to God First speciall to such as are Naamans great ones in place renowne authority birth or any other worth above others viz. That their great stomacks rise not up in arms against God to quarrell with him when they are crossed in their owne hopes and expectations The truth is the streame of Selfe is ranke enough of it selfe though there be no oile added to the flame The poorest wretch could say though I am not so rich as thou yet I have as proud an heart as thou But yet when one streame meets another the flood is the greater Great men who thinke it a peece of their Noblenesse to take no affronts at any mans hand what ever it cost them had need deny themselves farre to get a subject heart even to God himselfe Their great bloud the repute of their owne eminency and parts exempts them in their owne opinion from the common lot as we read of him 2 King 6. who having first raged at Elisha as the supposed cause of the famine saying God doe so and so if his head stand on him this day after being greeted by him more discurteously then he looked for flew in Gods face too and said shall I attend on the Lord any longer Ver. ult As once a great Prince being crossed of his pastime by the weather told God swearingly he was a King too and he offered him ill measure so to defeat him Abner the pillar of Sauls house being but reproved by weake King Ishbosheth set up by himselfe for medling with his fathers concubines 2 Sam. 3.6 tooke it so hainously that he forth with revenges himselfe and betraies the Crowne to David Great men therefore swell easily if defeated and indeed these two were as bad as great but the best in this kinde take defeats heavily Let such consider that which Naaman if he had had the knowledge which they have would soone have noted viz. How desperate a thing it is to fight against God and to crosse him when he serves not our turne If God resist all proud ones especially great ones how much more proud resisters Pride being of it self a resistance Although your spirits rise up soon against men which yet I allow not beware ye be not found fighters against God Act. 5. Know that though men accept your persons yet God puts no difference especially in matter of salvation It is counted a great humility in a great one to be never so little humble But oh worme for what is the greatest flesh else if thou thinke it equall that a poore beggar should stoop to thee what shouldest thou do to God to whose eminency thine is as the drop of a bucket Take not upon thee though thou be the chiefe of the Parish the Lord of the Towne and Patron of the Minister to yoke him to any other
conditions in point of reproving thee impartially then the meanest If he do his duty faithfully turne not away in a fume scare him not with thy lookes change not thine heart to him nor thinke his love lesse towards thee therefore rather rejoice that God hath given thee so faithfull an overseer which few such have the happinesse to injoy much lesse play thy parts with God in this kinde but subject thy selfe to the authority of the promise as humbly as the meanest he hath little to take to upon earth and all thou hast cannot helpe thee without the good will of him that dwelt in the bush God hath chaines for Princes Psal 149.8 Act. 17.11 Deny thy selfe cleave to the bare truth of the promise try it as well as thou wilt as those noble Beraeans did but when thou hast done seeke no other way to heaven save it Heaven lies no more open to a Noble mans performances and merits then a pezants all were digged out of one rocke therefore count it thy Nobility to give God his honour by beleeving and count it more presumptuous to affront him in point of his honour then any mans affronting thee there is but one way for thee and the poorest to heaven cleave to it with an heart as low as the poorest God will count more highly of a great little heart then a small little one and stoope to this point in hand also David never got such interest in Gods affections by his Crowne as by his poverty of spirit Inure thy selfe to take a defeat from God without rage yea unkindnesse An Emperour for his Crowne could stand bare foote at the gate of a base Pope till he released him and shalt thou thinke much to cast thy coronet at the feet of this Emperour Oh! waite even thou at the gates of God unweariedly and although it be long ere he heare thee and although Self in thee would swell yet beat it down wait still till the Lord send thee away with Naamans answer Consider if thou turn away with him from God whither shalt thou go Shall hy wealth and honour save one whom God will not save Or could all Naamans honour at home have healed his leprosie Came not that from another friend And thinke what a sad confusion he had found it if he had humored himselfe in this distemper finally Oh! as tickling as it was now it had stung him after as a serpent and so shall thine doe thee if the Lord prevent it not for thee by counsell as he did for him whereof in the next verse God willing we shall treate more fully Branch 2 And in a word that which I would say in generall to all is this Try your selves well in your selfe-defeats Try thy selfe how the defeating of Selfe worketh with thee whether Satan mixe himselfe with them to enflame corruption and to make sinne out of measure sinfull or whether they come onely from within our selves If it be from Satan stirring up rebellion then the spirit of Grace may neverthelesse be at worke and may prevaile thereby in time to cast out Satan and to subdue the soule to selfe-deniall and patient waiting for why The impression is violent and contrary to that spirit which guideth thee Therefore thou shalt finde it yrkesome to thee unwelcome and wearisome thou wilt not harbour it but reject it and imbrace the defeats of Selfe as Paul did till the Lord satisfie thy desires But if thou feele that this discontent proceed from meere corruption then know that God calls thee to so much the more abhorring of thine owne way and will and to say Note well alas what is the salvation of a poore worme a gnat to that infinite glory which God seekes to himselfe in his owne holy way What if I lose heaven in mine owne way so I may have it in his way yea any way Phil. 3. Yea she shall wish she had Pauls strength to become Anathema so that Gods wisdome might be exalted I say thou hadst need entreat the Lord so farre to reveale unto thee the holinesse the equity of his wise way that in respect thereof thou maist stinke in thine owne nostrills Oh doe so chuse to goe to heaven with the forfeit of thine owne dearest eies hands and feet rather then goe to hell for so would Selfe with them Matth. 18.8 Say thus I would wash seventy seven times in thy Jorden to crosse my selfe Lord rather then turne from washing seven times to crosse thy command I would with Paul attaine to the resurrection of the dead by any means whatsoever rather then faile of it through good report and bad through as many disasters as Paul chose to passe rather then he would not fulfill his Apostleship would I â—huse to goe rather then lose my desire through poverty losse of friends shipwracke persecutions hunger stoning nakednesse yea Self and all though defeated of her hopes And so much shall suffice for this verse use doctrine and time Let us pray c. THE TENTH LECTVRE upon the thirteenth Verse following VERSE XIII And his servants came neere and said unto him Father if the Prophet had bidden thee doe some great thing wouldest not thou have done it How much more then when he saith unto thee Wash and be clean VERSE 14. Then he went downe to Iorden and dipped himselfe seven times c. YOU may remember beloved that in our entrance upon this Scripture we devided it into foure parts 2 Kings Elisha's message Naamans entertainment of it Transition to the 13. verse The servants attempt And the issue thereof both immediate consequent Two of these are already finished through Gods providence The other two remaine At this time therefore by the same assistance I am to proceed to the third generall viz. The attempt of the servants of Naaman for these the Lord chose to use for the rectifying and restoring of their distempered Master rather then the Prophet through the prejudice of Naaman and how the Lord inspired them with wisdome to give an onset at this dead lift upon their Master to disswade him from doing that which he rashly purposed to wit to depart without his cure And this attempt of theirs is set before our eies in this thirteenth verse The method and parts of it two 1. The coherence 2. The matter in 3. things wherein two generalls are to be noted First how this verse hangs upon the former Secondly the substance of matter contained in it For the former I passe it by till I enter upon it presently For the latter it consists in three points First we have the persons attempting the servants of Naaman Secondly the attempt it selfe Thirdly the inducements which they use to perswade him In the persons observe two things First the relative duty wherein each is bound to other I meane they to him and he to them Secondly their wise and religious carriage towards him as one out of the way and that
in three things First in their reverence Secondly their mercy and tendernesse Thirdly thir seasonablenesse The attempt it selfe followeth wherein with their advising him to obey they secretly taxe his selfe-love The third generall containes the inducements whereby they perswade as first the easinesse to obey the second from his love and respect to the Prophet the third from the Prophets integrity the fourth from comparison of the greater to the lesse All the which points what they containe in them we shall God willing as they come to hand propound open and enlarge so farre as our weaknesse through his grace shall permit us 1. Point of coherence handled Not to repeat any thing then of former things let us come to the first of the two generalls that is the coherence In which two particulars are contained The former is how different Naamans case is in this verse from that wherein the former presents him to us The point will better arise when we have opened it Opening of the point as the text affords it For hitherto especially in the two verses before we have seen Naaman very unhappy in his proceeding First in his wrong assaying of the King of Israel Secondly in his bootlesse attendance at the doore of Elisha Thirdly In his rejecting the message wherein both the way and the successe of his cure was tendred unto him In speciall we have seene the prejudice of his owne heart preventing all taste and liking of the message Then we have seene his carnall shifts wherein he hath taken pleasure for the confirming of himselfe in his error Lastly we have seene him fall to play the foole and mad man wallowing in his bloud and foaming out his owne shame in pride and rage All which laid together present unto us a man wholly wedded to himselfe and foole-hardy to get out of those armes of mercy which had offered themselves to him for better ends then he would acknowledge fighting and struggling against that good which yet himselfe pretended to seeke And now who is there that lookes with no other then a mans eie beholding Naaman in this pickle and misery but would be ready to passe sentence upon him and give him as gone who is there that seeing one deadly sicke tumbling in his bed without ease and throwing the potion in the Physitians face or against the walles would not say this man is but a dead man he is past cure Even so is it here with Naaman If God were as man or as willing to turne away in a rage from man as man is from God how should he chuse but perish But here is the wonder Naamans cavilling against mercy provokes mercy to so much the more pitty his winding and wrestling with Gods armes to get out drawes these armes closer together to enclose him in them If God were as man then were man forlorne And now between cup and lip in this narrow necke of despaire mercy comes in and disputes for him who disputed against it selfe saying poore wretch whither wouldest thou goe from this mercy offered thee I see better then thou that to yeeld to thy will were to leave thee to sorrow but when all is done mercy must heale thee and therefore call thy selfe to better consideration Let all thy rebellions become as so many shamings and tamings of thee for thy folly humble thy selfe so much the more deeply by how much the more thou hast disguised thy selfe and let thy sinne be thy sorrow Lo here I reach out cords unto thee of perswasion made of many twists the counsell of thy servants about thee whom I have made wiser then thy selfe that thou mightest come a little lower in thine own sight and at last become a fool that thou mightest be wise And to conclude I have put strength into their counsell and perswasion into their arguments and authority into their obedience Lay hold therefore of this my strength make peace and recover health and cure of soule and body from the disease of the one and distemper of the other and goe to Jorden wash and be cleane This mercifull assistance the Lord through this verse holds forth to Naaman And what comes all this unto Surely to this issue That looke whom the Lord hath once cast love upon according to his good pleasure and the purpose of calling home the same Lord will so fasten upon and hold close to himselfe whatsoever outward discouragements inward oppositions and resistances come in the way to hinder it till by the irresistible might of his power he have brought them on shore past all danger Let the first point then be this whom God hath begunne with in preventing Doct. 1 grace he will proceed with by assisting grace Whom God hath graciously prevented he will also assist powerfully to proceed till the worke of grace be perfected Let us see some texts and some reasons of it and so come to the use First for reasons in a word the maine is that God knoweth who are his by their names And hee will not lose his owne worke he will adde to that which he hath done rather then undoe it by detracting from it All his workes are perfect hee leaves nothing by halfes that were to dishonour himself Goe no further then Naamans example here God had already prevented him and brought him fairely towards both cure and conversion Now if he had left him in the briars of his owne difficulties and suffered the prevention to come to nothing what a crossing should this have beene to his ends He who prevents that he might assist will not faile of his purpose Moses tells the Lord Deut. 9.28 that if he ceased now to goe with his people the heathens would blaspheme his name and say It was because he could not bring him through the vast wildernesse and so the glory of his prevention had been lost God then having foreknowledge power wisdome and faithfulnesse enough to serve his own glorious ends how absurd were it to think that any thing could crosse them either from without or from within no enemy no danger shall hinder the assistance of grace from that soule which hath beene prevented once thereby Other reasons will appeare in the answer of a question by and by Briefly then for Scriptures Compare first Exod. 5.21 with 6.1 Proofes of the Doctrine Exod. 5.21 and 12.31 The Lord meant the deliverance of Israel both outward and spirituall by the hand of Moses He had already and long prevented them by the glad tidings thereof and the expectation of it But so it fell out that in the attempt thereof matters went very crosse and awry as appeares by the text for notwithstanding the oft assayes of Pharaoh yet he held them off with delayes and the plagues being staid the bondage continued his heart hardned more and he would not let them goe Nay more those very instruments in whom next to God their confidence was Moses and Aaron rather occasioned their greater misery
His assistance shall be sufficient till judgement breake forth into victory Onely here may be a question why the Lord suffers such stops ignorances weaknesses feares and discouragements to abide in his poore servants so long Quest and yet lets them alone when he might remove them sooner Answ God hath speciall reason to delay his worke I answer The time is not yet come he will doe it after he hath well disciplined and yoked them to his owne way humbled them in the particular insight into their owne corruption basenesse and insufficiency of themselves and caused his power all that while to appeare to them which at the first could not so have appeared if he had prevented all such trouble at once But there is a time present for Gods sufficient grace to stay them from revolts and extremities and there is a time to come for Gods perfiting grace to set them free then shall they looke backe and see reason in all this way of God See Joh. 13.9.10 When Peter was averse to Christ in the offer of washing our Saviour tells him What I doe now thou knowest not but hereafter thou shalt 2 Cor. 12. A secret hand shall uphold thee the whilest but after shall discover the reason of all Now I come to some use briefly Vse 1 This first instructs Gods deare servants about the preciousnesse of their priviledges Instruction and that in two respects First it teacheth them what Branch 1 oddes there is betweene such as the Lord hath honoured with the grace of vocation above others Assisting grace of God the roote of manifold priviledges to a beleever Doth the Lord thus apply himselfe to such as are out of his covenant Doth he so prevent them at first or doth hee after so follow them up and downe as the nurses eie attends the feeble Infant for feare of shrewd turnes When their rebellious spirits cavill winde out of his armes and roll backe to their dungeon doth he clapse them more strongly Doth he take it to concerne him to doe so for his honour No surely and yet as the case stands with them he knowes they must sinke except he pitty them But he is free and bound to none save to whom he bindes himselfe therefore he speakes to the one and to the other very differently To his owne that golden promise belongs The Lord will dry up Euphrates to make a way for his scattered ones some thinke it concernes the returne of the Jewes miraculously as once through the red sea Esay 28. But to the other that fearefull speech There shall be a line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little Why That they may turn back spue fall and rise no more Blessings he meanes shall turne curses to enemies to condemne them But crosses and offences shall turne releases and eases to the other Oh! fearefull is the state then of the one happy of the other Well might it be said Luke 4. of Naaman There were many lepers in the dayes of Elisha but onely Naaman to whom he was so sent As Lysias told Paul he was faine to buy the liberty of a Citizen of Rome with a great summe which Paul was borne too for nothing Tell it thy soule in secret how few have I seene God compassionate and shew a tender heart unto when they have fought against mercy How hath he suffered them to roll to their dunghill Rev. ult His eie hath not pittied them but he hath said He that formed them will shew them no mercy let the wilfull be more wilfull and the caviller fulfill his measure let the carnall have is owne way stumble and fall and rise no more at the stumbling blocks of his owne iniquity Ezek. 14. If he will needs depart let him goe Joh. 6. Did our Saviour pull those time-servers which followed him for the loaves backe againe when they revolted and pickt a quarrell with him No surely he let them go But to his Disciples he said Will ye also go He was loath to part with them Oh! what should more prevaile to affect the hearts of al Gods people who have met with assisting grace then this experience Hath hee dealt so with all sorts as with you As Moses pressed the children of those Israelites that survived their fathers Did ever God so speake to man Deut. 4.33 as he hath to you and yet lived So say I Doth God no more for you then for all sorts Then account him but a God in common But hath hee even when you have beene at last cast suddenly caused light to appeare turned the low wheele uppermost brought light out of darkenesse and spread a table in a dry barren land This he hath not done for all If you have found the winde thus suddenly to turne Oh acknowledge it What if it had not beene so If God had not beene so on your side Surely the floods had prevailed and drowned you If he have made those waters walls to you Psal 123.5 which have beene gulfes to others is it no more then he ought you Or did you wade out of your owne strength Did your owne hand sustaine you Will yee play the Pelagians now in this kinde and ascribe this escape to the lot of your better judgement honesty labour and prevention then others Is there roome for such scurfe here Or may free will presume to bee named the same day with the assisting grace of God Those innumerable difficulties and dangers of shipwracke which thou hast avoided could thy owne wisdome and will shunne them No let thy soule breake out into admiration at this freedome of mercy now as at first and confesse Not to me Lord but to thy selfe give the glory Thou hast done it for thy name and to get thee glory else it had beene undone for ever they and I were digged out of one rocke Esay 63.3 and their prerogative was as great as mine Who am I that thou shouldest reveale thy selfe to me and not to the world That which put the difference was the grace that separated us being all of one rocke of one masse And secondly Assisting grace following prevention is a bottome of sound experience to a poore soule See Rom. 5.10 it should instruct Gods owne servants to gather experience Branch 2 from hence for all their life Is there such a golden firme chaine betweene one part of vocation and another Is assisting grace so tied to preventing and perfecting grace to both that nothing can sever them How much more then is sanctifying grace tyed to the grace of calling Tell me then poore soule hath the Lord done so great a favour as to make thee one of his own inspite of Selfe Satan and the world to redeeme reconcile and justifie thee to count thee his beloved his secret one Could nothing keepe thee from vocation and faith What then shall stoppe thee from heaven and life from perseverance and perfecting thy holinesse in the feare
the poore widow with her two mites this poore wench in the beginning of this Chapter a Captive and servant poore Onesimus one good for nothing good for all things after Oh yee poor souls your sin makes your base outside out of measure base if that were clothed with honour it would afford so much the more beauty and esteem unto you in the eies of all men none so much your betters so much richer learneder nobler then you but should admire be in love with you if there were true humblenes faith grace in you who reads the story of poore Rhode Act. 12.13 but must needs affect that cordiall love of the Saints in her who for joy could not open the doore to Peter till shee had been the first messenger of his deliverance Therefore ye poore inferiors take heart to your selves think not those only to be esteemed with God who have greatnesse to commend them to the world No no the lesser you have here to take to the more covet that which may commend you truly and really in the sight of all that can judge Let none despise thee poor soul Thou wilt say it is not in thy power I answer thee Tit. 2.15 seek to him who as Hanna saith exalteth the lowly and meeke while men behold the poore and proud a drudge to the kitching and to thy lusts wonder not if thou be as the off-scouring of all men but assuredly thy base outside should not disgrace thee if there lodged any goodnesse any spark of Gods image in thee Truly brethren great rich men are too high for Religion and base poor folke thinke themselves under it But if you would seeke for knowledge humility and grace you should see whether it would not stoope to you And you servants that are butlers to Gentlemen or Stewards nay Ostlers and Bayliffes and Caters you should be honourable in the sight of your Masters As Obadiah to Ahab Ioseph to Pharaoh they should equall themselves with you yea be glad of you whatsoever their authority be otherwise if there appeared grace in you Vse 2 And againâ— to you superiours let me adde this Goe not against the edge with God like Balaam when you see the Lord goes about to convince your folly and backewardnesse Admonition Superiours must turne their indignation at the grace of inferiours into shame and emulation Smite not threaten not the Asse whose mouth God opened to reprove you Many of you husbands parents and masters when once you perceive your wives children and servants to grow zealouser then your selves are so farre from countenancing and holy emulation that rather you have them in continuall jealousie and hold them under so much the more Their Religion must be sure to bee their prejudice and incumbrance they can the hardlier please you you are the the more prone to picke quarrells you watch the time of crossing them in their lawfull liberties yea you joint them the more of their freedome for Gods worship within and without what is this but to play the taske-masters and to lye heavy upon them So that if God sustained them not by his power they should fall off And no doubt many are offended by such meanes but woe to such by whom the offence commeth Others there are who seeing Religion to have qualified their inferiours with faithfulnesse humility and peaceablenesse in marriage in their businesse and carriage are glad to see the change but why Not joying in their grace and good examples but because you make benefit thereof for you owne behoofe and content taking all ye can get out of them but acknowledging no mercy from God either to them or to your selves in them Nay perhaps ye slight them quip and mocke them Oh! these women must have their wills or else we shall have no peace and so the liberty they get hey must have with unequall conditions I doe not here speak of the vilest in this kinde how rather many provoke themselves to vexation brawling quarrelling and threatning of their inferiours as thinking their forwardnesse an inspersion to their base backewardnesse and therefore they behold them with the eies of Kites whom they should behold with Doves eies they shorten their wives of allowance give them discouraging affronts they beat and misuse their servants threaten their poore children to joynt them of this and that land or portion for their Puritanisme and forwardnesse And those that goe not so farre yet still keepe at one stay profit not by their inferiours if they doe not disdaine to learne of such as most are hardened thereby yet the best is that they give them their course and still remaine as base and barren as before Rom. 11.13 Whereas rather they should be provoked to jealousie by them Naaman here did so Doubtlesse the insight he saw his servants had in the will of God more then himself did smite an holy awe and authority into his spirit Doe these underlings see that which I cannot What lets me from it Surely some strong lust or humour blindefolds me What a shame is this that my retinue whom the businesse concerns not should perceive that which I cannot Surely it furthered the convincement exceedingly Oh! let us all in the feare of God be of his minde Wee shall not need to subject our selves and debase our selves for the matter But let us not blindefold our eies that we should not behold the light shining in at the least crevis We Ministers let us not disdaine the examples of private Christians either in their zeale of obeying or suffering but if we see secretly grace breaking forth from the poorest in more then common wisdome uprightnesse closenesse to the truth be so farre from snagging and nipping of such that rather we marke them for peculiar ones and although they know nothing what hinders why even from such we may not better our selves many waies Was not Apollo glad to learne of Aquila a Tradesman Act. 18.26 But especially you private persons observing such inferiours as exceed your selves doe not loutishly slight and put them off but say I perceive if I hold my peace the stones shall cry truly these cry aloud in mine eares me thinkes I consider if such poore ones get such knowledge what might not I get with paines Truly I will give the onset I shall else never looke upon my poore child but mine heart will throb and tell me he shall rise up in judgement one day against his will and condemne me when the Lord shall say I sent a poore daughter of mine to lye in thy bosome to see if her zeale could any whit warme thee but I see thou art cold as a stone still and as dead as a blocke I raised up out of thine owne loynes a child or children to feare my name that I might provoke thee by that meanes to jealousie but I see nothing prevailes Nay perhaps a poore drudge in thy kitching or rubbing thy horses heels such an one as
thou mightest wonder at how or whence he should come by any savour of Religion and yet thou takest no notice of it seekest not to me to droppe any mercy into thy soule to breake and convert it Oh! what a wofull item hast thou laid up what an accusation hast thou put into Gods mouth against thee Surely if such examples provoke not to thee jealousie of imitation they shall occasion God to burne against thee with the jealousie of indignation And so much for the coherence Now for the second branch of this coherence the ground whereof I have already laid downe that which I would say of it is this viz. The second branch of the point God will never lin with his till he have tamed their rebellion That the Lord doth still thus follow Naaman with new affronts that he might conquer his will and stout heart which had taken courage to it selfe and hardened it selfe in it owne way against God I say the Lord now intends a finall battery of it by setting his servants all of them with one consent to side with God and the Prophet none with him which no doubt was a great battering and stubbornesse And it teaches us that this selfe-will of ours is as desperate and tenacious an enemy as can bee in the matters of God worse then selfe-mindednesse and strength of opinion when one selfe-will comes to strengthen selfe-conceit that it hardens it selfe against God and will try masteries which shall carry the goale strange it is how invincible a fort it proves against him and all the way both of commands and promises But marke before that the Lord turne home the soule unto himself he will by one means or other though it be by a continuall opposing of the same so breake pull down and levell this wofull rebellion of heart and will in the soule that hee will let out the water and bloud of it and shed the bowells of it to the ground that it may never arise up any more to crosse him He will bring it so to the bent of his bow that it shall say Speake Lord for thy servant heares And with him Act. 9. What Lord wilt thou have me to doe And as I have noted already in the former affront of the message so now in this I note againe The Lords Kingdome is not set up nor his throne stablished save upon the ruines of selfe-will which hath her Kingdome and Scepter through Satan set up as altar against altar contrary to this Naaman now immediately before his cure and conversion must be the third time thus encountred both by the perswasions and by the finger of God in drawing of his servants to a contrary will to their Masters that so at last his opposite heart might fall down after all this encounter wonder not at the resolution of the wayward will of man against Gods it is the very bloud spirit marrow of the soul it is the fort which holds out longest against God til the Lord batter that there is no approach of grace Will quailes and failes as soone as the Lord enclines to doe the poore soule good be it never so unpleasing seem it never so harsh impossible by head and by hand the Lord will not be overcome by corruption he will make it cry out thou hast overcome Vse And good brethren seeing I long to be in the verse it selfe and must be briefe take it thus God will never leave thee whom he loves till he have thus wonne the day of thee and when he meanes truly to cure thee and to make thee his Disciple even at the very same time he will cause the way of thine owne will to stoope to his He will blocke thee up quite and famish thee till he have made thee surrender Object Sanctification I doe not here urge brethren nor repenting before beleeving Answ But I say this That base bent streame and our corrupt will disposition and instinct for that which pleases us Note well our ease our profits our pleasures or whatsoever lies in us contrary to Gods way either of salvation or government the Lord will have cast downe in us ere ever hee betrust us with grace 2 Cor. 10.4 at least in the vouchsafing of grace hee vouchsafes that a most meeke submission of soule a renouncing of that selfe-way and selfe-will in us which perpetually lusts against his Christ and obedience Yet repentance goes not before faith the choice the propensity of the soule which is the darling of all the Lord will carry downe before him with a stronger streame of his owne and turne it backe not onely in point of resistance but in point of concurrence Cardinall Wolsey is reported to have beene a man of so hauty a spirit that his stile was wont to be Ego Rex meus As I and the King please But God will admit no such Peere as our will to quarter armes with him he will have the stone of our heart broken and taken out and an heart of flesh put in He will not have us doe according to that seemes good in our eies Deut. 12.8 and either in beleeving or obeying It is not our flourishing about with duties when we are pleased that shall serve our turn A woman pleases not her husband in all her busie welcomming and feasting of strangers but in the resigning up of all her will to his So we please not God in doing some of his will but in having our owne will subdued to his implanted in it and abhorring to establish our selves with him in the throne of Majesty He will shew us what favour he pleaseth or we could desire but still as Pharaoh said to Ioseph I will be chiefe in the Kingdome thou shalt be under in that Gen. 41.40 To conclude therefore brethren looke into this cursed will and stomacke of ours both the roote and branches how crosse and contrary it hath ever beene to Gods how it hath ever fallen upon and chosen the worse way consider the deepnesse of the purposes of it how hidden secret close they have beene weigh the dangerousnesse of them that commonly they have beene most rebellious against those waies of God if any be weightier then other which have most touched upon his prerogative as the matter of imbracing the maine promise or the parting with some precious personall beloved lust also remember how dead and rotten this will of ours hath alway been in contradiction and walking contrary to God Levit. 26. Insomuch that after some seeming convincement and vow of subjection to Gods will in such and such cases yet when old occasions and objects have offered themselves we have forgot our covenants and are as ranke and rife in our self-willednesse and stiffeneckednesse as ever and made a very custome of it I say in Gods fear remember how it hath been a dead rotten will and heart we have nourished against the Lord And therefore let these and this example here breake this staffe of
exempt a man from pride and disdaine None is so low but he loves to be Master of something Yee shall not see three or foure cattell together but one will be Master There is a wofull pride of spirit in man disdaining to bee under any As those base Jewes Joh. 8.33 in their greatest slavery yet vaunted they were free men and never served any And hence it is that we call the meere underling the dogge as of a Schoole of a family c. So loathsome a thing is subjection But marke let conscience of love and sense of divinenesse in an ordinance possesse the spirit of a man and this sinkes his spirit by and by As it is said 1 King 10.5 the Queen of Sheba came to Salomon with an equall and high spirit to dispute but seeing more then a man in him lo her spirit fayled her What is that She felt an infinite inequality in her selfe to Salomon thought it no disparagement to her selfe to be inferiour to so wise a man as he and therefore set her heart at rest from any more bubbling thoughts and calmed herselfe to a most meeke selfe-deniall If meere gifts will doe so what will grace doe Surely much more For as it will cause the inferiour to sinke and beat downe his spirit under the authority of a well ably qualified governour as I grant God requires all to be so yet it will discover a divine power even in the weake and unqualified by vertue whereof it will deny it selfe and say I quash my proud and base heart which would easily disdaine to submit better parts of wit skill Religion to one that wants all to God in man although I see nothing in him that should deserve it And this true selfe-deniall is the roote of all faithfulnesse in a servant For pride and stoutnesse in an inferiour will alway be slipping necke out of the collar Shall such an one as I of such breed worth abilities stoop to obey and serve especially such an unworthy one No I scorne it Oh! but this scorne marres the servant because it destroyes the ordinance God must levell thy heart and fill thy valley and cast downe thine hill that thou maiest say downe stout heart God lookes not at what thou seemest otherwise but at thy inferiority and in that respect commands thee not to looke at what thy proud heart would but at what his ordinance hath thought wisest Better thou lose thy proud heart which shall be thy gaine then God lose his honour the ordinance her due regard and so both Kingdome Church and family the good which thy subjection procures By this meane the stoutnesse of the heart stoops and is convinced that is but an equall thing it should be subject And secondly the barre being so removed the heart is let out to the fruits of humblenesse that is to serviceablenesse For what should I refuse to doe for or under such a governour as I see by the wisdome of God set over me for both mine owne and for a generall good and the ends of providence If once I see how wofull a confusion it were to pervert an ordinance how can I chuse but also deeme it a strange unrighteousnesse for one under the ordinance to withdraw service What is selfe-deniall but a letting out and taking downe of a base heart thinking it self too good to serve to a willingnesse in undertaking what service soever the rules of honest government can impose without grudging or contradiction So that as a proud heart is bound up soule and body so an humble spirit is enlarged unto every such service as reason guided by Religion can impose Nothing can come amisse to an humble heart selfe-deniall of her owne accord falls to serviceablenesse And what wonder When once the spirit of an inferiour hath no drift will way of his owne besides his Masters but is wholly his and for him how can it chuse but utter it in doing as it is bidden Goe come doe this and he doth it This for the Third Fourthly hence comes faith to fall to her worke For as a Christian in his generall worke of Religion 4. Grace in inferiors sets faith on work 1. Purgeth the soule of speciall distempers so a servant in his speciall relation of service lives by faith And how In these three respects First faith clenses out of the soule all those distempers which usually possesse the spirit of servants It is not enough for faith to purifie the conscience in generall from all dead works But in speciall it descends deeply and searcheth the corruption which creepes into duties into the graces of the soule into the use of meanes into the particular relations wherein the soule stands to God whether directly or indirectly Else what were a generall purging of evill which comes not into act But it purgeth each privy corner of the heart and brings the heart thus purged before God in the severall occasions which are offered Nothing comes between the cup the lip in this case All particular falshood will be hunted out of a servant whose heart is clensed by faith from all dead workes all basenesse and distempers will give place There is not one base quality of the heart but if nourished will corrupt faithfulnesse if any one string bee out of tune this harmony will vanish any case or sloth of heart will make a man unsaithfull in point of diligence an angry froward heart will make a man unfaithfull in point of answering againe and cavilling any falshood and hollownesse will cause unfaithfulnesse in point of doing the service which it promises as he who said hee would goe into his Masters vineyard Matth. 21.30 yet went not In a word a corrupt heart will be unfaithfull to the marriage bed of his Master defile his children with cursed examples filch away his commodities report wickedly of him as an hard Master who reapes where he sowed not corrupt the rest of the fellow servants and what not Onely faith clenses the heart of these evills and justles them out of place for how can Christ agree with Belial or these with faithfulnesse 2. Furnishes the heart with good qualities Secondly faith frames the image of God in the soule as in generall so in the particular relations of life that furnisheth the heart with sweet qualities with promote faithfulnesse What trouble is to an heart which is diligent to take any paines To an heart that loves the Masters good and is upright to seeke the credit welfare of the Master To an heart that is well grounded what base commands of an ungodly governour will prevaile against faithfulnesse to God To an heart well seasoned with grace for the right manner due measure and the right ends of obeying what service will be difficult Now faith it is which onely can make faithfull And thirdly faith having thus qualified the heart 3. It puts it it into actuall exercise doth also put it into service causeth this habit
good should draw thine affection to be for them True it is servants are not as children in point of naturalnesse and neerenesse for the child abides in the house for ever but the servant only for a time yet during that time he pleades for fatherhood and regard from thee so farre as is meet Quest But wherein stands this duty of Masters toward them Answ Briefly in these things First in a preparation Secondly in a performance 1. Preparation Behold God in thy servants duty Gen. 35.5 First for the former When thou seest that thy servants heart is subject unto thee and that there is a reall awe and Religious feare of spirit put into him by God for thine advantage and that as it is said of the Nations when Iaacob went to Luz the Lord smites a trembling at the ordinance of government Thy duty is to behold God in this worke to see thine owne basenesse and to say who am I that thou shouldest subject the wills of men unto so sinfull a creature as I am It is not my worth authority or carriage which could claime that esteeme and service which my servants tender unto me It is thou O Lord that subduest my people unto me In me there is nothing but might breed disdaine and despising as well as reverence But thou hast covered my uncomely parts by the honour of thine ordinance Oh! that this might draw my soule in subjection and awe under thee Eph. 3.15 who art the father of whom all the families of the earth are called Oh that I could tremble at thy greatnesse Oh! that as thou hidest from my cretaures their owne strength and parts that they might be wholly under mine authority so I might remember that I am under thee far more absolutely then a creature can be under mine Oh! that I might not feele mine owne parts strength wisdome welfare but feele thy feare upon mine heart as a bridle to awe and to restraine me from any boldnesse or loosenesse before thee Lord I never see awe and feare in my inferiours to me-ward but presently I conceive thou art in it to reflect a greater awe of my heart toward thy selfe For every Kingdome and rule in this world from a King to an housholder is under a greater Oh! let not my servant rise up in judgement and condemne me in that hee could behold that in a sinfull peece of flesh which could subdue him but I could never see that lustre and glory that mercy and love in thee which should draw and subdue my heart to thy selfe and set thee up so therein that my selfe might bee as nothing Psal 73.27 that I might say Whom have I in heaven but thee or in earth like thee By this meditation with praier prepare thy selfe first and then the duty will follow the better 2. Performance 1. Yeeld fatherly respect to thy servant Secondly having thus first given up thy selfe to God give thy selfe also to the duty of fatherly and due respect to thy servants and let not thine heart checke thee for any such wilfull neglect of them as might cause the Lord to punish it in thy selfe Even thy very diet lodging and care of the body must be good Thy horse thou wilt sometimes attend busily and carefully because thou wouldest have him serviceable and loath he should faile thee even so looke what thou wouldest have thy servant toward thy selfe that utter by the managing his spirit and framing of him for thy use The Masters eye makes the fat horse and his care the good servant This generall branch out to thy selfe in these particulars First be sure that as thou thy self lookest daily Tender to him his share in spirituall instruction for the bread of the day from God so tender thou as thy servants steward the demensum or portion due to thy servant daily let him share in thine instruction catechising and information in the Lord with correction and reproofe warnings and admonitions encouragements and promises let him not goe up and downe shifting and gracelesse give him such as the Lord hath given thee with praier for blessing daily and know that this is as meete for him as his daily food or wages better unfed then untaught Trust not thine owne wisdome but carry him in thine armes to God and pray the Lord to wash him shave off his locks and pare his nailes to make him faithfull to lay his hands upon him and blesse him that so thou maiest have a servant of the maker purged and made usefull for himselfe and thee When thou hast him tyed to thee by Gods cords he is safe This whet every day will be no let unto thee Secondly feed him not onely by the eare but by the eye Feed him by the eare and eye too pull not down that in practice by an humorous passionate base and ungracious carriage which thou hast set up in him by teaching for this will make him loath thee and despise it But tender unto him an holy grave and pure example walke before him so that Gods authority may appeare in thee Stand not so much upon thy superiority of fatherhood over him as wisdome and respect unto him Above all as Salomon saith over heare not thy servant when he speakes evill of thee that is let him see that thou art a man who can rule thy passions for thy selfe canst tell that thou hast oft offended God in that kinde This convincingnesse of thy carriage will breed invincible reverence and reflection of obedience toward thee againe See that thy servant despise thee not This will command reverence Contrarily the heart of a servant will suggest thus if thou walke basely what is matter how I serve such a Master What if I filch from him neglect his worke speake evill of him and dishonour him runne away from him It is good enough for him God is just But holy walking awes a servant overpowres his heart shames him makes him blush and puts him to silence This is powerfull not by violence but by perswasion both in sight and behinde thy back Thirdly Looke to thy authority 1. In charges bee carefull both of thy authority in commanding and in practising For the former impose nothing upon thy servant which the Lord hath not warranted thee by his word Bee not so vile as to digest any thing so thou maiest have thy worke and thy will done by him Be thou thy selfe also under authority and be a Master in the Lord. Thou hast enough to answer for thy selfe endanger not his soule also to make thine account more grievous Stretch not thy conscience to pervert his urge him not to breake Sabbaths send him not upon errands that day as if it were loose and might be spared fleece not from God presse him not to make a lye for thee to sweare or forsweare for thy sake and the like carry him not with the to base lewd companies pleasures lusts 2. For practise So for practice Ye
gatherings of Ephraim Oh this pleased them well and so their fiercenesse abated So David when he had the advantage of Saul twice 1 Sam. 24.4 both when hee was asleepe and tooke away the pot of water from him and his speare another time when he cut off the lap of his garment and came after him saying I could have slaine thee this day and instead of cutting thy lap cut thy throate but thy life was pretious to me This for the time shaked his fury and wildefire and although it could not wholly quench it yet his end was most desperate as commonly theirs is whose rage a calme answer and milde usage will not qualifie So Iaacob in his returne from Laban foreseeing Esau his old grudge Gen. 33.13 sets himselfe in an exquisite manner to appease him first by gifts then by great titles and humble carriage whereby he turned off that rage which else might have brake out if hee had opposed him by violence Oh! such Abigails Davids Gideons and Iaacobs are much wanting and almost out of the world 1 Sam. 25.18 Now men have justled out Divinity and made a mocke of it by their brave stomacks maintaining that a man shall bee so much reputed amongst others as he reputes himselfe and stands upon his tearmes and he that puts up one wrong or reproach provokes two And it is true if we be such indeed as stand to our owne and the worlds judgement and barre appealing from Christs we may take our course goe on without let till shame and repentance and perhaps meeting with our matches doe compell us But if Christs voice will prevaile and wee will stand to his tribunall hee hath told us plainly such cowards and white-livers we must bee and yet Christianity makes us rather as bold as Lions in a just defence if we will be his read Matth. 44.5 You heard them say of old marke revenge is the old Religion though in a new cut Thou shalt love thy friend and hate thine enemy eye for eye tooth for tooth wrath for rage But I say unto you marke the voice of the new Gospel of peace love your enemies doe for them that spite you and speake evill of you and hate you Turne the other cheeke to him that smites you on the one cheeke That thus you may be children of your father in heaven who lets his raine and sunne fall upon the ground of the bad as well as the good And this is the same with that of Paul Rom. 12. If thine enemy hunger thirst or be naked give him meate drinke and cloathing Rom. 12. thus heaping hot coales upon his head recompencing evill with good And lest ye should think there is one Divinity for plaine folke and another for Courtiers Gentlemen and brave sparkes of hot and noble bloud looke I pray upon Elisha's Divinity which hee brought to Ieroboams Court 2 King 6.21 when he had brought the Aramites blindefold to Samaria hee askes them My father shall I smite them But the Prophet answers No smite them whom thou takest in the warre kill not in coole bloud set bread and meate rather before them and feast them and so send them home to their Master and so he did and the bands of Aram came no more that yeare It was good policy and Religion too And no doubt but many of our braving and lofty stomacks when they have met with the affronts of them whom they have provoked as commonly boasters alway goe by the worse then they wish they had beene wiser and held in their stomack ill afterward But I doubt many of our challengers and duellers if they were put upon the enemy in a pitcht battell and in Gods way would prove like those sparkes spoken of in Judg. 9. I meane Gaall and his brethren who asked who is Abimelec But when they saw him their hearts fainted and they were beaten downe To conclude let this generall Instruction brethren reach to all states persons occasions Let the word dwell in us plentifully in all wisdome to guide us in our course The word is answer not a foole in his folly lest thou be like him The patient man is better then he who is hasty in his spirit and in his matters He that overcomes himselfe is better then he that overcomes a City Ecles 7.8 Rom. 12.19 Be slow to speake and slow to wrath Here be the rules If the former examples of Saints perswade not thereto let the practise of these heathen servants shame and upbraid us You husbands and wives remember Satan is alway at your elbow if he can dstemper you quickly will the whole house be distempered and out of frame and your examples will fret like a canker Doe therefore as wise Abigail did to drunken Nabal for drunkennesse and rage are both madnesse she gave way to him while hee was in his cups and in his jollity of feasting but next day when wine was out and wit in she told him of his base distemper and then he was tame So do not take your husbands or wives weapon out of their hand suddenly to wound him or her If one rage let the other pray and be innocent perhaps the Lord will do thee good for their wrath Consider each other the party in coole bloud consider of the other party as of a man in drink prevented by his passion that masters him Doe not now adde oile to the flame and drunkennesse to thirst But remember now God tries me These words are as stinging as fiery darts this tongue is set on fire by hell but now doth the Lord vex every veine in my heart to see what mettall I am made of If now I listen to my lust and outshoot the Divell I may set a marke upon my selfe and be ashamed but if I can possesse my soule with patience now and keepe my fort strong I shall shew my selfe a man or woman stronger then a conquerour Luke 21.11 I will deny my selfe therefore and take away anger from mine eyes Ecles 11.10 and distemper from my heart I will seasonably give over strife lest it become as a fire broken out or as the barres of a Palace Better so then let your shames breake out to others and so be faine to put your quarrells to arbitration and then your selves shall be the first that repent it The like I say to you all brethren in your worldly dealings and controversies or in those tetches which you take each at other Breake not out to open words of defiance upon meer conceits but weigh the reports perhaps they come from tale-bearers examine your grounds and although you finde truth in them yet see what construction they will beare Jam. 4 4. consider that the spirit that is in us lusts after envy If these reports will not beare a good censure yet coole your hearts first then debate the quarrells in coole bloud before witnesses if the fault be proved let it be sufficient that he is convinced
but let not words blowes and sutes follow as if you were heathens Oh saith one Shall I endure such a base fellow to overcrow me No hee shall well know I am a better man then himselfe ere I have done with him Oh earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord Abate thy heart abase thine heart and doe as he did Humfrey Mummouth who meeting his enemy who had sought his life when he could have crushed him entreated him to bee friends and brake his heart doe thou so and prosper Touching the second point of inferiours attempting superiours 2. Branch Instruction Inferiours dealing with superiours must wisely observe whâ—t their persons will beare let this caution be observed from Naamans servants that we wisely observe what our persons will well beare and admit Inferiour mens sway and stroke will goe but a little way with superiours The meannesse of the one and the prejudice of the other will be barres Yet so it may fall out that necessity may put some calling upon an inferiour as when there be no superiours or equalls present when silence would embolden the offender much when the glory of God lies at the stake unavoidably and especially when the grace of the reprovers wisdome may be like to over-match both his owne meannesse and the others stoutnesse Otherwise there had need be great caution lest inferiours rather run themselves into the suspition of sawcinesse receive great affronts and discouragements if not wrongs from the reproved lest also the offender be more hardned in his sin A caution and the ordinance with the fruit of it be dishonoured and unprofitable But to returne if God doe intimate to the spirit of any wise inferiours that they ought to reprove then let them suspect their owne persons and beware that they make no open contestation but bee content with privacy where no affront may be given before witnesses especially let it be carried with great aloofenesse and rather with insinuation of an error then taxing openly exhorting rather to a contrary duty then reproving the fault downeright 1 Tim. 5.1 Rebuke not an Elder not onely a Minister but a superiour in any eminency but exhort him as a father Otherwise if God afford not discretion and opportunity better is a warranted silence and commending the cause to God with some item of a grieved heart then a rash venturing and rushing beyond our bounds But to bee sure let all lenity bee used all possible acknowledging of their places yeares worth and worship give them all their due both titles and praises to the uttermost that it may appeare the reprover is so far from presumption that were it for the meere regard of the offenders soule the glory of God and the discharge of conscience with peace the reprover would much rather have chosen silence then to attempt reproofe and so leave the issue to God So much for this second Uses of the speciall fact of 〈◊〉 servants I come now to the Uses arising in speciall from this example of the servants wise and loving carriage towards their Masters spirituall distemper And first if it be so difficult a worke to ease a distressed spirit Let Vse 1 all such as have obtained this mercy from the Lord know that they have met with no common mercy Instruction It is a peculiar favour to enable the Minister to speake a word in season to a wearied soule But how much more for the soule to find the word and to feele it to be so Instruction to the heavy hearted Proverb is not as the gift in the hand which Salomon tells us prospers whithersoever it goes and carries a commanding power with it Esay 57. The setling of a distressed heart by counsell is a mercy highly to be prised No To speake to the heart is Gods worke whosoever be the instrument and none can create the fruit of the lippes save onely hee that first created and formed the body of the earth and breathed into it the breath of life We Ministers may speake to the eare discerne and advise urge answer doubts and convince but the spirit of grace which annointed the Lord Jesus to bee the Prophet of his Church can carry those words into the soule and cast them there as seed and give them a body and being altering ignorance doubting feares deadnesse bondage insensiblenesse infidelity heavinesse into light resolution hope life liberty feeling faith and comfort He that said lift up thy voice as a trumpet and convince my people of their sinnes and againe Comfort ye my people comfort them at the heart meanes not that we should pierce into and reach the heart for we cannot get to it but that we bee the messengers of peace and glad tidings God onely must by his Spirit convince Joh. 16.9 and he onely can carry consolation through those manifold turnings and crooked windings of the soule even home and close to the heart rootes He onely can say My doctrine shall droppe as dew Deut. 32 1. and as the small raine wetting at the roote Therefore whosoever thou art here in this audience whom ever the Lord hath caused to breake through the hoast of discouragements and to consult with the Minister sincerely aiming at the true ends of counsell and hath also met with thy speciall disease spoken to thy heart so that it hath gotten a reall bottome out of the word and promise for the sole of her foote to rest upon against feare and doubting Oh! learne to prise such a favour above all treasures Elisha was sent but to one leper as many as there were in Israel and did not he esteeme that priviledge Let the 15.16 and 17. verses witnesse for him So the Minister of God goes to hundreds of sicke and afflicted ones But perhaps he is sent in the spirit of counsell and sealing up of peace through pardon to a very few It is their portion to whom it pertaines those must partake it who can receive it and only such can be thankefull What is the cause why we comfort so many through the seven yeare of whom perhaps wee heare no more againe ever after Our feete are not beautifull to the most of them they never imbraced the power of truth they despised the counsell of God for their salvation and the consolations of God seemed small things unto them They have got that they came for a kinde of stopping of their outcries of conscience their wounds are kept sweete and doe not rankle as they thinke they can now follow their businesse and goe about the world at their pleasure pleasing themselves with that the Minister hath said unto them And that no man shall pull from them for it pleases them well to heare themselves to be under the condition of grace that faith belongs to them that the least desire of faith is faith But alas They are comforted all at once their comfort growes not as their doubts grow they are not unsatisfied in
will thrust themselves upon the worke when they want all manner of meetnesse and so will goe through stitch and say somewhat though to the banning and perverting of the parties rather then the setling and comforting How hard is it often to judge of sorrow whether it bee worldly or godly Have not both as deepe pangs one as other And although it be spirituall yet how hard to discerne sorrow comming from the terrors of the conscience or arising from the hope of the Gospel How easie is it out of a present mercifulnesse of heart to one in trouble to goe rashly to worke and to apply plaisters to a freshly bleeding wound How many loaden wretches with the guilt of their daily revolts and lewdnesse come roaring to a Minister for ease meerly from an horror of heart no way desirous to bee broken off from their course in evill but onely from the hell of their conscience which if they were rid of they would returne to their vomit worse then ever Who would thinke bleeding at the arme would stanch bleeding at the nose That is that it were a medicine for such a one to bee drawne into more true horror by the word for sinne as it is sinne And yet no other remedy will ease such a one Who is able to discerne diabolicall injections which may be perceived by the unnaturalnesse hideousnesse dogging and pertinacy of them and the like from evills of our owne wilfully committed and polluting the soule For why Both may seem to cleave to the soule the one as fast as the other And so I might bee endlesse I spake of a great many of these difficulties in the third Reason Is it then an easie thing to speake a word in due season to one that is weary No doubtlesse I conclude therefore let it be a caveat to all Gods Ministers whom this worke concernes as not to put it off being one of the maine peeces of our calling so neither to rush upon it suddenly and without due preparation use those directions before named and joyne this last to seek of God a wise discerning spirit for that gift is not wholly absent from the Church to put a difference betweene things that differ Which meanes being used and love setting all on worke as the chiefe mover it shall not be difficult to doe that in time and years which perhaps at first seemed hard God will blesse experience and make this yoke for so it is to the flesh easie and this burthen light I would have come to the other branch of the caveat to the people But time cuts mee off muse the while of these and we shall proceed to the rest the next time if God will Let us pray c. The end of the Eleventh Lecture THE TWELFTH LECTVRE Still continued upon this thirteenth VERSE c. VERSE XIII And his servants came neere and said unto him Father if the Prophet had bid thee doe some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much more then when he saith unto thee Wash and be clean VERSE 14. Then Naaman went downe and dipped himselfe seven times in Iorden according to the word of the man of God c. I Could not brethren the last Lecture finish the point of the Religious service done by these servants to their Master wherein I observed the qualification of their persons with love and lenity to advise him for his good I have opened the doctrine already at large and made some generall Uses and some in speciall The last was Admonition to the Ministers with the which I have done The next followeth now as God shall guide us Concerning both Ministers and people and that is exhortation Therefore brethren if the worke of speaking to the weary soule bee so difficult First let me speake to you that are to be comforted and to receive instruction by the Minister of God The people must beware lest they turne away from counsell of their Ministers And the thing to which I exhort you in generall is that both you beware lest feare or sinfull shame hold you off from counsell and then that ye fitly apply your selves to the advice of the Minister of God not to hinder but to further the worke of your owne soules If a man that hath a bone out of joynt could helpe the arme of the Surgeon who wants strength to thrust it in againe how gladly would he assist him in so hard a worke rather then by his wilfulnesse abide long in his paine The misery of a soule out of joint and of a conscience wounded farre exceeds all bodily paine and all the skill of a bodily cure How then should wee frame and accomodate our selves as by praier so by all other meanes to the skill of such as God hath given us to be spirituall fathers and to be restorers of us being out of joint First therefore brethren let me advise you ere you goe to any counsellor Gal. 6.1 goe to God to plant and set your hearts aright to receive counsell It is said in Zachar. 5.4 that the lampes which were to bee replenished with the oile dropping from the olive branches by Gods providence were situated so aptly under the dropping bowes that none of the oile dropped beside but all fell upon the lamps underneath fed their lights So would the Lord have all who goe for advice to his Interpreters hee would have them carry hearts well planted wise and tractable to receive what is put into them Perhaps some may wonder at that I say considering how hard it is for a sad and distempered spirit to come with moulds ready to receive the molten mettall of Gods promises to bee fashioned and formed thereby But my meaning is that whatsoever their distemper bee they would strive by all means for such a calm equall and teachable spirit as may be subject to counsell when it is afforded them out of the word otherwise they resist the ends of the ordinance For why hath the Lord appointed the gift of counsell save to settle and stablish the weak The Minister I doubt not being wise may both supply the office of liquor and vessell also counsell I meane and an heart to receive it if God fit him for it But the worke will be the sooner at an end if all such corruption as wilfully cleaves to the distressed spirit be first removed 1. Counsell Therefore first let all such goe to God by praier and acquaint themselves with him and him with their wants beseeching him who is the eternall counsellor to order their unquiet and unsetled spirits to separate all carnall and worldly distempers passions ends and respects from them to shew them how to picke out an end out of the ravelled skeine and cleerly to discover the malady unto them To take away all such mistakes and errors from them as might cause them to misconceive their estate and to thinke it other better or worse then it is and to separate the precious from
the vile that is the worke of his owne convincing spirit from the worke of their owne rebellious nature their discontent their fullennesse melancholy feares and other extremities that cleave unto them Also that he would shew them what hee hath done for them already that they may not provoke him by unthankefulnesse and what is yet to be done and at what especiall knots and objections they sticke what their chiefe barres and lets are which most hold them downe and if they cannot feele themselves rid of these confusions of spirit yet that the Lord would take away that wilfulnesse of stomacke that crossenesse that waywardnesse which makes their disease so ranckle in them and send them to seeke advice with a minde desirous to subject it selfe to God and to his ordinance and to mourne when it cannot being held in the chaines of it owne horrors or rebellion And secondly let them commend the enterprise in hand to God for successe that the Lord would bee pleased to dispose of the understanding of him that is to advise them that he may bee as from God unto them like Elihu that he may discerne of their complaints rectifie their errors meet with their corruption shew them their state and wants and comfort them at the heart as God allowes them That if they cannot at the first finde stay and support yet if they see but a little light at a crevis they may be glad of a little and not be dismaid that they may seeke still after counsell till the worke by degrees be perfected that they may not lay stumbling blocks in their owne way to fall by but hold the measure of light so farre as they are come waiting till God reveale the rest and not defiling their consciences the whiles Phil. 3.15 and so make the worke new to beginne Thirdly that the Minister of God may be wise as an Angell of God as well to find out apt and meete Scriptures to encounter the soule as the need thereof requireth either threats or promises or other sentences and when they see that these are urged not by the authority of a man but of God whom they only must look at in this case and not man that then their base hearts may no further kick cavill and gainesay and so put the Minister of God to a double toile not only to conflict with their reall distresse but also with their wilfull and accidentall sullennesse pride and rebellion Fourthly let them crave of God a wise utterance of their estate to the Minister of God or at least an inckling thereof that it may not be mistaken for a crooked rule being put into a mans hand will force him to make a wrong line though his skill be good enough to draw a right one Fifthly chuse thee out a faithfull interpreter one of a thousand for love lenity skill patience long suffering bowells of compassion and experience For such a mercury is not made of every blocke thou maist else light on miserable comforters Sixtly above all other things let such persons beware of any base motive or principle leading them to aske advice let them not affect any sinister respects nor aime at any base ends to bee noted for zeale to thinke themselves safe because they have taken counsell to choake and smother the accusations of conscience to make them bolder in sin to pretend and alledge the counsell and comfort of such a Minister to harden themselves against any just reproofes which after may bee urged upon them and the like base ends whereof the bouget of mans vile heart is fraught and full especially in this formall crafty age wherein every one will be Religious and Satan transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light For by this meanes that uncleane spirit will returne with seven worse then himselfe and defile more dangerously But let thy aimes in this worke be honest simple and sincere to goe forward with God according to thy light cheerfully and humbly and so looke to prosper Secondly for the Minister of God let him be exhorted also first 2. Branch to Ministers 3. Things Abhorre error and prejudice 1. Error to cast out all bad principles perverting the spirit of counsell and crossing the gift of restoring the weake And these are first a prejudicate sowre heart enclined to sinister thoughts of the afflicted conceiving them according to carnall reason and not discerning the worke of Gods spirit in such This is no common grace to have a cleere spirit this way For the spirit that is in us lusts after envy We are all a kinne to old Eli who seeing poore Hanna sitting sad with her lippes moving and no voice thought her drunke But when he perceived her to bee a woman of a troubled spirit 1 Sam. 1.13.14 powring out her soule from a full heart to the Lord and understanding the cause he became a Prophet of God unto her for her satisfaction and comfort 2. Error 3. Error Beware therefore of a base heart of prejudice error misprision rashnesse And yet take heed also that love and pitty make us not too hasty in comfort Also ease unmercifulnesse unbeteamingnesse sullennesse uncharitablenesse wearinesse and loathnesse to be enlarged in our bowells as the Lord allowes us of which disease Ionah was sicke 4. Error Also waspishnesse suddennesse and hastinesse whereby as Physitians cutting off their patients in their complaints they are impatient to heare and so discourage them I confesse that the talkatives and vanity of many weake ones in their complaints who in stead of inclining their eare and hearing that their soules might live are swifter to jangle to neglect that which which is spoken then to marke and have never done with idle repetitions may sometimes cause a wise counsellor to chide and reprove them justly yet with tendernesse and meekenesse And the like I may say of those endlesse answers which many make when they are demanded how counsell hath prevailed and they rather bewray themselves worse and worse then better and better for though it be not in our power to settle the spirit sooner then the Lord please yet it behoves not any distressed soule so to nourish themselves in their lowring and distempers as to dismay the Minister but rather by wise concealement or desire of new satisfaction to draw his heart to pray for them more earnestly and waite more patiently till the spirit shall blow peace upon them The second duty Practise This preparation being made the next exhortation is that the Minister of God do first meekly then wisely speak to the heart of the afflicted For the first of these it is a duty much pressed and exemplified in Scripture I say a mercifull and loving heart of fellow feeling and tendernesse to the heavy Fot hereby the Minister of God conveieth the heart of the Lord Jesus into the soul of the afflicted of whom it is said He had learned compassion towards them by his owne sufferings Heb. 2.18 that so
could doe all things yet seeing the stone to be rolled away Iohn 11.22.39 where Lazarus her brother was laid cryes out Lord by this time he stincketh hee hath beene buried foure daies but her carnality and contrariety so stancke in Christs nostrills that he is faine to checke her even before he did the miracle Said not I unto thee if thou wouldest beleeve thou shouldest see the glory of God as if he had said why dost thou so crosse me in this my attempt Were it not just to deprive thee of the miracle seeing thou preferrest thy sense before my power So Peter when hee being bidden to come to Christ on the water Matth. 14.35 attempted to come and by the way funke through carnall sense which told him that the waters were not things to goe upon but the firme earth what saith our Saviour to him Oh thou of little faith Is it not all one for my power to support thee upon the waters as upon the dry land Why didst thou stagger from my word And many more might be heapt up to this purpose all to convince that although we might thinke it veniall for weake flesh to cleave to her owne carnall conceits because Gods matters exceed her much yet God having once testified his pleasure by his word lookes that flesh lay hold upon her mouth stoope to the Lord and when it doth not he may justly rebuke her As Sarah for her laughing was checked and Zachariah for his distrust Luke 1.20 was not onely so but stricken dumbe for three quarters of a yeares space and all to teach them to preferre the word before their owne sense So that even as Paul seeing Elymas to crosse his Ministery Act. 13.10 and to harden Sergius Paulus in his infidelity sets himselfe tooth and naile against him and looked stedfastly upon him saying Oh! thou full of all subtilty and mischiefe sonne of the Divell wilt thou not cease perverting the wayes of the Lord Even so the Lord seeing this sorceresse of carnall reason standing at the elbow of the soule to disswade and hold it off from beleeving doth with indignation cut her up and say Oh thou full of all venome and poyson darest thou thus pervert the truth and faithfulnesse of the promise And our Saviour did the like to Nicodemus caviling against the mystery of Regeneration and Baptisme what saith he Art thou a great Doctor in Israel Joh. 3.5 and yet such a dunce and ideot in the matters of God What a shame and as it were a box on the eare was this for such a Rabbi And although he seemed to deale somewhat more fairely with Thomas in his refractory stoutnesse of carnall reason Except I see the print of the speare in his sides and nailes in his hands I will not beleeve yet we shall see hee gave him a shrewd touch upon that mercifull conviction Be faithfull saith he not incredulous Blessed are they that see not and yet beleeve Joh. 21. I tell thee it is small thanke to thee to beleeve having seene So much for proofes Reasons of the point are many First this It is the chiefe marke of all Reason 1 other in Gods eye and a duty of the greatest import when the soule breaking through the misty aire and foggy clouds which doe beset the clearesky even as carnall reason overwhelmes the cleere promise shall pierce and behold the word in her brightnesse and true colours Oh! how it speakes to the heart of God to be trusted upon his bare word when the soule makes a tush of carnall objections and saith the word is against it Examples we have of this also in Scripture See Numb 14.5 where the ten spies bringing a verduict of sense by the terror of Anakims and chariots of iron to their brethren and dismaying their hearts from going to Canaan Lo those two worthies Caleb and Ioshua cleaving to the word made a tush at the other objections If the Lord love us say they he will bring us into this land as for these Giants they shall be but meat for us What are they to a word of an omnipotent God What came of it Surely the Lord tooke it so kindly as he scarce knew how to expresse it twice or thrice after he tells Moses Caleb and Ioshua have honoured me before this people and borne downe their wretched partners Therefore of all the rest who shall leave their bones in the wildernesse these two shall inherit this good land So David when all the body of the people were scared and ranne from the Philistin onely cryed why Who is this uncircumcised Philistin what make yee of him I make but a dead dog of him a railer upon God and his hoast 1 Sam. 17. And what came of it God enclosed him by his faith into his hands and as Heb. 11.34 he was made strong of weake and put to flight an Army by that meanes Paul also Act. 27. when all were against him both Pilate Centurion and Souldiers they all thought that there was no way for them but to perish contrary to their feares Paul is confident that not an haire of their head should fall to the ground For why Saith he although I see as much against it in shew as you doe yet an Angel of God stood by me this night and told me so and I beleeve God Oh! how did the Lord honour him with the safety of all in the ship Now to conclude if the Lords heart be so set upon beleevers How must he needs cast a sad countenance upon them that overthrow his promise and will beleeve no more then they see Contrary objects to those which are most desireable must needs be most unwelcome And if the one provoke esteeme how can it chuse but the other must cause indignation Reason 2 Secondly it must be needs a very reproveable evill which causeth such a fulsomenesse and wearisomenesse in Gods stomacke Now wee shall note it in the Scripture how loathingly God speakes of carnality and a sensuall spirit in his matters See Psal 92. The Lord tells us that he led the Israelites in the wildernesse as shepherds lead their sheepe Esay 63. and all that they might see his workes and know him and trust him the better But saith he forty yeares long have I beene vexed with this generation They have tempted me proved me and wearied me Therefore I sware in my wrath they should not enter into my rest Why Because all his miracles and deeds before their eyes could not draw them to trust him but as if heathens they would cleave still to their fleshly reason Surely he that sweares in his wrath to destroy and is vexed with people hee doth more then reprove This for the second Reason 3 Thirdly for our selves how can it bee in us but a most damnable sinne much more reproveable For as it resists the whole method of God through the whole world so it sinnes against almost every Chapter and line of
the old and new Testament For tell me why hath God so furnished his word with such stories of his power and greatnesse transcending our reason and our thoughts as much as the heavens doe the earth Esay 55.8 but that our soules might be filled with his excellency And thinke nothing too hard for such a God to doe If he have dried up the sea Jorden stopped mouthes of Lions raised up the dead and fed six hundred thousand men and women without corne or flesh of beasts made water gush twice out of a rocke give a woman of ninety years old power to conceive c. doth he not deserve to be set up above carnall reason Doth he not deserve at our hands more then a faint fulsome grant with Martha thou canst doe all things Doth he not deserve a peculiar faith for this and for that for raising this dead man now at this time For quickning this dead heart at this instant by this Sermon For softning this hard heart For converting this soule to God Oh! how justly reproveable must such a villany needs bee And surely this let me adde if it be so base an evill in respect of the dishonour to God must it needs bee so in respect of the mischiefe which it causes unto our selves Did ever any man hate his owne selfe doth he not love and cherish his owne flesh What an unnaturall evill then is this which chuseth rather here with Naaman to perish with the holding of a carnall will and conceit then by denying it and clasping to the word to be happy for ever Sure that which is so derogatory to God and so unnaturall to our selves must needs deserve sharpe reproofe Fourthly it must needs be a reproveable evill which doth so desperately Reason 4 trench upon all the Attributes of God Power Truth Mercy Justice Providence and Alsufficiency Which questions all cavills against all so that the doctrine before handled viz. That carnall reason is a maine enemy to all the matters of revealed truths is a full reason of this doctrine that it is justly reproveable Other sinnes seeme to undoe the acts of God as his morall commands But this undoes the Lord himselfe in a sort in those things wherein God is himselfe so that either God must not be God a promise must not be a promise Christ must be no Christ no satisfaction no redemption or else carnall sense must perish Both in strict tearmes cannot stand together God hath testified himselfe in his word admirable in this one attribute viz. Providence for his Churches good in the greatest straits Who reading the strange passages of that one deliverance in Esters time Esters story how God concurred just with each circumstance of time of occasion as then to cause the Kings sleepe to depart when Mordecai was in greatest perill and reproach Then when the banquet was prepared that all other opportunities should bee fore laid to oppresse Haman and to exalt Mordecai If a man would compile a story according to his owne wish for the demonstration of Providence could hee frame a more punctuall one Read Ezra's story Daniels Iosephs doth not a naked hand of God appear in them And yet carnall reason would say That if there were windowes in heaven God could not now save his Church as hee hath done in their times in Elija's Elisha's and others What is this but to limit the holy one of Israel to our owne measure of working And so I may say of all other his Attributes Nay carnall reason is such a deepe gulfe as is able to swallow downe the greatest evidence that ever God gave to the world of himselfe both his Godhead and Attributes which is the sending of the Lord Jesus in the flesh into the world to walke live suffer and dye for the salvation of the Elect What can so secure the soule of the truth of Gods nature persons and realnesse in all his promises as this to cause the eternall God to be personally one with our mortall flesh Might not the holy Ghost Heb. 1.1.2 say That this way of God hath greater demonstration in it to stablish a beleeving soule then all that ever were besides And yet what use makes carnall reason hereof Doth it not turne all to a meere story without any ground-worke of faith or perswasion We thinke that the exhibiting of Christ concerned the Jewes who saw him and if wee had lived with him as they we should have abhorred to distrust him as they Why Did not God give them full assurance of himselfe by his Sonne Read Act. 17.38 Had not they as cleere proofes out of the Prophets that he was and none save he could bee the Messia and yet their carnall reason did so abhorre him to be their Messia that they hated him to the death Justly then may I conclude that this sinne is a reproveable one So much also for reasons I proceed now to the Use If this evill be so reproveable it is pitty it Vse 1 should want her due and escape terror or reproofe Terror to sundry The first Neuters Atheists and Epicures and ignorant ones reproved Pitty that any should justifie the wicked against God! Let them therefore come in the dint of this reproofe who are grossest in this kinde Neuters and Atheists who if they do not obstinate their spirits to thinke of all Gods matters and the frame of Religion according to their carnall sence yet are as deeply careles of rejecting and bearing it down by the stream of the word as Gallio was carelesse of the Apostles and their opposites How many are there who like them in Peter mocke at the Scriptures threats and terrors of it 2 Pet. 3. saying Where is the promise of his comming Lo all things are still as they were wont to be the times seasons affaires of men and course of the world therefore wee thinke the world will endure alway Oh ye Atheists One yeare with God is as a thousand and a thousand are as one day Do ye judge the comming of Christ by that which befalls in the space of forty or fifty yeares of one mortall life Doe not all things decay and cannot the Lord shake the powers of heaven and restraine the influence of the upper bodies from the lower at his pleasure But of this saith Peter they make themselves wilfully ignorant that all things were made of nothing and shall returne to nothing they perswade themselves that they ever were and so shall continue Such a seminary there is and such a tale of scurfe here among us even of practicke Atheists who are led by sense as brute beasts that me thinkes I feele my spirit sinke and faile within me when I should scare them out of their dens These are those prophane Swine who although they rise not up openly to desie God and his word and threats yet like sensuall Epicures void of all understanding they live in a profession of infidelity onely differing from Pagans in that they carry
of great wealth I shall dye a beggar Neither will fall to pillaging and breaking open granaries to serve my turne nor rise up against the rich as lately some did in some parts of this Country and were justly executed Conclusion of the Use Lastly in generall be we armed by this doctrine and admonition against the common sway of the age to beleeve as we see They say of the dampe in Colepits that if it come it will cause the candle to burne blue Simil. and thereby the workemen haste them to the mouth of the pit presently lest they be choaked This world is the Colepit this dampe is the carnall Religion of it the candle burning blue is the infection of mens understandings and wills when therefore we see this infection to have tainted most mens hearts and the power of goodnesse decaying then let us be warned looke to our lives ere we be choked with the error of the wicked and let us runne to the pits mouth and desire to bee haled up to the open aire let us goe to the Word and Testimony and as David did Psal 73. ere he was quite stifled let us goe into the Sanctuary and lay this carnall religion in the ballances of it and we shall find it too light and such as is reprobate silver for both weight and substance and then we shall cling to a more sure word of the Prophets and Apostles shining in a darke place 1 Pet. 1.20 which doing we shall doe well and so not bee reproved or rejected So much for this third Vse 4 Fourthly let this be Information to all who would shunne this bitter reproofe of God to bee well advised how they enter upon Religion with a sound judgement about the nature thereof Marke and learne this as all common thinges for the most part goe by sense and rationall grounds So Gods matters goe by contraries Logicke and Philosophy reach not comprehend not Gods mysteries Religion is not against sense or reason for then why should Paul 1 Cor. 15. urge the Atheist by similitudes of naturall things to grant spirituall convincing him of the resurrection by naturall experience of the corne rotting ere it live And so by others But it s above it and therefore resists it rules of art and reason faile here Reason saith of nothing comes nothing God saith I create the fruit of the lips peace even of nothing Yea of nothing comes every good thing He that denies himselfe and is nothing shall be my Disciple Other vertues goe by addition Gods by subtraction God counts the things that are not as if they were The principles of Divinity are not as sense is The Lord Jesus himselfe truly eternall yet truly mortall God cannot dye and yet they killed the Lord of life Christ a very man and no person but a nature By death to conquer death is a senslesse thing in reason Flesh consumed to dust yet shall bee made againe the selfe same body Reason attempts great things by great instruments The Lord uses the poorest and silliest Reason would say the richest make most rich Religion tells us As poor and yet making many rich As having nothing yet possessing all things That a poore company of fishermen should conquer the world which Alexanders army could not That Babes should understand mysteries which wise men cannot That the King of all the world should ride upon an Asse c. How absurd are these notions But to be principled in these senslesse truths irrationall principles what a wonderfull advantage is it to a poore soule in her first entrance upon Religion How will it prepare the heart to beare downe reason and flesh To thinke the better of truth by how much it crosses reason most To beare troubles and crosses meekely because by how much lesse they promise any happinesse by so much the rather they performe it So much for this use of Instruction Lastly let this point bee use of comfort to all Gods people who Vse 5 cleave to the word Consolation Close cleavers to Gods promise are in a blessed state or else soone recover their sliding foote from this common error For if carnall reason be so reproveable then is living by faith commendable The Lord shall one day cause thy light to breake forth poore soule who in all the forenamed respects lookest more to Paul then the Pilot to the word then the world and her Religion Thou livest here as a dispised creature as one of Gods fooles thrust up into a corner as a candlesticke throwne up and downe the house who wert wont to hold out the candle to the house of God Be of good cheere if thou be content to be as God will have thee and to teach thine owne soule in stead of teaching others if thou be one who wilt thrust thine eyes blindefold into Gods bosome and see no further then he hath light for thee take courage to thy selfe Mica 6 9. Psal 37. one day it shall be better and the Lord shall bring forth thy righteousnesse as noon day He shall take thee from among the crokt pots and restore thy doves silver wings as bright as before waite the whiles be doing the thing which is good When the Lord shall come in flaming fire against all that have set up their crest against him and bee a swift witnesse against them then shall he refine his Levy with this fire of triall Mal. 3.3.4 Reve. 3.14 2 Thes 1. Heb. 10.37 and by this day or night rather of tentation which he hath spread over the face of the earth if thou hold the word of his patience he shall bring thee forth of the Colepit And then shall hee be admired by them and in them that beleeve because abandoning themselves the word was received by them in that day I say cast not away thy confidence it hath great recompence of reward But what should I need to comfort thee who carriest the matter of comfort within thee So much for this use also and for the whole doctrine be spoken as also of the first thing which arises out of the attempt it selfe of these servants c. THE THIRTEENTH LECTVRE Still continued upon this thirteenth VERSE VERSE XIII And his servants came neere and said unto him Father if the Prophet had bid thee doe some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much more then when he saith unto thee Wash and be clean VERSE 14. So he went downe c. 2 Kings I Have in the last Exercise Beloved as you may remember finisht the attempt of the servants being the second generall of the Verse Now we proceed in order to the third viz. The arguments which they use to perswade their Master to obey the message The third generall viz. The arguments The first whereof is the ease of obeying I told you there were foure of them I come to the first that is of greatest weight let us note it wel And that is that
I will not any longer dwell upon bare illustrations I know that every word I speake makes you stand upon thornes till you see the bounds of the point Therefore first I will reason it mixing here and there proofes of Scripture then apply it with such caution and encouragement if God please as shall both sholl out the dogs and welcome the children whose bread it is The reasons may bee taken from sundry kinds of ease First from that respective ease which stands in relation Reasons 1. In respect of he difficult wâ—y of the Law And for that I say that there is great difference between the difficult way of the Law and the sweet way of the Gospel The Law prescribed a tedious yea an impossible way to heaven Doe this and live requiring so exact pure and strict a way as exceeded the capacity and ability of our fallen nature to attaine Now the Lord in the Gospel propounds another way most easie and comprehensive and that in and by another saying Beleeve and live He changes the rigor and burdensomenesse of doing into the ease of beleeving which translates the guilt and curse of the soule upon another translates the service of obedience upon another drawes power and ability to endeavour after obeying from another who also covers and conceales the defects thereof and accepts such endeavours as proceed from a nature in great part unsanctified as if they came from an intire and perfect principle As imputation of a righteousnesse is a farre easier thing then an infused and inherent righteousnesse dwelling within us So the way of the Gospel is farre more easie then the way of the Law See Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not doe through the weakenesse of flesh God supplied How By sending his Sonne both to condemne sinne in the flesh and in the same flesh to fulfill all righteousnesse Why That the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us In whom Even in weake ones who had no strength by a farre easier way then the Law imposed See also Rom. 10.6.7 The Law saith he that doth the commandements shall live in them But the righteousnesse of faith saith another thing What is that Beleeve and live Say not who shall ascend to heaven Or who shall descend into the deepe For Christ hath both descended of his own accord to satisfie and ascended thither in triumph And this word is offered unto thee is neere thee is in thy mouth and thy heart to do it the doing it is only the beleeving it If thou confesse with thy mouth and beleeve in thy heart this sweet easie way of God thou shalt be saved So much for the first Reason Secondly this appeares in another respect also The Lord aimes at Reason 2 a further thing then the obedience of beleeving He aimes also at this In respect of a further thing which the Lord armes at 2 King 3. the reducing of our decaied and corrupt frame of nature to his owne image in light and holinesse Now as he who aimes at a maine scope in a thing thinkes it a light thing to compasse the meanes tending thereto So it is here take an Instance Iehoram and two other Kings combined to destroy Moab in their journey they were like to perish for lacke of water They consult with Elisha He at last tells them This is a light thing with the Lord to give you water and save your lives for he intends a further blessing to deliver Moab into your hands It was not light to worke such a miracle but in respect of a further aime it was but light So to beleeve is not easie in respect of it selfe so much as in respect of a further excellency to restore us to that perfect image of God which once made us happy it is light with the Lord to take of our guilt to remove our curse and that barre which stood in our way by Adams fall to keepe us from ever comming to God againe in his purenesse and holinesse of nature This may be a second reason Thirdly let us come from respective ease to reall ease And here we shall also finde that in two respects The obedience of faith is easie Reason 3 First in respect of the preparation leading to it Secondly of the effectuall working of the gift of obeying the Gospel For the former wee shall discover it in these two things First in respect of the price Secondly of the manner of dispensation Touching the former of these the price was easie Marke my meaning I say not that it was an easie price in it selfe considered Note this against Sectaries Although if some idle brains might be beleeved the price should not be great for they say that Christ was such a person as to whom sin could not be so imputed as to take hold of him by the curse but God imputed this ease to the excellency of the person of his Son being God that instead of suffering the wrath of Gods justice in his soule and body he should onely suffer so much penalty as that traitor Iudas and those enemies of his Pilate the Elders and souldiers inflicted and this suffering although in it selfe not equall to justice yet God the Father imputed it as an equall satisfaction A most horrible fancy we renounce it and affirme that the ease of the price stands not in him that paid it for so it is the most full deare and costly purchase that ever was paid since the beginning yea greater then the damned in hell pay who by all their paying satisfie not But its easie to us it comes to our hands ready wrought and finished and costs us nothing at all the Lord doth not require of us so much as the wetting of one finger or stirring of one joint towards a price for it were bootlesse so we can but accept it and apply it to our selves Christ paid a most full price to the cost both of bearing his Fathers wrath and desertion for a time although with moderation of extremities and disguisements in his soule and the effusion of the last drop of his heart and life bloud in his body and lesse then this would not nor could not satisfie justice for if it would it should and the Lord offered his Son wrong if he might have taken lesse yet would urge more I say this being considered that he chose this in his wisdome as the best and for my part I see it not to be any trenching upon the omnipotency of God or any other ends of God whatsoever to urge this for the safeguard of his justice for without the integrity thereof he is not God If he would have his Son lose his glory that he might satisfie justice and then would content himselfe with a pageant of satisfaction by imputing why might not Christ wholly have beene spared as well But this by the way because I see many incline to thinke God might if he had would satisfied himself in the pardoning of sinne
more deadly then by an ill conceit of him and his method of beleeving For wisdome is easie to him that loveth understanding if God will make it so why shouldest thou gainsay it A lowring sullen heart causeth this slavery in us wee are willing to beleeve that which we wish but looke what we have small list unto that we naturally frame to our selves very difficult Counsells against this disease Strive first to get a true judgement of the way of conversion that the Lord hath said its easie It s that which Naamans servants here labour to beat into their Master and by it prevailed with him for the obeying of the promise Next strive to get under the condition of it for all such are at next door to it To this end instead of studying thy selfe and thine owne abilities study the promise and let that draw thee to be in love with him who hath so freely offered it that will winne thy affections to it and when thy heart is taken with it thou shalt soone be on thornes to enjoy it The ease of beleeving issues from the soules getting under the condition of the promise Touching which point because it will offer it selfe in the next verse more fully I say the lesse here That which in a word I will presse here and so finish is this Resist faiths enemy which is bondage an ill opinion of God a conceit that he love our toile and vexation and nourish faiths friend which is Gods ease and that he is no hard Master no tyrant no taske-master but one that delights in a cheerfull obeyer and faith will follow sweetly God loves one that will not bee scared away with Lions and Beares but come to God for ease with assurance that its easie for him to give The cause why there is such difficulty in beleeving comes not from God but it comes from our false opinion and a strange conceit that all pretious things must bee difficult It costs the Lord exceeding paines to banish out this error which if it were once overcome it s not to be said what incredible ease would appeare Therefore let thy course poore soule be to beg of God the benefit of this ease pray to him and say If the way to heaven be of thy meer inventing if the Lord Jesus himself be thy free gift if the offer of him to a loaden heart be free and voluntary if the gift of faith it self be thine and thou hast bound thy self both to give feet to come and to give ease to the soule that commeth where lies the difficulty Surely in the slavish heart which feares where no feare is which judges of God according to her owne sense Now to sense and flesh who dare say or when did ever God say faith was easie Come to him then and importune him for this ease Lord take away my slavish heart I have wofull experience what my moyling and toyling wit and course is able to doe At the first I liked it well as mine owne strength but now I am tired with it I see it s thy plague thou givest toyle to the wicked but to the good and pleasing in thy sight ease and rest To hunt and to rost that they have got in hunting to labour moderately and to eat of the fruit thereof Oh this blessing I want Lord all the fish in the sea are at thy call thou canst in a moment gather them all together into one place Luke 5. Joh. ult Gen. 18.14 Thou canst bid Peter spread his net just where they are and enclose multitudes in it after he had fished all night and catcht nothing Alas he cast out his net on the wrong side all the while but when the Lord Jesus came then he cast on the right side and catcht abundance At thy command Lord a dead heart shall be quickned a dead wombe shall conceive a creeple of thirty eight yeares shall be healed and what hard thing hath not turned easie at thy command What was easier then to goe through the red sea first and then Jorden dryshod when thou causedst the windes to keep up the waters like two walls on both sides and to dry up the mud in the midst What is hard save because of lets And what is not easie if barres be removed Oh therefore Lord thou who by that miracle madest Peter a Preacher and gavest him a signe that he should be a fisher of men and enclose three thousand at one Sermon teach me this blessed gift make me such a Preacher of reconciliation by thy skill and ease Act. 2. And thou who broughtest all fishes under the net bee not discouraged by my shinesse feare and loathnesse to bee driven in Say but the word and I shall come under it and thy Minister shall cast out on the right side and enclose me Oh happy soule if after all my tricks and wiles to shunne thee thou shalt at the last make my will willing and cause me to come under the sweet and yet authority of thy promise I crave not Lydia's ease Zachees ease I know now thy course is more leasurely I doe not so much seeke shortnesse of labour as sweetnesse of spirit and meekenesse of heart and surenesse of successe and riddance of my basenesse and contradictions The wildernesse shall be as welcome to me as the way of the Philistins if thou wilt tame my rebellions and give me a pledge of Canaan at last The Lord will not stop his eare to such a prayer mercy pleaseth him and the ease of mercy pleaseth him what should hinder him from giving that which pleaseth him Onely our owne ease set up against his makes the way to heaven tedious if that be removed heaven will bee as easie as this cure was by washing in Jorden So much for this last Branch as also for the whole Use Vse 5 I proceed now to the fifth Use which is Admonition and Caveat viz. Admonition Wisdome is needfull to judge of the ease of grace That notwithstanding all which hath beene said about this point yet that we be wise and discreet in our judgements both concerning Gods diversity of dispensation and concerning the estates of men For the first although I have said nothing but the truth of God hitherto yet this must not breed ill bloud in us when we consider his casting off thousands yea millions of people both such as are without the pale of the Church and such as are visible members by Baptisme It may arise in the mindes of some to thinke that if the way of God were easie why should the Lord hide it from so many generations from the beginning till now for ought we know among Pagans and Infidels And why should so many among our selves after their long knowledge and use of meanes yet finde it so hard a taske and come short of it when all is done The answer whereto is That the secret waies of God are not for us to descant upon If he will
pleasures But leave we such to themselves and trust we God who hath taken such strickt order for our provision and contentment so long as we be faithfull As Peter speakes Feed we the flocke of Christ not for filthy lucre sake or from a greedinesse of gaine Pet. 5.2 but from a ready minde well appaid and satisfied with our service as serving a good Master who will see us abundantly requited Josh 13.33 The Lord told the tribe of Levi that they should have no inheritance among their brethren in the division of Canaan For why He himselfe would be their portion He had taken good and sure order for them and theirs that they should have no cause to complaine And so he did For so long as they walked in their places faithfully they were richly provided for Should the Levites then murmâ—re against God for this unequall distribution Should they cavill against him and say that he had cut them off from their hopes and means and preferred their brethren before them so that they must wait upon their trenchers and feed upon their scraps No no Rather he had exalted them above their brethren and alotted them a portion out of their estates by a command so that now their life was a life of faith their duty was to feed his people in Iaacob and his inheritance in Israel Their lips were to preserve knowledge so that the people might from their mouthes understand the lore and law of God If they attended these things well they were to cast themselves upon God for the rest who was their God allsufficient in a more eminent measure then any of the other Tribes Even so let the same care of God for us encourage us to our worke Let us not forsake this plow of the Ministry looking backe after the world and our owne ends Let us not distrust him for sinister and outward respects The world is unthankefull and the hearts of men very false and hollow this might cause us to forsake conscience and seeke our owne ends leave our studies conceale needfull discountenanced truths pick quarrells with our calling and alledge that we Ministers of all others are meanliest appointed exposed to the wrong and base usage of men that know not their worth nor how to prise their paines Therefore they must be faine to be lesse attendant to reading study oversight visitation of the people and regarding of their soules They must be compelled to turne Purchasers Usurers Merchants Husbandmen and to busie themselves deeply in the world They have a charge to looke too wife and children to maintaine and they know if they bee gone no body will looke after their posterity therefore if they turne their studies and Ministeries into carkings and toylings for the world let none blame them Well there is no doubt some cause to accuse the unthankefulnesse of people But of all others you may worst complaine for you rather harden their hearts by your own covetousnesse and base dishonouring of your Ministry by your sloth and idlenesse then procure to your selves or deserve respect and esteem from them they only may plead that who cleave to their Ministry and be instant in season and out of season not distrustfull Tit. 1.6 slothfull Cretians and worldlings and therefore be admonished Take not an occasion by the sinnes of the people to distrust God but rather by the promise of God abhorre your ease and distrust and fall to Gods work with cheerfulnesse and good conscience Againe seeing God hath taken the care for us Ministers 2. Branch Admonition Snare not our consciences in doing our worke whiles we are at worke let us not snare our selves with an ill conscience in the doing of our worke God is not tyed to our sinne for the meanes of supporting us Many make it a strong argument for the swallowing of any gobbets and to defend themselves in their flattering of their betters in their sinne smoothing and blanching them in their base courses because else say they wee shall not have their good will encouragement and assistance Great mens frownes are now a dayes all in all to scare men from faithfulnesse in their Ministry And if any perill or danger be cast in mens way for keeping of conscience presently this objection offers it selfe but what shall wee doe would you have us beg endanger our estates and freeholds our liberties and welfares Alas poore soules Is this the thanke which you returne to God for his alsufficient providing for you Should you distrust him after all the care which hee hath taken 1 Pet. 3. Should you now as Peter speaks cry a confederacy with the wicked cleave to base dishonourable courses to attaine your owne ends as if there were no God to provide It were base enough to do thus if the Lord hath left you at six and sevens to shift for your selves but having so faithfully promised to see to you while you are faithfull why should so vile a thought enter into you as to imagine that except you lick up the scurfe of the time and play the temporizers and hypocrites against conscience you must needs want supplies and be destitute of maintenance No no Trust God walke in your uprightnesse feare not the feares of the malicious but sanctifie the Lord God in your heart who hath promised to bee with you to the end of the world Matth. 28. ult Let him be your fear Let his promise be your strong hold forsake him not and he will not faile you he hath a treasure hid in the bowels of the earth for those that cleave to him and warpe not from him by an ill conscience hee hath not set men on worke to honour and support them to the end that he himselfe should let them sinke or swim if others should happly neglect them but in such a case he will step in himselfe and be their God alsufficient rather then faile so that they shall say by experience There is nothing lost by trusting God Heb. 13.5 At the hardest they have Gods bond to put in sure and he hath said 1 Pet. 4. ult Matth. 16.26 Habac. 3. He will not faile them Fear not therefore what man can do But in well doing commit your self unto him who is a faithfull keeper lose not conscience for what shall a man give for the recompence of ir Can all that a man gaines by such a bargaine requite his losse No surely Therefore quiet our selves though there were no calfe in the stall or bullocke in the flock yet the Lord will be your strong salvation I have seen the posterity of the idle scandalous covetous of Epicures and lovers of their owne bellles ease and lusts such as with Hophni and Phinees have stollen from Gods sacrifices to serve their owne turnes to beg their bread yea in that very place 1 Sam. 3. it s threatned But never saw I the righteous forsaken I have heard of a faithfull Minister who refused to change his living
serve for a taste by the paw you may judge of the Lion Oh! that this Reproofe might so pierce them that they might fall upon themselves and reprove themselves bitterly for their more then heathenish unnaturall unthankefulnesse Papists may condâ—mne us for our disregard of our Ministers This blinde generation of Papists shall rise up in judgement and condemne us Protestants yea many of us noted for our zeale For what cost doe they refuse to be at to maintaine their Priests and Jesuits in their bravery nay what fines would they not be willing to pay for the liberty of their Religion But alas We who professe a better and seeme zealous for it have no such principle of love in us Our Religion must stand alone and defend her selfe or else she may sinke or swim for us It s the mercy of God to our Kingdome to keepe the hearts of our Qâ—een and Kings of blessed memory and noblenesse of heart in the defence of the truth of God without toleration and imbezeling and long may the Lord so rule and dispose of their spirits For it s to be feared if they we were but brought to the triall who would give most for their Religion they for their Priests or we for our Ministers they would out-bid and outdrop us many of us even wealthy Gentlemen and others I will not tax all as much as Crownes or Royalls outbid brasse farthings The Lord shew us our disease and to what issue it would come if God prevented it not Vse 3 Thirdly this point is Exhortation to all who are convinced of this Truth People exhorted to honour and support the Minister That they practise this duty of love to the Minister of God If you would truly be free from all these aspersions as what good heart would not shake her lap of such dung Do not only abhor the treachery inconstancy basenesse and unthankfulnesse of hollow lovers Doe not onely abhorre the love of your selves lusts and appetites more then God or his Minister But especially learne this mystery of loving a Prophet for himselfe and in the name of a Prophet for his message sake Get an heart knit to him in a close band of amity which no sword can cut in two no time occasion or danger interrupt Let it not bee a love of teeth outward or outward signification but a child-like loyall reverend and sacred love without dissimulation Let the very joy of his message goe as dâ—epe into thy soule How that may be effected as these bad properties goe into the spirit of the contrary Lin not till the Minister of God have as well kindled a fire in thy heart of sound love and affection as set up a flashing light in thy mind of knowledge and understanding which may vanish though for a time thou seeme to rejoice in it Brethren if we desire your love pardon us this wrong for you shall fare the better If once this Epistle be written or engraven in thy heart with the pen of a Diamond the characters thereof will be indeleble It s no letter of inke and paper but written by an Adamant claw of the Spirit which knits you faster then Ionathan was knit to David This will make you close and faithfull and you will goe under a woods side into a wildernesse to renue your covenant No message can so pierce into your spirit as this If your Lawyer should by his skill and pleading win the day at Law for you if the Physitian should recover you of a deadly disease if your spokesman should prevaile in a great marriage of many thousands None would sticke so deepe nor deserve such love as the message of reconciliation and the cure of spirituall leprosie causing the flesh of thy soule to returne againe as the flesh of a little child This will make thee doe great things for the Prophet this will ingratiate and make him as one of a thousand unto thee Shall any thing now part him and me Act. 8. Thinke we that the Eunuch as speedily as Philip was snatcht from him carried him not away with him in his heart Should mony travell feare or danger ever have separated them Oh brthren let this example here of Naaman soke as oile into our spirits And before you depart hence beg it of God that he would teach you the obligation of a soule to his Minister And then we will give up our selves as Paul speakes first to the Lord and then to him in a league of faithfull amity Make but this sure that we have received his message Rom. 18. and then there needs no more That will be a principle within to dictate and direct the rest be the fruits greater or smaller so that love be the guide all shall be well The odds which Paul to Philemon speakes of Thou owest me thine owne soule And that which our Saviour speakes of To give a cup of cold water we know is very large and different yet where love is the roote both are accepted with God and all the steps which passe betweene Love may be trusted for the measure for shee hath an instinct which teacheth her what to doe shee can purge the heart of scantnesse and straitnesse and enlarge it with opennesse and freedome If Popish and ungrounded love be so full and free shall love truly rooted be barren Shall error bee more powerfull then truth No no The favour of love that comes from a soule redeemed with the pretious bloud of Christ excells all other respects whatsoever and carryes more demonstration with it And if love beare the sway a true Minister of Chrst will be as free to impart himselfe to the poorest and meanest of his congregation who can make him little requitall as to the richest and best yea although he be at some cost with them also as in some cases of distresse and visiting of the sicke it may be expected from him The loadstone which drawes his heart in pitty and compassion being the grace and necessity of the parties rather then his own advantage But to returne to the people in a word The duty urged give your hearts openly and freely next to God to his Minister for his worke sake Lately I read a story of the afflicted state of Belgia thralled under Philip of Spaine and Don Iohn of Austria his brother of whose tyranny the poore Province being weary they chose by common consent the Prince of Orange for their defendor and protector and meeting him in a solemne assembly at the Towne of Gaunt presented him with a golden heart opened with this Motto engâ—aven about it SINCERITY And truly brethren to apply this I say the true present of a soul won to God by the peace of reconciliation is an heart though not of gold yet more pretious even made of love and opennesse with sincerity of affection without this we cannot receive the Minister of Christ aright we may blear his eyes with false colours but God is not
mocked It behooves us to hope the best of all whom we cannot convince of the contrary But except this principle be ingrafted first all other shewes will vanish and a false heart must one way or other bewray her selfe This open sincere heart is the best present for a Preacher and that which will doe great things if need be as Naaman was here ready to do It saith to the Minister there is mine heart take that in pawn and the rest will follow But an iron close hollow heart is poison to a Minister The Jesuits begged of King Henry the fourth of France that he would bequeath them his heart in token of his esteeme which they keep in a golden cup in one of their Chappell 's Let us doe so to the Minister of Christ and as I said let not Fryers and Jesuits prevaile more with their votaries for their hearts then faithfull messengers from heaven with their people That which is well for the present among us brethren I commend If the Gospel had not some friends it could not be so well as it is onely take heed that bad times eclipse it not But I speake as I doe because daies of peace are not as daies of trouble among some good hearts of sincerity many are hollow and the best may amend and learne to bee confirmed to doe that they doe upon grounds of conscience And I desire the Lord that without prejudice wee might heare this truth and receive it Aske thine heart whence is it that my affections are so blunt and dead towards Gods Minister The more I am loved the lesse I love 2 Cor. 12.15 What Did his message never pierce my soule Did it never convince me to be a ranke enemy of God by nature That the wrath or favour of the Almighty was my life or death Did it never convince me of this that the Lord Jehovah hath in the bloud of his owne sonne devised offered sealed up a reconciliation and that for me Alas what wonder if the hearth of that Altar be cold whereon Gods fire was never kindled O Lord work the sense of the message of immortality and life in me by the Spirit of grace and then I shall behold the honour and worth of thy Minister with a spirituall eye and that common base judgement of the world shall vanish Then shall his feet be beautifull his face and voice pretious and his love above the love of any earthly object Job 33. Then shall I call him with Elihu one of a thousand For where one Minister cares for reconciliation himselfe or teacheth it to others some others doe not so they have the fleece what care they whether men sinke or swim Oh! Now I see it s a rare grace for a Minister to prise a soule to tremble at the losse of it to value it at the price of the bloud of the eternall God and the losse thereof as the spilling of the heart bloud of Christ Oh Lord Didst thou meane a poore soule so well as to give him a part in this bloud And to send me tidings thereof by the messenger of peace thy Minister sealing up that unto me on earth which in heaven thou hast granted me My goodnesse my thanks cannot reach thee but it shall fall upon thy Minister whose blessed voice thou hast caused to sound in mine eares and to convey thy love into my soule I hope I shall not forget such a Levite all my dayes So much for this Use Fourthly and lastly this point is for Instruction to teach us what duty Vse 4 we owe to God himselfe Instruction If we owe the Minister great things what owe we to God himselfe If to the Minister a poore mortall worm we owe such honour and reverence what then owe wee to God himselfe If we should doe great things for the instrument of our peace who is the messenger onely of glad tidings What then owe we to him that is the fountaine of it and him that sends it from heaven to us What should seeme great unto us for such kindnesse How should wee carry our lives liberties soules and selves in our bosomes ready to lay downe for him What cost what price is so great which should part the Lord and us Gen. 23.15 As Ephron said to Abraham touching the price of Machpelah its worth so many shekels of silver but what is that betweene me and thee So should we say Oh what is my best treasure worth Lord in respect of losing thy love and communion God will have his servants do some singular thing for him Some shreds I doubt not we should beteame him what great thing would we doe for him What vertue goes out of us What streames of our love and affection goe to him from whose springs all proceed unto us What singular thing doe we for him who gave his Sonne to save enemies and his Minister to bring us newes of it Servants who attend royall Benefactors love to seale their loyall love by some undeniable exploit and marke of extraordinary service As those worthies of David would breake through an hoast of enemies to fetch him water 2 Sam. 23.15 so great an hazard that David thought it a present meet for God And all to teach us that he whom great things do become to give deserves the greatest from us even the very neglect of life it self if he aske it When I read of the strange adventures of men for the pleasing of their Lords and Commanders methinks it shames us Christians It s recorded of the souldiers of Charles the fifth who hearing that he desired a way to be made for his army over a certaine broad River then beset with the ships of the enemy They put their swords in their mouthes and drew those ships surprised to the shore and conveied over the army in them What was this but for the pleasing of a mortall man But when as one day the soule shall be summoned before God and demanded by the Judge what singular thing hast thou done to put it out of question what love thou bearest to me What a wofull regret will it be when it can bethink it selfe of nothing save shreds and parings We could beteame that God should straine himselfe to a demonstration of some great thing for us If it were to make the Sunne stand still or goe backe ten degrees to worke some miracle or shew some signe from heaven of love to us that it might appeare how great we are in his bookes And we make small account of small blessings which others share in with us who are lesser then the least But what doe we picke out to resalute him withall How doe we curtall him of his ordinary dues rather Gen. 22.2 as thinking much of that The Lord bad Abraham do a great thing for him even kill his son and he was ready to do it and the Lord said Now I know that thou lovest me indeed But if he should put us to
and his labour is with God if then for conscience he seekes their welfare and counts it his crowne if they obey Esay 49.4 its equall and righteous that they requite love for love duty for duty That they set his crowne upon his head by their faithfull obedience The businesse concernes themselves very sadly for the Minister preaches not comforts not exhorts not for his owne ends but for theirs If then he be for them and not himselfe shall they be able to answer it if they be not for their owne soules Alas what shall the discouragement they afford to the Minister hurt him Shall it not redound to them See Heb. 13.17 That were smally to their comfort He is from God and as in the stead of Christ doing his Embassage As Ieremy speakes to those rebells Chap. 44. Lo I am before you you may answer me as you will But know that he who sent me will not be so easily answered 2 Pet. 1.16 he will pay ye home for your rebellion If the Minister be bound to follow God and not cunning devises and fables of his own head and must give a strict account thereof to his Master Woe be to them that perceive not nor lay to heart What a solemne account will lye upon them if they dispise that message which he delivers upon such tearmes He hath saved his soule but thy bloud shall be upon thine owne head True love then is judicious see 2 Cor. 5.14 and as in all other things so in this she is loath to offer any measure to the Minister which she is loath God should offer herselfe Reason 3 Thirdly love is marveilous tender He then that loves his Minister is very sensible of that griefe and discontent which must needs smites his heart when he sees his labours slighted 1 Cor. 13. especially if he be a man wholly set to seek Gods ends in preaching A good heart will say I warrant you it stings the heart of him who teaches us soundly to behold in us slight acceptance Oh this will breed bad bloud This will load him with sorrow and he hath no whither to goe for ease but to him who set him on worke And the Lord will take his wrongs to heart and count them his owne and that will prove sad for us Oh! let us not provide so ill let us not cut downe the onely prop we stand on let us condole him in his heavinesse and remove the cause of it that so his heart being joyed may procure a good errand to heaven in our behalfe and bring downe a blessed answer from God unto us Reason 4 Fourthly love is given to esteem highly of that which it loves unites it and strengthens it selfe in the object delighted in she sets it up in her heart exceedingly and good cause why for love proceeds from some convinced amiablenesse and worth in the thing loved and that reflects backe honour and esteeme Now if it be so then love of a Minister will breed honour to him under God neither under his worth nor above it but sutable to it contrariwise if there be small or no love what will the answer be Tush what is he He is but a man as others yea and perhaps a weake one a man of passions and frailties So then marke A lovelesse heart despiseth a Minister shames him is as rottennesse to his bones thwarts the doctrine makes all that behold him in the mirror of such people to thinke they have a Minister of like disposition to themselves else for shame they would not be so base I conclude then true love will devise with her selfe what will grace and magnifie the Minister and his labours and finding that nothing will do it so much as the obeying of his voice they will force and compell themselves out of the meer nature of their love to obey him to the uttermost cost it them never so much the setting on as face answers face in water Proverb so doth the life of an hearer who loves his Minister answer his labours Love must needs destroy it selfe if it should disesteem her object therefore she honoureth that as she would support herselfe So much for Reasons This point first affords Terror to all basely minded men who live Vse 1 in the utter hatred and scorne of their Ministers thwarting Terror Two or three Branches vexing and crossing them to the uttermost in stead of obeying Such as Jer. 44.16 openly tell him The word of God which thou spakest unto us we will not heare it Such as live at open defiance with the Minister asking Shall this fellow reigne over us No Shall we be tyed to his girdle We scorne it Let us cast his cords from us Psal 2.12 What Lord shall controll us Our tongues our spirits and wayes are our owne Shall he teach us to marry to buy sell keep company use our liberties Shall he come among us to forestall our pleasures our wills and lusts They that live at open defiance with their Ministers are odious Cannot wee tell as well as he what is good for us He serves us and lives upon us and shall we maintaine our servant to be in our tops Oh base wretch He is thy servant for thy good but made so by God not a slave but a free honourable Minister of reconciliation not to serve thy humours but to controll them And as I said before then they will runne and ride and lay their purses together nay set on all the mastives of the Country against them to worry them out But oh wofull creatures Reproach of Ministers shame and spots of assemblies you need not to hunt them out Read but that in Mica 2.6.7 and there you shall finde God himself will doe it for you You say prophesie not But I say Ezek. 3.26 they shall not prophesie unto such lest they take shame I will not suffer their faces to be covered with such confusion as to be plagued with such I will rid them from among such and carry them to a people that love them As for these haters of them when as once their shepheards are gone I will come in among them and worry them that worried these And I will let in a flood upon them of woe when my Noa's are taken into mine Arke That which they sought for revenge of my Minister I will inflict as a revenge upon them and when they see themselves left to be consumed by those lusts of theirs which they scorned to be rooted out by him then they shall roare for very anguish some here under penury rags shame diseases and impenitency some in hell but then one houre of a faithfull Minister shall not be given them if they had the world to give for it Beware lest seeing the fearefull examples of vengeance in Scripture for contempt of the Minister besides daily experience of the sudden end of scorners and persecutors will not draw you from your trade God make you examples for
make shew of consulting with a Minister making him beleeve that they advise with him upon equall tearmes whereas in truth they make him but a stalking horse telling their owne tale so faire that they pull some word of allowance from him that so they may say they went to worke by advice so if any thing befall amisse he shall beare the brunt of it But if it fall out that he disswade and oppose their purpose they have made sure beforehand to follow their owne counsell And I have had experience of such that whereas they have seemed to weepe and bewaile some lusts and corruptions of theirs or to hearken to reasons disswading them from rash changing of their callings or entring upon dangerous marriages or to restore goods gotten badly or the like whereas the simple Minister thought they meant plainly as they spake when hee enquires afterwards of such perhaps hee heares some of these who so wept and bemoaned themselves are ordinary drunkards or uncleane wretches others were sure of their changes ere they consulted others continue in their extortion or usury still but none of them sought counsell directly but to make semblance of that is not in them or to get the opinion of teachable ones or to stoppe the mouth of accusing conscience for the present or to prevent some ill report of themselves which they more feare the Minister should know then themselves should commit I have knowne some who have earnestly besought the Minister to come to their house and to meete with some friends to prevent haunting of their houses with loose company who when the Minister is come are about the practice of lewd fellowship and drinking the selfe same morning and others who have pittifully bewailed how raging shrewish froward they are vowing to curbe these passions who yet are found to returne to them after with more violence then ever when they have had some word of comfort upon hope of their humiliation Salomon hath a Proverb of such as vow first and then enquire saying it is not good First to commit sacriledge and then aske whether it bee lawfull These may mocke men and their owne conscience but God is not mocked And to conclude this Use 3. Branch Very teachable men in shew yet persisters in those sins which are reproved are dissemblers Thirdly this also reproves all such as pretend to bee very faire and propense in taking counsell but when all is done still they will follow their owne course They are so tractable in shew that the Minister seemes to admire them For why Whereas some are so rough and stout that no man may speake to them against their rebellious courses lo these are so faire that you may say what you please unto them admonish convince rebuke and advise them you cannot perceive any word or passion to come from them which might offend Who would not now thinke these men to be the onely obedient ones and to be ruled But marke them still they are the same men their tongues as unruly their families as ungoverned their marriages as perverse themselves as disordered For why They are moulded by a custome into this dangerous habit to suffer you to say any thing they have Asses eares talke what you will you shall have a nod and be endured but there is no heart in them to obey no strength to bee ruled 1 King 22. Thus Iehoshaphat hearing the false Prophets would needs have Micaja sent for but to what purpose Indeed he would heare him speak and perhaps would have wished Ahab to be ruled by him But when he would not did he tremble to joine with him or desist from the enterprise No but still continued this trade with him and his sonne Iehoram and married his sonne to a daughter of that Idolatrous family which was their ruine Such a desperate slynesse or fillinesse or weakenesse there is in many that winde themselves by this smoothnesse out of all mens fingers that they may roll backe into the armes of their accustomed habits and humours whatsoever hath beene said to the contrary Simil. The thicke haile falling upon the tiles of houses doth as much pierce and breake them as counsell prevailes with these as the one rebounds backe as fast as it comes so doth every droppe of counsell passe away from these Their honour to the Minister is to give him the hearing with both eares but to obey him in nothing Far are these from him that said Esay 50.5 The Lord hath opened me an eare I was not rebellious But I have lengthened out my speech beyond the due limits of the time Here therefore I cease for the present leaving the rest till another season Let us pray c. The end of the Fourtenth Lecture THE FIFTEENTH LECTVRE Still continued upon this thirteenth VERSE VERSE XIII And his servants came neere and said unto him Father if the Prophet had bid thee doe some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much more then when he saith unto thee Wash and be clean VERSE 14. Then he went downe to Iorden and dipped himselfe c. 2 Kings WEE ended the last Lecture brethren with the latter use of Reproofe in the processe whereof we were cut off Returne to the former use of Reproofe But the point was a sharpe rebuke to all smooth people who will heare all and say as you say but hold their owne and doe as they list They seeme to want a bottome all that is said leaketh as fast out as it was powred in for lacke of a digesting and retentive spirit which their frothy vanity cannot admit It should seeme that those Jewes were such Deut. 5.29 who when Moses declared Gods covenant to them told him the word of the Lord was good they would obey all But the Lord cries out This people have said well in all they have spoken But oh that there were such an heart in them to doe it to feare and obey that it might goe well with them And this sinne seemed to runne in a bloud with them Ezek. 33. ult for the Lord tells Ezekel thus This people will sit and heare thy voice as the voice of a musitian yea thou art to them as one that singeth pleasantly to an instrument so are they catcht with thy words But they will not doe as thou saiest for their hearts goe still after their owne covetousnesse They are as slye fishes which will get out at one mash or other of the net To finish this Use therefore let all such know that as it is sinfull bashfulnesse for them to conceale themselves from their Minister whose lips are to preserve knowledge So it is double sinne and subtilty in them to advise with him for their owne ends and to use him onely as a stale when as their hearts are bent their owne way The former are their own worsâ— enemies But the latter trench upon the honour of God the esteeme of the Minister the peace of
known some loose professors who have sought to exceed all other their neighbours in the love of a godly Preacher and who but they in their running riding assisting of him They have been as his right hand of trust and service But lo in a short time these fellows bewray that which lay secret to wit an uncleane covetous voluptuous heart and what then Surely all men see evidently that these clave to the Minister for their owne base ends and to conceale their vices A speciall watchword to all Ministers of God to beware how farre they engage themselves in the love of any professors A caveat to Ministers See Joh. 2.24.25 Ministers reproach themselves in ascribing too much and trusting too far such as they know not who make toward them in speciall relation Try them throughly in their obedience as well as their pretended love or else the time may come when as their basenesse shall discredit your persons and Ministery farre more then all their love could prevaile If when all is done they are so subtill that we cannot espy them the sinne shall be theirs wee have saved our owne soules and may wash our hands in innocency because we have done our duties When all is done therefore this will hold water if we obey Heb. 13. So saith the Apostle Obey them that are set over you And Paul I beare you witnesse you obeyed the forme of doctrine delivered unto you And againe you received our doctrine not as the word of man but as the word of God Every good hearer should say to his Minister as Elisha did to Gehazi 2 King 5. end Went not thy spirit with me when I ranne after the man So did not the spirit of my faithfull Pastor goe with me when I was in such a company recreation or worldly businesse Me thought it curbed me from lightnesse and vanity from deceit from sinning in my tongue or in any disguisement of intemperancy or cousenage or covetousnes to think if he now saw me how should I be ashamed to do thus Oh! he loves me tenderly my souls welfare and should I grieve him thus 2 Cor. 3.2 This is indeed to be the Epistle of the Minister written in our hearts approving our love unto him to purpose Not that there is not a stronger motive then this to awe and draw people from good to evill for there is an holy Spirit of annointing which is given to all good ones which hath shed the love of Christ into their hearts and filled them with the length and bredth of it this should hem in the soules of beleevers for so the word is 2 Cor. 5.7 and compell them to watch over themselves This must bee the chiefe Monitor in the Schoole of Christ If the voice of this great Prophet be not obeyed for it selfe the voice of the servant as he is called Esay 50. will be little worth For what wonder if they disobeyed the voice of Moses the messenger of God Heb. 2.2.3 who rebelled against that holy Spirit which set him on worke and vexed it all those forty yeares as it is Esay 63.11 No it must be the spirit of the Master which must make his Steward esteemed The love of the Lord Jesus must make the love of the Minister compulsive else it will prove nothing but slavish feare or to avoid base shame as we see in many a drunkard or swearer who for the presence sake of a sinfull man will for an houre or two bite in their qualities which yet they tremble not to commit in the presence of God all the yeare long Conclude this point then and say I pretend love to my Minister how shall I demonstrate it really As Cornelius did Act. 10. It s said he fell downe and tooke Peter by the feet in token of excessive love and respect But what was this all No surely But this that he tells him They were all ready to hearken to whatsoever the Lord said unto them by him This was a sure marke love and feare make reverence and thence comes obedience When love is solid it workes by feare and causes a loathnesse to doe any thing which might grieve the Minister it sits like Mary at the feet of the Minister ready to obey And that not onely in slight matters to remove some sinne which may be spared 1 Sam. 15. as Saul that killed the leane cattell and the baser sort of Amalek but even the belovedst lust and most pretious vice even the fat cattell and the King himselfe True love abhorres common evidence its painfull it will be singular and aske Matth. 5.47 Joh. 21. what singular thing doe I to approve my love When our Saviour would try Peters love he askes him Lovest thou me more then these As some think he meant of his nets occupation as others of his fellow Apostles Both will do well Love thy Minister by obeying more then others yea love him more then thy nets thy beloved trade thy lusts which bring thee in the greatest gaine thy sweet usury thy gaming thy deceit which others who love him not would as soone lose their lives as forgoe The forfeit of these will import strongly that thou lovest not him for any by respect but as he is a Minister of God I remember a story of Pope Pius the fifth one that was reputed as humble as a proud Pope might be who being told of a base fellow that had much abused him in a Pasquill answered I sustaine two persons one of a poore Monk another of Christs Vicar if thou hast railed upon me as a Monk I pardon thee if as Pope I must punish thee So there is no true Minister of Christ who lookes at himselfe as a man but at the honour of him whose servant he is and to whom he desires all the peoples obedience should be derived Try therefore whether thy lusts can draw thee stronglier then he if two loadstones draw both together the iron will goe to the strongest So let thy love goe to him from thy lust Fleire not in his face nor beare him faire in hand when as yet thine heart goes another way Doe nothing behinde his backe which thou wouldest not doe before him In all thy doubtfull matters consult with him let him come within thy bosome know thy secrets and hide nothing from him wherein he can informe thee for he is for God and Christ 1 Cor. 5.20 as a faithfull Embassadour for thy good Doth he tell thee O my friend I perceive your zeale quales shrewdly in this Laodicean age you heare oft but sleep much at Sermons you jangle so much of earthly businesse upon the Sabbath that I feare you meditate little Or you are zealous but you grow not in knowledge wisdome tendernesse to manage your zeal aright from rashnesse and censoriousnes Or you are noted to be full of words or a busie body Or you are given to flout and jeere when you are in company Or you are bold to
dally with women Or you are too idle in your calling and runne up and downe needlesly Or you faile in compassion to the poore or doe small good with that you have you are hard and sore in dealings or make no conscience of keeping promise in all which respects the Gospel suffers and the Lord with your own credit and Ministery lye at the stake I beseech you if you love me as you professe to doe amend these I say obey him in all and be earnest with God and him to make thy love effectuall herein that thou maiest appeare not to love in word but in deed and truth And so much for this Exhortation And for the Minister one word let me adde Vse ult Ministers must love only for procuring obedience to the truth That which in the greene tree is not to be suffered how much lesse in the dry If people must not equivocate with their Minister much lesse may he with them Doe not seeke favour with the people and seeme to love them to any other ends save to draw them to obey thy Doctrine If thou wilt needs seem great with them improve al thine interest for God and their good Seeke not to idolize thy selfe in any mans heart and affections for thine own ends that thou mightst either magnifie thy person above other Ministers or get the reputation of some great person as Magus did or enlarge thine estate and preferments But in all let it appeare 2 Cor. 12.14 that thou seekest them not theirs and as a servant of Christ thou seekest to set up him though with thine owne abasement As thou usest thy selfe so will it appeare in thy course what thou aimest at and if once people smell what thou seekest thou shalt both draw flatterers enough as being meet covers for thy cup and deterre all that make conscience from honouring thee from the heart For why Under colour of serving thy Master thou tradest for thy selfe and discoverest thy self to bee a meer Sycophant not caring which end goes forward so thou canst worke thine owne ends Not much unlike those timeservers the Princes of Ioash who came and did him great homage but why To draw his heart from God to Idolls and their owne purposes and those leaguers in France in King Henry the fourth his time for the aliening of his heart from the Protestant Religion which proved the ruine of them both But of this in the next Argument Lastly here is Consolation to all such as second their affection to the Vse 4 Minister of God with entire and sincere obeying his voice Comfort Thou canst doe little for thy Minister perhaps but this thou doest thou obeyest him It s a signe unto thee that thy love is sincere unto him and which is better to the Lord himselfe to the message he brings nay it s a signe thy heart is in love with the truths of God his commands threats and promises It argues thou lovest all the Ministers of God without dissimulation or partiality a rate gift and hardly found for each man will have his owne Paul Cephas or Apollo Nay to conclude 1 Cor. 3.4 it s a signe that there are many graces in thee saith purging thy conscience humility and selfe-deniall all saving gaces This obeying is above all sacrifices and fat of lambes yea more to be rejoyced in then so many Jewells Could but I prove this in you my beloved who throng to heare and looke me in the face to pull out my words out of my mouth I should not need to comfort you or praise you Matth. 11.19 Wisdome is justified by her children your selves should praise you in the gates though I were silent Luke 1. And as the babe sprang in the wombe of Elizabeth when Mary came neare her so should your hearts leap in your bosomes while you heare me speake and as those two Disciples going to Emmeus Luke 22. so should you beare me witnesse this day and say Did not our hearts burne within us while he applied his doctrine But well may this use come in the last place for they are fewest whom it may truly concerne And so much for this second Argument of the Servants drawne from his love to the Prophet Now I come to the Third And that is couched closely but effectually in these words How much more when he saith unto thee 3. Argument The sincerity of the Prophet Wash and be cleane As if they should say Alas What seekes the Prophet in all this his charging thee to wash in Jorden What doth he expect a reward of thee Doubtlesse then he would not so effectedly have kept in and refused to talke with thee he would then have sought thy face as a Prince bringing great gifts flattered and fawned on thee for his owne vantage But now behold Explication of the ground he simply and sincerely tells thee Gods message looking at nothing else That which he urges is nakedly this that for thine owne good thou mightst wash and be cleane If he had sought from thee some great matter for himselfe though no doubt thou wouldest easily have yeelded to that also yet then he might with more colour have beene suspected But now since he hath no further reach then thy cure and welfare entirely desiring thy good and loath to see thee returne home with thy disease why shouldest thou not yeeld to him and wash Shall he seeme more heartily to wish thy happinesse then thou thine owne That were to be doubly blindefolded with passion neither to see his love nor to wish thine owne good This being their argument it affords us this observation Sincerity in a counsellor claimes acceptance That its a strong motive to all who are not perversly led by their own self-love to hearken to counsell when it shall appeare that he who gives it is sincerely affected to the party counselled without any respect to his owne advantage And in very deed it is that argument by which throughout the Scriptures the holy Ghost pleads audience 1 Sam. 12.3 Samuel being to urge the Israelites to repent and return againe into covenant with God and to contest with them for their Rebellion beginnes with this argument Behold here I am witnesse against me before the Lord Whose Oxe or Asse have I taken Whom have I defrauded or oppressed Of whose hands have I taken bribes to blinde mine eies q. d. If it were thus my mouth might be stopt in my conviction The Apostle Paul Act. 20.31.23.34 being to presse those Elders of Ephesus to tread in his steps and to conceale nothing of Gods truth from his Church urges his owne patterne I have coveted no mans silver gold nor apparell yea your selves know that these hands have ministred unto my necessities and to yours who have been with me and by this rule he bids them proceed pleading that golden speech of Christ It s a more blessed thing to give then receive The same Apostle 2 Cor.
Nextly here is Terror and Reproofe for all that live under convincing Terror to all proud despisers of sincere Counsell sincere and faithfull counsell yea such as they cannot except against to proceed from unfaigned desire of their salvation conversion and repentance and yet still live in a stout and wilfull obstinacy and resolution to abide in their lusts and liberties without controll This is sure while men can pretend any sinister end in the Minister they thinke themselves to have buckler enough to beare off all blowes But even to you this I say that it shall not serve your turne to cast this blame upon your Minister for the power of the word ought more to convince you and scare you from your base courses then the Ministers insincerity to excuse you But when all this your plea is gone and cut off and you cannot deny but the evidence of the word goeth with the evidence of sincerity and you cannot for your eares deny but that your soules and selves have beene sought with the denying of our owne health gaine nay that you have had some Ministers who have robb'd themselves to teach you denyed many succours for your sake and been at their owne cost to study and preach unto you and yet the day is to come that one of many of you are wonne from your blindenesse Atheisme infidelity hollownesse pride worldlinesse or the like Oh what answer shall you make to the Lord when hee shall load you with this accusation Saul himselfe in a pang relented at Davids simplicity of heart in cutting off the lap when he might have cut his throat 1 Sam. 24.4 but such confession was yet never extorted from some of you I will not make all alike in this kinde God forbid But I wish all to looke about them Some are so cursed as those hearers of Christ who when he by the finger of God cast out Divells Matth. 12.31.32 yet enraged their hearts even against the very Spirit it selfe by which he wrought and preacht in an high degree whom he pronounced unpardonable It were enough to sin against any one doctrine promise or threat or command of the Spirit as thousands doe daily and many of you before me have done Speak before the Lord and answer for your selves what one sound reproofe what truth of Gods Spirit either of Law or Gospel hath pierced many here for their dead hearing tyring out the hearts of Gods Ministers for their drunkennesse uncleannesse base tongues lying and the like But some there are who have set themselves against the Spirit it selfe of truth and sincerity in the Preacher Witnesse this That the more faithfull he is the more they have raged against him and rebelled nay some have studied how to make the sincerity of the Preacher his snare entrapping him in those speeches wherein perhaps not with so much caution yet with as great sincerity as is possible for sinfull flesh he hath expressed himselfe for their good And if not so yet they wilfully have slept and lived in security under it As Nicodemus told Christ Joh. 3.2 that the Pharisees his fellowes knew him to be from God in their conscience but yet smothered their light Oh fearfull sinne How dare any of you provoke the wrath of God thus to smoke against you I remember that example of them who came to Christ and practised this treachery Matth. 16.22 Mark 11.31 Master say they we know thee to be from God and teachest the word sincerely not caring for the person of any Tell us then Is it lawfull to give tribute to Cesar or no As if they should say Thou preachest sincerely therefore wee come to cut thy throat with thine owne words Worse then Herod in this kinde who murthered Iohn halfe against his will Matth. 14.2 and afterward feared that he was risen and could have no peace because he had slaine so sincere a witnesse of God but these would shed the bloud of such and no whit blanke but thinke they doe God good service But say that all are not so vile Joh. 16.2 yet how many of us are there who being guilty in our owne conscience of our sinnes and of the sincerity of the reprover yet hold their owne and will not come in will not discerne a gift of God above any thing which man can reach unto but resist it Partly by their slightnesse partly that they are so full of their owne matters contentions with others covetous courses politicke principles and self-delusions with pride of heart stoutnesse and disdaine techinesse and reliques of some old bitter roote which is bred in the bone or such like evills and the love of them will not be drawne by any sincerity of the Minister to forsake these wayes which long custome hath hardned them in but rather become more pathed in their sinnes by much beâ—ting upon To whom I say will you never bethinke you Will it not be bitternesse in the end What will you deferre all till death And then as others have done cry out for the Minister and empty out your whole heart The misery of contemners and say Oh Sir I knew of a long time that you spoke unto me from God but what for one cause and what for another I contemned the love and compassion wherewith you spake dallyed with God and sinned against my owne soule and that tender honesty of your reproofes and admonitions Oh you have been patient long and borne with my frowardnesse Prov. 1.26 But now if I live I hope I shal see your affection honour your Ministery humble my selfe under your terrors beleeve the promises reforme my wayes Oh doe you delay till now But who can tell whether God will not leave you at such a time to the former hardnesse of your heart Or if not yet whether your humiliation will prove sincere or false as being on the racke Whether God will take you away in your dallyings or no ere that day It is not safe venturing But most wise and safe to yeeld to the sincerity of good counsell while it is given ere it be too late This know that wheresoever God hath a sincere Minister he shall never goe without honour although it be in the destruction and finall conviction of the gainsayers Take heed you be none of them whom this guilt ceazes upon Vse 6 Sixtly this is Instruction and that in two kindes The former this To judge by this rule 1. Brâ—nch Instâ—uction Gods counsells are most sincere Rom. 15.3 Rom. 5.7 what great reason God hath to presse us to obey all his offers counsels exhortations promises To be sure although we should say all men are lyars and seeke themselves yet the Lord is sincere faithfull he cannot seeke his owne ends to our hurt Hee cannot bee benefited by us his are the sheep upon a thousand mountaines Psal 50.10 he needs not our wealth but goodnesse reaches not to him Psal 16.2 Who hath given to him first
and it shall not be restored Nay the Lord Jesus our great Prophet hath even stript and emptied himself of all his excellency and glory to make us rich and glorious Philip. 2.5 He craves nothing of us in all his counsells and dispensations but to beleeve and be saved he sought not to please himselfe but us even to be murthered for enemies if we obey him to be sure he hath deserved it doubtlesse for the base and ungodly none would dye But when we could not profit him but were traitors hee shed his bloud for us all to breake our hearts Give him but faith and obedience and take the fat of Rams to thy selfe he taskes thee not to the cost of Jewish worship or Popish wast Doe but maintaine his Ministers and poore Saints and there is all he tyes thee too Oh then if thou heare not the voice of this Prophet so faithfull in all his house who seeks thine ends in his owne how shalt thou be able to stand before him Oh! thou shouldest stoope and say Lord thine honour and ends shall be dearer to me then mine owne salvation And thy Ministers shall prevaile the rather for thy sake for they urge us to be reconciled in thy Name Vse 6 To draw therefore to an end let this be Instruction to all that enjoy the mercy of a sincere Minister and Counsellor 2. Branch Thinke not that God doth enjoine him to be faithfull and leave you to your liberty to bee hollow to looke between the fingers and to escape in a mist except you get an heart of candor and simplicity it will little boot him to teare his tongue to the stumps and kill his spirits in plaine reproofe and counsell No as I told you in the former Doctrine so now shortly I touch upon it and hasten to an end Doe as those Dutch did to their new elected Prince of Orange present a sincere Minister with a sincere heart better then that golden open heart which there I spake of as rich as it was A man may be faithfull and yet mistaken by unfaithfull hearers Therefore let people also be meet and apt tinder to take this sparkle People must be sincere and open to receive counsell 1 Pet. 2.1 and kindle by it let them bring all ingenuity and humblenesse of heart to embrace it that so it may be well bestowed else he doth well but thou shalt pay for it To this end take Saint Peters counsell Casting away all superfluity of maliciousnesse prejudice distemper and envy As new borne babes covet the sincere milke of the word that you may grow thereby Receive it as it is it is sincere and take it sincerely His similitude is very pithy Simil. A new borne babe looks simply and only at the milke that it may be nourished and grow Though it bee the child of a Prince and sucke the brest of a meane nurse yet it turnes not away in disdaine but takes the brest without any more adoe So I say to you Take heed of curiosity conceits partiality fulsomenesse if the milke and nurse be both cleer and sincere descant not but like a babe covet and embrace it to thrive and grow by it Alas what should it boot thee to conceit that the Minister means thee worse then he speaks Or what should it boot him to doe so If his words may beare a good as well as a bad construction why shouldest thou fasten a bad Is it not an heathenish sinne Rom. 1. to construe all in the worst part Ezek. 18. If he do ill and I take it well my bloud not be shed but if his counsells be sincere and I perverse my soule shall pay for it Rather thinke although he should not be sincere yet the reproofe is just rather then cavill against him being upright however if thou be sincere to thy head it shall be as balme for to snort in thy sinne were deadly Psal 141.5 And say that a Minister should erre on which side were it better for thee to erre whether in smiting thy impostume or smoothing thee Once an enemy wounded the side of another that fought with him and let out a sore which neither love nor money could doe Put case thou wert under the Ministery of a dawber and flatterer Poore peoplâ— have a prâ—viledge above the rich in this that they be reproved were it not a plague It is not the priviledge that meane persons have above the noble the great and mighty that the former may have sincere counsell when the other cannot come by it It is not their commodity but thine though it were to be wisht to be theirs most of all but alas it is denied them They cannot say as forelorne Nero did have I neither foe nor friend to stab me For they have enemies to kill them by flattery but few friends to wound them in love As of late it appeared in a great man being in discontent who visited a Minister and desired counsell from him The Minister dealing very roundly and home with him the Gentleman wondred professing that no friend in the world had ever said so much to him and thanked him for it This argues that great ones meet with little plaine dealing If it be then the priviledge of the meaner sort to be sincerely counselled who should bee such a foole as to forfeit it by his frowardnesse Put case that sincerity see cause to deale more roughly and sharply with us then we expected and put some vinegar into our sores yet we know that milke sodden well â—â—ough it run over is better then raw so it is better to be told of our 〈◊〉 too much then murthered with flattery say we therefore to a sincere Minister loving friend here is my heart hand and all I am as thou art and my horses as thine mine heart is as open to reproof and counsell as thine is to give it I dare not nourish a lowring heart against thee Lastly this affords Consolation to all sincere Counsellors For why Vse 7 Their counsell is not frothy and light in the ballance but weighty deserving audience 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 Counâ—â—â—â—â—â—â—â—â—b Let them therefore count it their requitall to themselves in that their vertue is in it self contentfull For why A faithfull counsellor shall be honoured at last more then a flatterer whose words goe downe into the bowells to rot them when as the other heale the inward parts What although sincerity is justled to the walls hated pursued to the death As Iohns plainnesse by Herod Micaja's by Ahab I doubt not but when the arrowes stucke in Ahabs sides Micaja was honoured first or last it will be so There is none so desperate but at a time they adore sincerity and call it a jewell Even our very enemies being Judges our faithfulnesse is honourable Let us therefore hold on our practice and not be discouraged Had these servants thinke we any cause to repent them of their counsell when they saw him cured
Publicans and vilest ones unprofitable servants whereas their building within rises up to a greater height of self-confidence by their outward castings downe for they thinke that not onely they may merit for themselves but for others and more then fulfill the Law and so by equalling themselves to Christ they overthrow the sole soveraignty of his satisfaction and merit But O ye â—opish mortifiers of the flesh adde one thing more get the power of the word into you to divide betweene the bones and the marrow Heb. 4.12 to goe betweene your hearts and your corruption and to cast downe those high things of yours those imaginations which set up themselves against the simplicity of Christ and then so farre as the word warrants us wee will joyne with you in outward fruits wherein though many of us faile more then you yet this makes your Doctrine never the sounder nor justifies your defect in the great matter of Sincerity and Faithfulnesse Wofull hypocrites who straine out a gnat but swallow a Camel dare not eat an egge in Lent but dare kill your Prince And although wee will not wholly condemne all those patternes of humility whom you boast of for certainly many of your first Monks and Votaries were honester then your selves yet we know that their devotion had much wil-worship in it which cannot warrant yours much lesse can yours stand which hath neither honesty within nor warrant of the word without to maintaine it So much for this also Vse 3 Thirdly this serves to instruct us how to esteem of Gods administrations and dealings and how to dispute with our own soules in the case of our distrust and infidelity I remember the argument by which Elisha perswades that Iehoram and his company 2 King 3. to beleeve that God will give them water in that perill of drought This is a small thing saith he for the Lord to doe for you For why He will also deliver the Moabites into your hands a farre greater thing Sutable to which was that which the Lord would convince Ahaz of by Isaiah Esay 7. viz. the victory he should have of the Aramites Is it a small thing saith he for you to weary the Lord and to distrust his power Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son and shall call his name Emanuel which is a greater thing then to give you victory To apply this Let us learne hence to summe up the mercies of God vouchsafed us already and let us weigh them in due ballance If wee have seene him feed seven thousand with a few loaves Gods faithfulnesse to us in the maine must make us trust him in the smaller things doe we distrust him to feed twelve Disciples Do we finde that he hath bestowed upon us the maine let us beware of distrusting him in the lesser For he holds this rule much more surely then we We will trust a friend that hath lent us an hundred pound for the lending us twenty shillings and shall we distrust God He that hath made our bodies and breathed in our soules will he deny us food and raiment Is not the belly better then meat and the body then cloathing Whence is then this our distrust If he hath given us his Sonne Matth. 6.25 will he not with him much more give us other things lesser matters If he have made us a feast in the mountaines will he not much more give us ordinary food in the valleyes Had it not beene a base distrust in them that came into Canaan to thinke that God might suffer them to starve in the midst of a land flowing with milke and hony having before by a miracle nourished them with manna quales and the following rocke of water in the desert Doth the Lord urge us sinfull wretches by a Law which himselfe will not observe If we be faithfull in the greater treasure will he trust us in the lesser and will not we trust him Let us boldly urge the argument upon him by faith and we shall prevaile Rom. 8.32 he himselfe hath put it into our mouth If it become weake Read a speciall place in Math. 16.8.9 it s because we have made it so by our unbeleefe and let it fall to the earth We deceive our selves in the fundamentall promise and then accuse him that he keeps not touch with us in the lesser But if we would deale substantially in matters of weight we should finde that other lesser things would follow our hand with ease and the great ship of the main promise would carry all our smaller vessells of our secondary supplies after it without our rowing or strife But oh how basely doe we deale herein with God and our selves We dare beleeve that God will save our soules but whether he will keep us from poverty or no or bring us out of debt or enable us to maintaine our charge we cannot tell we have not so cleer a word for that we say as for the other Nay rather we yeeld more to sense and carnall reason in this then in the other or else make our selves thinke we beleeve the former better then indeed we doe Alas if the greatest were beleeved it were easie to cast anchor upon the other If the mountaine be given us shall a molehill be denied us No but we are pinched more with unbeleefe in the lesser then the greater if we had the like pinch of heart about the chiefe point of favour and pardon would it not thinke we dash the other and make it nothing Save my soule Lord and for my body doe thou as thou wilt for thou canst not doe amisse thou art tyed by thy promise to the lesser How comes it to passe then that those who have tasted how sweet the Lord hath beene in easing us of a burthen which wee never lookt to be rid of that we distrust him for faith in petty cases As for the easing us of such a strait aiding us in such a crosse of bad wife subtill enemy helping us in the losse of a good Ministery or in the encumbrance of a bad unprofitable people or ill and unsavoury Minister or strengthning us against such a lust or enlarging in us such a grace or granting us such friends in our distresse of body or blessing in our trade or training up of children or saving us and them from the customes of this present evill world or giving us our daily bread Oh thou of little faith what wilt thou be heathenish Shall the Lord cloath the grasse and deck the lillies which labour not nor spinne and shall he leave thee naked Not if thou labour and spinne out the promise in speciall Other of Gods people have done so Habac. 3. 1 Sam. 17. Habacuc would not distrust God though no bullocke were in the stall no calfe or sheep in the fold David will not distrust God touching the Philistin having killed both Lion and Beare and concludes 1 Chron. 16. that God will not
forsake himselfe because he made a promise to his posterity So let us doe But if we want any gift as of memory prayer asking questions conference we distrust God although we have received greater gifts of the Spirit which are onely peculiar to sanctification We love Christ say some and his members without dissimulation Esay 26. and our desires are to his name but we have no gift in private prayer fasting or uttering of our mindes and wants what then doth not the greater circle include the lesse If it bee meet for you he that gave you the cheefe can give you the smaller if hee doe not you shall not need them If you have got those that concerne the Kingdome and righteousnesse of God Matth. 6.32 the other shall be cast in Only I adde seeke God in the smaller as well as in the cheefe and beleeve the particular as well as the generall else although you have scaped a gulfe yet a shallow may endanger you Iona was abased in the whales belly yet impatient for the losse of a gourd Jona Cap. 3. and 4. Our fooles bable is more to us then a Kings Crowne If our bafe heart be set upon a trifle it s with us as a penny cuttle or a fine feather is with an Indian more pretious then much gold If God have kept thee in thy midle age he can keep thee in thine old age If in thy long sea-voyagâ— he can keepe thee from shipwracke in the haven much more provided that thou doe not entertaine any base lust which should eclipse thy former honour As Hezechia dyed with his blurre through loosenesse Phil. 3 But if thou wilt looke still forward to the price of the high call of God and not backward with pride for that which is past not be high minded but feare God will not deceive thee having escaped a Lion a Beare shall not devoure thee Vse 4 Fourthly let us be exhorted to that which is the scope of the Doctrine Admonition and Exhortation even Faithfulnesse and Sincerity for that will preserve in us that boldnesse and confidence whereby we shall beleeve that he who hath made us faithfull in the greater things will not leave us in the smaller otherwise nothing is more easie for us to fall into then this He whose head gazes up to the clouds soonest falls into the ditch but hee who walkes with his eye upon his way circumspectly and narrowly shall not need to feare it Ephes 5.16 The truth is our cursed spirit is so beset with corruption of all sorts that no law no rule of proportion can levell and make our lives equall and sutable We thinke that because we have wonne the spurres in one great battell therefore no lesser enemy dare looke us in the face But let not any that puts on his harneis boast as he that puts them off When the house is swept and garnisht then comes in the uncleane spirit and marres all our logicke and confidence 1 King 20.11 and makes many who beganne in the spirit to end in the flesh Behold and observe the course of such men as want the bridle of God to curbe them there is no certainty where to finde them Matth. 12. Inconstancy in mens affections and disproportion argues fashood though at a time you may perceive them above the clouds in their zeale often hearing vows of great reformation yet you shall marke them in a short time quite other persons for why Not a principle of grace acts them for then you should see a proportion in them but a pang an humour soone up soone downe Some time in the clouds in admiring such a Preacher or Christian none are like them by and by as the ship in the sea tossed from the tops of hils to the lowest depth none are so bad or meane as they they thrust them downe to the lowest pit Who abhors not so base and inconstant a course Their proud prodigall vainglorious foolish selfe-loving heart puffes them sometimes to very deepe protestations and purposes what they will doe but not wisely weighing with themselves that they want stocke to hold out they who at sometime will buy a good Minister into the Parish with great cost at another time will runne and ride to hunt him out as fast on their supposed death bed they bequeath great things to the poore but being recovered they doe nothing nay perhaps grinde their faces As those Barbarians Acts ult now made Paul a God but presently a murtherer Oh saith one I love thee from my heart I would ride an hundred mile to doe thee a good turne an hundred pounds should not part thee and me who would not beleeve him But there is no soundnesse within for at another time he will deny you his horse to ride five mile or to lend you five pound if you should goe to prison for want of it what Christian that feares God would not looke close to himselfe when he sees the world so mad and so unsettled through a false heart When a tender body goes abroad into the aire or foule weather he puts on his cap and hood close about his eares and girds up his loines close lest any the least dint or impression of weather should annoy him So will a tender conscience feele the smallest distemper and take heed of the least occasions of evill whereas a base heart is for all weathers companies occasions Let us then seeke to get into us a principle of constancy which may undertake for us else an inconstant man is as a wave of the sea and is unlike himselfe in all his wayes Jam. 1.4 Beware lest by this malady men cast our Religion in our teeth What is so common as this We have a good Churchman as any in the Country if he were as good out of the Pulpit as in it and could play at small game as well as at great in his worldly businesse family government liberties company studies or the like as in his preaching none were better where he does well as he spake of Origen none does better but where ill none worser What a sad reproach is that to his stedfastnesse So for Professors Oh saith one for his Sabbaths zeale to God and piety few may compare with such an one But come to the second Table to the duties of righteousnesse mercy keeping promises ruling his children scarce one civill man in the Town but is more reasonable compassionate and keeps his day better What faithfull in the cheefe treasure and yet untrusty in the smaller What principle doth this come from Who dare dispute for the credit of such a man as confutes all arguments by his unfaithfulnesse Iob hath a pretty allusion in one place and bids us try the Unicorne whether he will be bound to our yoke Job 39.9 or draw our cart or plough meaning that his wildnesse will not frame to it Surely a man might as soone doe that or tye the wilde Asse to
pride earthly hearts abides in them and annoyes them they cannot thinke the promise concernes them Oh! if they could finde themselves rid of these they should have hope else none Others cast their thoughts afarre off and thinke that faith carries with it the implied condition of such a change for time to come as they shall never attaine too For say these beleevers must be holy and cleane whereas we carry such base lusts about us hearts so hardned with sins that we cannot repent it were death to us to forgoe some beloved evills or to keep within a compasse of an holy course for any time As good tye a Tygre to a rope and make him to plow the furrowes as their wilde hearts to any duty and good behaviour And when they are told that faith will purge their hearts and they must not forestall God then they say though they should repent yet they should never persevere Before they dye the Divell who owes them a mischiefe will surely pay it them one temptation or other will foile and betray them so that ere they die they shal revolt most fouly and fall away like Demas Hymeneus and so goe to their grave with misery without returning to God and besides bring such a staine upon the Gospel as will never bee worne out There are others discouraged by the long space of time since they came to see themselves under the condition of grace as to be lost broken c. and yet they come not to any sound settling upon the promise if God they say meant to save them at all he would have saved them long ere now for they were once farre more tender then now they are they were at first onely guilty of sinnes against the Law but now they have added sinnes against the Gospel also as it were drunkennesse to thirst yea they are hardned sapped and past feeling And moreover they see many others who beganne farre later then they yet are got before them as in other gifts and graces so in faith and insight into the mystery of Christ in which they grow not but notwithstanding all meanes abide so silly so simple so ignorant and uncapable that there is little or no probability of being better They feele little difference neither they say in their course but alway in darkenesse sad feares going on and on but gaining no ground nor growing more toward the hope of beleeving and therefore they conclude that they belong not to Gods number they are not surely chosen of God and therefore they may will and runne long enough but they shall not finde mercy And so long as this bone sticks in the throat how should any savour of the promise goe downe their stomacks or enter into their hearts Another sort by these and the like distempers wax sullen and transported with melancholy and mopishnesse and grow therein so obstinate and that they will heare no counsell they know they say what their destiny is therefore let no body trouble himselfe about them As it is and hath beene so it will be with them still They know as much as any Minister can teach them They will not bee brought so much as to consent that there is any better estate then they live in neither doe they thinke that any can have any more assurance then themselves if they see any Christians merier then themselves they presently judge them to be presumptuous hypocrites and condemne them Others do not so much censure others as themselves and grow conceited against the meanes will not be perswaded to heare or pray because they doe but encrease their damnation nay but for necessity of nature they would not eat their meat nor drinke when they are athirst nor goe to any nor suffer any to come at them neither aske nor take counsell for they say these things belong to them whose they are But they are none of Christs and therefore have no right unto them And yet even many of these setting aside the malice of Satan holding them under with this melancholy of body or conceit of minde or both have given good signes of a loaden broken and desirous heart To draw to an end the most sad hindrance of all is that the beauty of the promise the good things of God given to his are not seene into by them They have not yet met with the spirit of light and perswasion somewhat or other hath dazled it either their confidence that it shall be well with them or their neglect of meanes or their using them in a scanty slacke and formall manner or their subtilty closenesse slynesse loathnesse to part with their pleasures or some bitter roote of earthlinesse which dampes the esteeme of the Lord Jesus they cannot be gastered from the creature it is so naturall so rooted in them or some base thing or other they will nourish as sugar under the tongue and hope to reconcile it with Christ so that both may goe together loth they are that onely bare and naked Christ should beare sway and come into a naked house or else I say the true kindly and cleere beauty of that which the promise presenteth to a soule under a condition is by some meanes hidden from them as by error and misconceiving what faith is by giddinesse by forgetfulnesse by foolish intermedling with many things Luke 11. one thing being necessary by little meditation applying pondering and incorporating the word into their hearts by stumbling at the very point in hand thinking that seeing good onely can and in time will releeve the soule therefore let all goe cast all upon God and be lazy and secure But one more I will adde of most usuall error to many especially such as are ungrounded and that is in the putting no difference between Doctrines and Truths handled in the course of their hearing As it is a sad error of some men that so they preach it skills not what nor how They little attend the estates periods and degrees of their people so the people are like them so they heare the truth they little minde what truths doe most concerne them 2 Tim. 3.7 and so alway are hearing but never come to knowledge Why They are foolish and undiscerning All is fish which comes to the net and they embrace alike one and other whereas although all be good yet it concernes them to looke out such as might fit their needs and further them in the worke they aime at Tell a woman whose fruit is come to the birth of this tale and that aske her what linnen she hath or what meat she will eat doth she savour such questions Are they not tedious Doth she not aime at one thing that is how she may get strength to bring forth So should an hearer that seekes the fruit of his labour not while himselfe with every truth lesse concerning for the present but hearkning after such as may answer his doubts cleere his objections reveale that which he most wants and which
Oh they say its pitty such Ministers should live they serve for no other save to gaster and unsetle men who are in peace They have done that with their words which all their labour with both hands cannot undoe againe Oh wofull wretch Is the Minister able to goe beyond the Lord Is he not a servant of God to doe what he will use him for Esay 10.15 Rom. 9. Shall the axe exalt it selfe against him that cutteth therewith Or the clay say to the Potter why dost thou make no more haste to fashion me No it s enough that he shall heale whom he hath wounded and make up the breach he hath made when God will use him In the meane time perhaps thy cavilling at the meanes bindes Gods hand behinde him thou needest not wonder that he doth thy wife or child so little good rather cease thy rebelling as bootlesse and yeeld thy selfe to come into Gods order that he may worke upon thy heart as he hath done theirs And so let it by the way encourage the Minister of God who pleads for the glory of God and travells with a soule burthened and despairing of ever seeing good day Oh Lord saith many a such one Vse 3 it is for thee that I have so urged the conscience of my hearer to trust upon thy accomplishment of thy word If I have deceived the people Encouragement to the Ministers of God Ezek. 14.9 Rom. 3.7 thou hast deceived me Oh if I should leave any poore soule in the briars and never see the worke of faith finisht in him I should be accounted a liar for God! what a dishonour were this Lord put to thine hand helpe thy weake servant save thine owne name and my credit Disable me not from being beleeved leave me not a reproach to vile ones Alas They whom I have to deale with are a sturdy and a rebellious people cavillers and such as will disgrace me if thy word should not prove true honour me therefore and set thy seale to my poore labours that in my truth thy name may be glorified 2 Cor. 10.4 Esay 57.18 batter and pull down their high stomacks plunge them into horrors and then create the fruit of the lips in them and strengthen me to be an able Minister of reconciliation that so the mouthes of them who would traduce thy Messengers and Ordinances may bee stopped Even as the Lord Jesus Joh. 17. praied his Father to glorifie him for the sake of them whom he had given him so doe thou entreat also Oh in thy weldoing be not discouraged by such nor be too sollicitous for God! feare not Esay 42.8 he will not give his glory to another he will not be laught at as unable to goe through that which he hath begunne These poore servants of Naaman were weake instruments to speake of but yet made strong enough by the Lord to conquer their Master so thou shalt perhaps be the instrument to water that which others have planted Gal. 2. And what if others enter into thine If God may have a Temple built by Salomon 2 Chron. 28.14 David will lay in Timber and Cedars and willinglly forgoe the name thereof And therefore distrust not God nor faint in thy service Thirdly let this be use of Admonition to us that since God hath Vse 3 said it He will not alway contend but create peace Admonition Cleere and justifie God in his delay of grace therefore wee judge not amisse of God when we see the worke deferred as if he did deserve the blame but rather cleer him and say He cannot lie the fault lyes some where else The truth is we heare of few who honour God in the improvement of this promise though it be not the fault of all for many doe beare witnesse to God in this kinde But why Because they wilfully make it a long journey which God makes short And first they will not confesse that which God hath done They think faith to be such a sensible effectuall grace that none can have it but by and by they shall see the flame of it and so not discerning any excellency of effects they consult with their owne feelings and conclude there is nothing at all Alas poore soules the beginnings of faith are poore though the encreases may be great Job 8.7 Spirituall things in a carnall subject are as hardly discerned as a pearle among much dung that which is our owne appeares easily and dismaies us But that which is Gods is more secret Againe many looke more at their owne stirrings of the poole then at Gods I can speak it by experience that whereas one hath made complaint of his not clasping to a promise and mourned simply for unbeleefe ten have bemoaned their losse of the affections which they have had in hearing praier or conference A signe that their owne is nearer then Gods worke with them Faith is not alway a victorious sensible and reflecting grace upon the soule wherein it is But a casting of her selfe after all her fruitlesse wrastlings as being convinced of the insufficiency and invalidity of them all upon the streame of the word to carry her to the haven of peace If then you have lost your first feelings and zeale give not God over but still seek him for a further spirit of recovery and encrease upon the best grounds Naaman here had lost his first hopes yet you see he recovers them againe by better insight and perswasion and that ere he looked for it Pray earnestly O Lord thou hast power to set the Sunne ten degrees backe Lord set mine ten degrees forward Thou oh Lord hast all instruments meanes seasons perswasions blessings crosses in thy hand to worke by apply them Lord and suffer not my soule which is sunke into giddinesse ease worldlinesse discontent of spirit and dead sullennesse to lye still in that dungeon Drive me out of my carnall tracke into thy Royall Rode and if I must be delaid yet keepe me in thy way presse the Lord with his owne word and say Thou canst discover to me all my steppings out of thy way all my stops and lets Thou canst uncharme Satans spell Thou canst multiply perswasion and weaken disswasion Thou canst remove that utter unwillingnesse and uncouthnesse of the soule to this work and cause lythnesse and complying therewith Thou canst pull me out of those snares which enwrapt me in bondage as the weeds did Ionah No rocks shall split me with feare no Syrens shall inchant me with baites if thou assist Thou canst menage thy Spirit with so strong an arme Esay 55.8.9 that it shall prosper to doe what thou wilt and cause that no raine no snow shall returne in vaine but doe that for which thou sentest it Take heed give not God over trifle not out thy time improve fasting to cast out the Prince of Divells Unbeleefe and frequent the Sacrament as Gods sealing Ordinance and then know that he who hath begunne will finish
except thou bee out of the way when the houre of performance is come Vse 4 But lastly and above all hearken to this all you to whom of right the Doctrine belongs Consolation to all who have found God in their conversion you who have long waited for this day behold it here even the day starre of consolation arising in you hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 I dare say for you you doe not gape after comfort to spend it upon your lusts but to heare what God will say That you returne no more to folly to your old distempers To you I apply this blessed truth to you I say whose big hearts are come downe and lye at the foot-stoole of mercy and marke what I say Come out of your ashes take unto you this white garment of joy and put it on your warfare is accomplished Oh that this day might be the time of your lifting up perhaps it may for ought I know take this handkercheife and wipe away all your teares with it let this Sun beame of comfort chase away all former mists and fogs of darkenesse and distrust and let it be as old Eli a voice from God to your sad spirits that with Hanna having received your answer you may be heavy no more 1 Sam. 1.17 1 Sam. 7.12 Set up your altar with Samuel and say Hitherto the Lord hath holpen us and adde moreover he will give me the hand and helpe me over the hill of difficulties that remaine Be so farre from distrusting this that you proceed and say He that hath thus fulfilled his word in one kinde he will doe it in all other set me beyond gun-shot of all corruptions temptations Divell opposition and malice of his instruments and keep mee till his comming and till I obtain full redemption Rather then the Lord would not accomplish that promise which was 4000. yeares old of sending the Lord Jesus hee would even strip himselfe and bee made sinne and shame of holinesse and honour Did hee so deny himselfe Galat. 4.4 and all to keep that maine promise and dare I distrust him in the rest and the smaller No surely Therefore poore soule that thou mayst be established come in and believe this maine one The night is past and the houre of darknesse is gone Now the Almond tree blossomes Cant. 2.11.12 and all the sad disasters of the Winter are passed Now in this Garden of God come meet thy beloved and let him give thee his love Henceforth say O my soule thou hast marched valiantly Thou art above all thy former feares and sorrowes Thou wert afraid lest death should prevent thee ere this day but that was impossible for then Gods word had been of no effect Say thus Now me thinkes in the comfort of this truth I could leap over a wall Oh that I should see it no sooner Now the time of God is come it is so cleare that I wonder I should ever stagger or distrust it I see it must bee wholly spun out of the Promise and not out of mine owne Bowels Gen. 28.16 Surely God was in this truth heretofore and yet till now I was never aware of it Now I am now I blesse God that ever I lived to this day that God should in such a comfortlesse world reveale such glad tidings unto me and make me to see his salvation Oft have I heard of him with mine eare but now I see him with mine eyes Now I can say Job 42.3.4 That which I have long sought I have found I have found him whom my soule loveth Why shouldst thou not say thus Psal 43.5 Why doth thy spirit fret within thee why art thou so sad when the Lord hath given thee the oyle of gladnes Doest thou not know that it hath been the portion of sundry Saints of God before thee Oh then climbe not up to heaven nor go downe into the deep to fetch Christ Thou shalt not need This day is come thy accepted time The promise is neere thee Rom. 10. even in thy heart to beleeve it As the Angell said to Peter Arise and follow me so doe thou and say Now of a truth I see the Lord hath indeed delivered me from Herod and the Jewes Acts 12.6 How went that Eunuch away from Philip rejoycing Acts 8. end What made Glover to speake when hee saw that Chariot of fire to carry him to heaven Oh! hee is come hee is come And another at the stake to take her leave not onely of her Husband Children and Countrey but of Faith and Hope saying Farewell you and welcome Love What a triumphant speech was it Speciall examples of soules deeply long loden yet at length comforted Another whose tendernesse over her children had not been ordinary and her feares great being very sicke to cry out I take no thought for them I leave them to my God and as for my distempers and temptations I have none I know I shall bee saved Another fearing hee should live in a great sicknesse asked Doe you thinke I should ever keep this assurance till another sicknesse and death come He was answered Yes and so foure yeares after at death he lay as before rapt and ravisht above world and all and being asked how he did said I am new out of a Trance I have had a doore opened and seene the glory of God and now the doore is clapt to but I peep at the crevis to keep the sight of it how loath am I to forgoe it To conclude another poore creature very weake to hold any thing all her life yet most constant in meanes till death when all thought her neere gone bade them weep no more for her nor take no thought for shee knew shee should doe well Oh the faith of these and hundreds more wee have seene and all to evidence this truth Oh! let us tread in their steps and follow their conversation and when thine end shall come Christ shall but stoop down and write upon thy heart 2 or 3 words Bee of good comfort Joh. 8.6 thy sinnes are forgiven but all thine accusers shall goe away and thy self be acquitted for ever Oh be thankfull to think of it and let no stranger world or lusts enter into this thy joy to defile it Thus much for this fourth and last use and for this doctrine Now I hasten to the next Doctrine And having ended the time when he obeyed we come now to the obedience it selfe True humilitie scornes not to learne of the meanest Hee went downe and washed himselfe in Jorden Wherein although the main thing which I intend is the Act of his faith yet one thing I must tell you of first viz. an amplifying of it by his humility that he was thus subdued by his servants and glad to yeeld at their instance counsell though their Master a great Prince An unusuall and unlikely thing that such a favourite to his Prince as hee was and so great
encounters me let him thinke himselfe honoured that I will vouchsafe to foyle him Some are of so arrogant spirits that they scorne to receive a good turne from their inferiour But O proud foole who art thou Mayst not thou dye in thy nest for want of a meane helper As once a great woman â—id who scorning the poor at the last being in her country house smitten with the plague was forsaken of all and then cried out that God was just I observe that it is the honour of brave Souldiers that when they are beaten almost out of their Castle yet they will capitulate for their honour to goe out of their harbour with their pikes traild their match light and in array or else they will dye ere they stirre That bravery is in most men they will lose their lives ere they lose their great stomacke I confesse in civill cases there is some reason in such things Alexander is commended that being chalenged by a meane fellow to run at Tilt with him hee scorn'd it and sayd Kings must runne with none but Kings for they can get no credit by victory but lose much by being foyled But in matters of God it is otherwise Be willing to be taught reproved by any be they never so meane if there be grace be there never such infirmities and contemptiblenesse It is a good Motto which he gave Not alwayes there is good in the great but alway there is great in the good Let the honour of the grace and the pretiousnesse of a Christian cover his outwards and discerne that which is within at a narrow crevis Be not of this minde I will heare none save the greatest Doctor and learnedest man in the Countrey such or such a man of fame and note As for these ordinary Preachers I slight them Those whom thou admirest are unwilling to take the paines and those who take the paines thou art unwilling to heare and so between both a proud heart bringeth to destruction That Heathen King Eglon when as Ehud a lame man came to him and told him he had a message from God arose off his Throne Judg. 3.20 and came downe to speake with him In base and common things wee disdaine not the basest Gentlemen will be haile fellow well met with base Jesters swearing Falconers or hang-byes if for their ends and Ladies will send their children to dance or sing or to learn fashions of base peasants and not disdaine it But to learne of a good man or woman the trade of God to heare any thing from them which might rectifie either their hearts or manners they despise it exceedingly Shall not their own practice confute them wofully If Religion were any of their ends would they not do as much abase themselves as low for that as for the learning of prick-song or the like And whereas thou wilt say I will not doe so meane a fellow such honour as to subdue my spirit or put my neck under his girdle I answer thee Looke thou at God not at him but if this defeat thee of cure thank thy selfe hee is but very little hungry or thirsty who will not doe a stone or leather pot or vessell the honour to quench his thirst nor eate any meate except out of plate with a silver forke Note They that will not honour others so much as to learne of them must be content to shame themselves so much as to perish Oh young man see thy face in a glasse how is sage Salomon faine to flatter him and to say My sonne Prov. 4.1.2 heare instruction let thine eare hearken to my counsell And all because a proud heart is wonderously averse from the counsell even of our betters yea of a King speaking for God How much more hard then to harken to meane persons when we are great Alas this is growne out of the world yet Nâ—aman had been a Leper but for meane ones It were better that the Lord did abase thee very low with some great crosse to pull downe thine haughty heart then suffer thy pride to usher thy destruction When Darius was pursued hard by enemies and very dry and thirsty he saw a puddle with a little water in it and having drank it said he never tasted sweeter in all his life So should the counsell of the meanest be to thee if stung in conscience or lying upon thy death bed But if thou despise them before who knowes whether God will so farre honour thee then Thirdly let this be examination Examination and triall of thee whether in truth Vse 3 God have humbled thee or no whether ever thou couldest discern aright between the pretious and the vile and both loath the greatest if base and honour the persons of the meanest and their counsell if really good David could abase himselfe thus even to hearken after the meanest and to make them of his house Psal 101. 1 Sam. 25. And poore Abigail was pretious to him and her counsell blessed though hee were heire apparant of a Crowne Let us note this for even in Religious persons this secret tang of basenesse may lurke as wee see in St. Iames James 2.3 who brings in rich Christians despising the poorer You say to them who have rings upon their fingers Come up hither but to the other Sit at my foot-stoole A signe that this base corruption is very closely lodged in us to underprize goodnesse and counsell because it dwells meanly A poore man was forgotten though wise saith Salomon and one that delivered the Citie by his wisedome Eccles 9.15 If thou doest so highly esteeme grace as to take it out of the poorest creature with a thankfull heart for as he said of Ministers that they were goldenest when the Chalices were of Wood so I say the man may have a Pearle in his bosome when he weares but a bare coat it is a signe of some humility Lastly let it be exhortation to us to beare humble mindes and lowly spirits not to disdaine to learne of the meanest Nay let us bee thus vile Esay 1. Psa 32.8.9 and if the world thinke us so let us bee more vile let us learne of the Pismire and the Lamb and the Storke and the Swallow and the Lillies yea the grasse for we are very ignorant even as the Horse the Mule and had need to be set to School to all Masters and yet learne but little The very bird that lives in a Cage foure inches square being naturally bred to flye abroad in the open Coast should teach us self-deniall contentment she can sing and make her prison a Paradise our base hearts disdain to be content or thankfull when as we abound in all mercies have the world at will An whole Councell once condescended to the judgement of one Paphnutius a meane person speaking from God chusing rather to hearken to a mean person then to persist in their errour If so many learned Bishops sage and ancient
which God will have out and there the Lord and it are upon debate or there is a cursed naturall antipathy between the Lord and the way of salvation or the soule is full of teches and pritches against reproofe or it hatcheth some false conceit that it hath obeyd when it hath not which it will not see or puffes and snuffes against some other thing the Minister the Ordinance the difficulty of Religion the uncertainty of the promise Whatsoever it be it is a distastfulnesse of heart and a resistance against God which if it were not the soule would nakedly come in and obediently submit to the Gospel But this disease hath this misery that the more dangerous it is the lesse it will bee convinced of such a thing and this nourishes the heart in her wretchednesse it is not time alone which will heale it rather it causes it to rankle and wax worse and worse Men ascribe it to other matters being willing to gull themselves because they have no will to be rid of it They say they have weake memories little capacity and the Minister is too high for them But in very deeds their hearts are too high for him till the Word come neerer 2 Cor. 10.4 and worke inward to cast downe all imaginations and high things no submission will follow to the obedience of Christ The effect every one dare confesse but the cause they will not see it is not unprofitablenesse or an ill memory that hath caused your hearts to be so surly and perverse but it is a proud and gainsaying heart Acts 28.27 which hath so long made you unprofitable Doe not lin till you are convinced hereof for till the cause be seene it cannot bee removed Doe not lay the fault where it is not doe not blanch over the cause with fine words mitigate not the extremity of the sin with gentlenesse Perhaps you doe not live in wrath and rage with your wives family neighbours you make a shift to comply with men courteously so long as no body hurts you but truly if you beleeve not in all this while there is a pad in the straw your spirits are not inwardly brought to that tender softnesse and selfe-deniall to thinke equall thoughts of God and his way something stickes in your base stomackes which will not suffer the word of God to goe downe and pierce into you to perswade you If you would but bethinke you what a great let this is which hitherto you have not seene or if you could thinke how the case would bee changed with you if once a tractable comming and inclining heart were in you how the Ministers of God the Angels â—ea the Spirit of grace it selfe which you have so long grieved and resisted would rejoyce in the change Oh! you would never lin with your owne soules till you had cast it out and having shaken it off you would thinke it a greater ease then ever that Martyr of Christ did B. Hooper when he had cast off all his Popish trash and furniture from his shoulders Secondly it is reproofe Reproofe to many Professors who in hope are of Vse 2 the better sort who although by this sinne have not perhaps wholly stopped and choked the passages of the grace of conversion Christians of crabbed peevish stubborne hearts lose the grace of faith yet by the dregges thereof remaining in them and nourished dampe that obedience of heart that life of faith and selfe-deniall yea that peace joy and open heart to God and goodnesse which else they might attaine It is strange how some Christians dare give place to their corruption in this kinde yea grow to thinke it their praise Some are sowre and crabbed as it were steeped in vinegar so censorious and uncharitable that none can escape their censure some so suspitious jealous that none can live by them some so sullen that no estate can content them some so selfe-loving that none can please them save they who humour them in all their passions and pangs some so implacable that if once offended they can scarce looke a man in the face to rights some so eager in revenge that nothing else will content them some alwayes stirring up debate betweene neighbours so busie in Law and in matters of contention as if they were Salamanders alway living in the fire others so eager in spirit so lowring and sad that though they breake not out with others yet they never agree with themselves nor walke with a cheerfull countenance Why Save that the sweet oyle of gladnesse hath not suppled them nor the peace of God which passeth understanding hath possessed and stablished them Oh friends How dare you dally and venture to abide thus How sad a reflex will this bee upon your death-beds You will say It doth oft trouble you and you are grieved for your waspishnesse and anger But what then Is that an amends to God to vomit up that at an odde time which afterward you doe returne to and licke up ugaine without sense or feeling Oh! it were meet for you to be so heart-sick of it that you might for ever abhor it Christians should mark the secret creepings of such poyson how it dogges them chokes humblenesse and cheerfulnesse in them and makes them walke unfruitfully and unsetledly from time to time And say that sometimes you fast and pray and vow and covenant against them yet if the corruption and your soules are so incorporated together that when it steales in upon you with the old sweetnesse it inchants you and disables you from resistance what cause of boasting have you None surely nor shall till the Lord come between you and home with the spirit of true remorce and sorrow for it unto repentance never to be repented of and till your beloved lust become your bane See and apply that in James 4.1.2.3 till the Lord in secret chasten your spirits that you can sit and bemoane your selves with Ephraim and say O Lord what is the cause that I am so enthralled to this stout and unbroken heart Alas No word of thine no patience of thine can enter while this sin harden me I am not fit to bee wrought upon by any crosse blessing meditation or ordinance All washes away as it comes Oh! shall I never be rid of this misery this chaine When Lord will it once be Who shall breake off the slavish custome of my heart this way and set me at liberty Oh! if once it may bee I shall even account it as a second resurrection from the dead Oh! set such a guard over mee that I may never be surprized any more with it Let mee thinke the Divell not farre off when I see this messenger of his at my heeles so to dogge and buffet me Let thy Spirit from above which is pure peaceable Jam. 3 i5 long-suffering mercifull and patient humble and loving deliver me from this spirit of envie sullennesse Selfe and her fruits most earthly sensuall
and Divellish But as for nourishing this naughtinesse in your selves and stifnesse in it to keep your fashions attires to speake your owne words as if no Lord should controll you Oh! how horrible is it Shall God beare your name and be as your husband but you will eate your owne bread weare your owne cloath and be at your own hand and finding as those women in Esay speak Esay 4.1 Then surely you must bee content to live upon your own wages and so lâ—e downe in sorrow Vse 3 Thirdly This is terror Terror to all openly proud scornfull and prophane persons who proclaime their sinne as Sodome whose hearts cast up mire and dirt like the raging Sea Esay 57.21 Those carry themselves aloft and live at the full height of a bigge and high heart without any sense of their danger Such as maintaine this rotten principle It is good to be some body in the view of men because as a man thinkes of himselfe Jam. 4.7 so will others thinke of us Which as it is false for God resists the proud crosses them so what if it were true Surely so long as my doctrine continues good there is no possibilitie for thee to obtaine grace and obedience while this spirit lasts Naaman was a great one Proud hearts terâ—ified by Gods resisting might as much stand upon it as thou yet till his stomack came downe the word of his cure was not beleeved hee was a Leper still so art thou and worse in Gods sight so long as thy lofty heart dwells in thee thy high thoughts of thy selfe cause mean thoughts of God contempt of his word and disdaine to bee a captive to Gods truths Nay it takes away all capablenesse judicious discerning remembring affecting applying or practising of any thing thou hearest save to pride thy selfe in thy knowledge and to strengthen thy selfe in a rotten peace Jerem. 48.11.29 Alas as the Prophet describes Moab that she was very proud shee had not beene rolled about and therefore was setled upon her dregges her sent still abode in her so is it with every proud wretch his own savour is in him still he is as he was as you leave him so you finde him a proud wretch rolling up and down upon his own hinges As for suspecting all is not well or laying any thing to heart hee is farre from it No winde shakes his corne he applauds himselfe in his owne conceit and saith I shall have peace though I walke in the stubbornesse of mine owne heart Mark how carelesse pride is But what comes of it Doth he meet with any grace in such a condition No the Lord will set himselfe against such a sturdy wretch Deut. 29.15.16 breake his iron sinew and the staffe of his pride the wrath of God shall smoke against him and resist him till his heart feele it and desist from fighting against God And surely if such finde small favour with men save from teeth outward they finde much lesse from God Should not this scare every such man out of himselfe saying The more I magnifie my selfe the more God vilifies me I see it hard to curb pride but it is harder to endure wrath and to be cast out from God who counts none pretious but such as count themselves vile Beware of it then the sin it selfe is sad but that it should be the canker that should eate out the foyson of grace and destroy all my hearings and make my devotions as odious as the cutting off a dogges neck Oh! this consequence of the sin is worse then the sinne it selfe Many sinnes are worse in their fruit then in themselves and this is one of them And to touch the particular of Naamans sinne here which was blustering at the Prophet and cavilling against his message we see here how God abased this spirit in him ere ever he could obey But when that was gone then the other succeeded And so I say to all proud cavillers The terror urged here is terror for them While cavilling lasts no grace enters Looke upon this patterne all you cavillers and see God branding you with a gracelesse heart as long as this humour lasts I have noted the end of such as have vented their pride in cavilling and picking knots with the Minister and his doctrine such as cannot receive or stand under a solid and sad truth with a meek heart and I never saw such come to good God hath betrayed them to shame and ill report Their knowledge hath puft them up They have some growne Alehouse-Keepers and haunters embraced the world fallen out with their brethren and forsaken their fellowship been foully tainted with grosse evils uncleannes the world contention censoriousnesse uncharitablenesse Some have proved Brownists Poynters Schismatickes and Libertines and lost their honour with God and his Church If there bee any drop of humility in you let this affright you lay downe the bucklers and as you have been proud so now be humble Say not with Gardiner I revolted with Peter but I have not repented with Peter but with this poore Proselyte Naaman I have been as stout and proud as he and now behold I repent and am humble as he Lord give me grace as thou gavest him Oh! the servants of Naaman had little cause to repent them of their counsell when such an effect followed Neither should I of mine if I could prevaile as they did God grant you and mee this grace The fourth and last use shall be exhortation to us all Exhortation and comfort to humble soules to embrace this Vse 4 grace of a subject humble spirit Oh! it is the messenger of mercy and mercy followes her at the heeles Selfe-deniall and an humbled soule are speciall ingredients of this receit of Mercy and faith to apply it When the soule is full of her owne it is empty of Gods hee counts all grace put into such a soule as water put into a top-full vessell The empty the bare the naked and poore soule is that wherewith he will betrust his grace Jâ—mes 4.7 be earnest for this as you would have faith herselfe 1 Cor. 25. As Paul calles death the last enemy which must be subdued ere we have glory so may I say that a proud selfe-sufficient heart is the last enemy which must be cast out ere we can come by any grace It is the last brat of the house which goes out The onely vice which keepes possession for old Adam to keep out Christ When wee see Gods tokens Simile we count the plague incurable and when mercy cannot conquer a rebellious heart it is past all remedy And contrariwise here is comfort to all such as are thus tamed by God they are brought to the bent of his bow I may say to thee as Martha to her sister Mary Thy Lord is come and calleth for thee And as our Lord Jesus himselfe said to Zacheus This day salvation is come unto thy house
off as it were a glimpse of light through a cloud that her estate is not quite forlorne whereupon the extremity of her former feares is much alayd and shee put out of despaire into some expectation of better things although as in the twilight much mixture of old terrors remain not quite banished as the Canaanites among Israel to teach them warre and to occupy them in combats Thus was it with those Ninevites who by the instinct of mercy darted into them by the Lord secretly lifted up their heads a little towards hope of not perishing and to the musing upon the benefit of deliverance The third is an holy compassion of heart towards him whom the soul hath pierced by sinne even the Lord of life who yet was well content to be murthered lest his murtherers should perish The due meditation whereof melts the soul into marvellous heavinesse that she should seeke his ruine who sought her making Not as mourning for his death for else she must have for ever been damned but for her treachery against the mercy of a Father who cut off his Plea and the love of a Saviour who gave his life for her This makes her impotent in her mourning and steeps her in gall and wormwood Zachar. 12.10 as not able to utter indignation enough against her selfe for it Fourthly yet as one borne downe with the singularity of such mercy and the fulnesse of that price which is paid to justice for her sinne shee is loth to let it passe without a desire to partake it yea and an ardent affection after it as one that is famished for lack of bread or drinke can be satisfied with nothing save that which it longs for though shee were offered treasures in stead of it yet shee still cries with Rachel Gen. 30.1 Give me this or else I dye And fifthly here she stoppes not but warily lookes about her that she binde not the hands of mercy from bestowing her desire upon her by her boldnesse and loosnesse of heart life and therfore she is watchful to her self lest in this her pursuit after mercy she should offend it any way by her pride frowardnesse base words passions or behaviours worldlinesse commonnesse of heart about her earthly lawfull businesse loose hearing forgetfulnesse or the like Sixthly she is marvellous restlesse in the applying of her selfe to all such meanes and ordinances as might further her desires and reveale unto her more light and evidence of Christ fearing lest by any defect of hers and letting slip the opportunities and seasons of grace and stirring motions of the Spirit shee might provoke the Spirit of grace to give her over to her owne unprofitablenesse she tries all as ascribing that honour to God to chuse what he will worke by to these hornes of the Altar she will cleave and if shee must dye shee will dye there Seventhly the more she growes in understanding of the way and mystery of salvation by Christ the more shee compares it with the best contents which this world in any kinde did ever present unto her and finding them light in the ballance and farre from being what they seeme or performing what they promise nay although they could doe both yet in comparison with mercy shee stamps them under her feet esteeming them all as drosse and dung Phil. 3. Lastly by this meanes she resolves fully in her last thoughts to sell off all whatsoever might seeme pretious unto her lusts liberties vertues Religious duties yea that onely stop of grace the mixture of Selfe with Christ that so shee might in the losse of all make up a price of grace that is that she may come with nothing and make a price of no price and so buy the Pearl till which purchase be made her own she can have no peace And this purchase stands in her faith which as an hand takes and accepts the seasin and delivery of the Lord Jesus given to her by the hand of him that surrenders him unto her by the promise Touching the which act of faith it remaines that we speake a little having said of this preparation so much as for the present wee think meet Touching faith what it is and how it is bred in the soule Concerning which and first of the nature of it so farre as it is the act of the soule obeying and yeelding to a word of promise I will say a little as may best sute the Text here under our hand Naaman then we see overswayed by his servants doth submit himselfe to the word of the Prophet and hee goes to Jorden and washeth Faith then to tell you first in what it stands not is not properly an habit of assurance or certainty of pardon through a personall and particular appropriation of Christ to her selfe Although asrance be never without faith yet assurance is not the proper act of Faith The originall of this error proceeded as many others have done from heat of confuting Papists in their opposing of possibility of Assurance That wee might the moâ—e fully confute them our first defenders would maintaine that the nature of justifying and saving faith stood in assurance which Tenet was indeed more then a confutation for although it is the portion of none save beleevers to enjoy this assurance yet neither is it the portion of all that beleeve to attaine it but only some special ones to whom it is granted neither is that assurance which such have the formal act of their faith but rather an effect or coÌ„sequent of the act of beleeving of an higher measure then that is For sure it is the greater our feeling of assurance is the lesse our faith is To shew then what it is It is such an act of the soule as upon good ground and warrant casts her selfe upon the promise for pardon and life By casting her selfe can be meant no assurance within her selfe but a submission and resigning up of her selfe to the promise in respect of that power and truth of the Promiser who bids her come and hee will ease her This is a sure word and hath neither trick nor device in it neither hooke nor crooke but is that which it imports and cannot deceive And this sure word is the object which faith lookes at Shee lookes not so much at the assurance which shee feeles within her selfe but at the certaine and infallible truth of the Word without As for her selfe shee knowes shee is full of doubts feares and unsetlednesse but so is not the Word of God nor himselfe that speakes in it She even in the very act of believing is full of strife and struggling For the making of this plaine consider faith in all her passages and you shall see it Quest 1 The soule hath three questions The first question is whither the Soule shall turne her selfe in her legall straits Flesh saith thus Goe on no further towards the promise for it is a difficult worke to believe and unlikely to take effect
or if it doe yet thou shalt alway be doubtfull The Word on the contrary saith Doe not desist nor revolt to thy former pleasure in sin for in that course there is no hope thou art then in a desperate case Proceed rather and goe to the promise for thereby its possible thou maist find some redresse What doth the soul in this strife She compares the argument of the word with the counsell of the flesh and findes it better then this because it is farre more safe to chuse a possible redresse of misery then to fall upon the assured pykes of certaine wo and despaire Here we see a fight but no victory no assurance only that rest which the soule hath is not from any thing she feeles within herselfe but without in the word Secondly here comes in a second doubt and therein Satan tells Quest 2 the soule it is true Thou chusest hope before despaire but what hast thou to doe with peace Or how knowest thou whether thou oughtest rather to chuse the one then the other or what right hast thou to ease and pardon Here againe steppes in the word and succours the soule telling her That she ought to fasten upon life and pardon and chuse it before sinne and death for God hath bred in her the condions of faith a longing mourning restlesse selfe-denying heart therefore to her and to no other this pardon and ease belongs and she may claime it God indeed hath no where said in his word I will pardon thee Iohn thee Thomas c. But he hath said such and such I will pardon so and so qualified Now she assumes this qualification to herselfe and therefore she concludes that to her it belongs This is another word of the Spirit which still drawes on a poore soule to bee willing to beleeve But now comes the nearest worke of the Spirit in the word and Quest 3 that answers a third objection which is this How shall I know in speciall its mine owne Perhaps it may belong unto such a one as I am but many things belong to men which yet they are by one meanes or other defeated of How shall I know that God will give it me in speciall and grant me the gift of faith to beleeve it In this the word grapples closely and nearly with the soule and brings it to the strict point of beleeving and tells the soule That all to whom the promise of pardon and life belongs by the allowance of God he will most undoubtedly bring it to passe for them and conferre it upon them yea and give them faith to cast themselves upon it For in saying Come unto me all you loaden ones and I will ease you he meanes not onely you may but you must come not only it belongs unto you to come but I will in my calling you enable you to come and put strength and power into you to come that is to beleeve and by beleeving ease you By this the word setles the soule upon the promise as being that which it seemes she sees God is willing she should beleeve and therefore will conferre it on her And in so doing the Spirit causeth the heart which is willing to become effectually willing that is takes away all feare of defeating and tells her she shall speed of her desire and therefore now she dares venture and cast herselfe upon the promise and if she perish so she is content for she dares jeopard her soule upon Gods Truth Now we see this casting and venturing upon the promise is the best of all these three acts of the word and yet here is no assurance for the soule in respect of herselfe is neverthelesse full of doubting all her bottome is this last word of the promiser that he will effect that in the soule which he hath promised By all these I inferre The act of faith is no assurance within but an evidence without resting upon the word which word the more evident it is made to the soule the better and stronger is the act of beleeving but the best of these is no assurance Quest It will bee demanded May not assurance be had at all I answer Answ yes it may be and is the portion of such as the Lord sees meet to enjoy it Eph. 1. Rom. 8. but that stands upon another bottome and that is the immediate evidence of the Spirit in the conscience of one who is already a beleever making her to know that she beleeves This is not by the word directly but the Spirit of the word which reflects that into the heart with knowledge and feeling which before she only had by the fidelity of the Promiser But this as I said is not faith for then none should have faith who want this which God forbid but an effect of faith in some speciall persons and not all that beleeve Thus much for the former question Now for the latter viz. how faith is wrought The sufficiency of a promise is the object of faith You see brethren it is evident that the nature and worke of saving faith stands not in any fulnesse of sailes or reflex knowledge and overpowring sweetnesse of perswasion But as I said in a grounded casting herself upon the word For by this only mean faith is wrought And I call it grounded because so weighty a matter as the resting and casting of the soule upon a thing requires that the thing bee a foundation of great warrant to beare up a soule from revolting againe Nay when the conscience is come thus farre as to fasten upon the word Oh! she hath thousand objections against the sincere meaning of God in his word Hence it is that the word is so full of places wherein this sufficiency of the promise to rest upon is urged Sometime the Lord contests with them that quarrell against it Is the Arme of the Lord shortned Hath he said it and it shall not come to passe Hezechia tells us Esay 38.15 He hath spoken himselfe unto us and he hath done it Heb. 13.5 For he hath said I will not faile nor forsake thee So againe The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Among men its called an unsure argument to prove a thing by authority because men are liars further then their truth will speake for them And yet some great persons have born such sway and authority in the hearts of their Disciples that their bare word hath carried assent with it But to be sure this is a sure argument God hath said it therefore it is true as in all the words which ever went out of his mouth so especially in his promise Phil. 4. 2 Cor. 1.20 that above all pleads certainty Faithfull is he who hath promised who also will effect it And Elizabeth Luke 1. tells Mary There shall bee a performance from the Lord to his handmaid of that which he hath promised All the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus with a thousand more But
God must bee concealed to please our basenesse therefore to cast and resigne up the soule to God is neither more nor lesse then to lot upon the Lord in the promise to become that unto the Soule which before Selfe and the world was in the uttermost of her profits and pleasures lusts and vanities which gave her that satisfaction which she desired Oh good friends that neither I nor you might utter and heare that in a few sentences which perhaps all our life hath scarcely reacht unto For I tell you plainly such a speech as this might well set us both upon scanning how the case stands with us Wee all know what our owne ends what the world 1 Joh. 2.16 Matth. 18.9 the pleasures of it the lust of the heart the lust of the eye and the pride of life have been unto us Surely as our eye and right hand When as God is to the Soule that which formerly Selfe and sin were it is a signe of resignation to God Tell me now Are any of us so cast upon the word of God and those qualities of a promise before named faithfulnesse constancy lovingnesse freedome and the rest that wee can venture all our welfare thereon That God will so alsufficiently supply us that both all our former unlawfull liberties and contents shall bee as meere losse and dung to us and wee shall think our selves never the worse Againe that all meet and lawful contents shall be ministred unto us and that by a promise Lastly that if ought bee denied us which may seeme desirable wee shall therefore not thinke it meet because God gives it not for else his love could beteame it and if wee must want it yet even therein we shall abound because wee have his promise that it shall bee an hundred for one Yea and that wee shall esteeme the presence of God his favour peace of heart in forgoing a blessing or patience in bearing a crosse greater gaine by farre then to have had our wills in kinde Truly brethren to have God that unto us which before other things were is not lesse then I have spoken and yet so is God to that poore soule which hath cast her selfe upon him for pardon and life for hee who will not faile in the greatest will not faile in the smaller Marke then Faith in casting her selfe upon the promise is an hard grace but yet wise shee will lose nothing in the Hundred but shee will get in the Shire and she is warranted so to doe by the Lord who will have her know if she will be ruled by him and trust his word she shall be no loser but an infinite gainer yea and know it also to her great content though now and then mixt with some doubtings and weaknesse And by this meane the soule waxes confident upon God in the promise and by degrees growes to see this truth as well in other promises as in the maine of which I shall after say somewhat I say faith growes by experience to an holy complacence in God by his promise to be all one with him acquainted with his truth and bounty to venture herselfe and all her happinesse thereon and so to have such an affiance and trust in God as not easily to be unsettled by each delusion or conceit of Sathan or world or herselfe But still in all her seeming straits and difficulties to rely upon the promise and to picke out the true meaning thereof even the length and depth of it and seeing God cannot lye therefore to wait for resolution in all doubtfull cases rather then rashly to question the promise and to repent her of her choice This holy obedientiall affiance and trust upon God by a promise is that happinesse of a Christian soule and that true rest of heart which she should pitch herselfe upon as that portion which she counts best an fallen into a goodly ground It is a good illusion which Saloman or Batsheba hath Prov. 31.11 of the good wife That the heart of an husband rests in her hee is so linckt in love and affection to her so experienced in her fidelity chastity helpfulnesse and gracefulnesse that his heart rests upon her and trusts to her Be the businesse never so weighty be he never so farre distant from her let never such conceits and suspitions come in his minde all are washt off the trust which hee hath in her quits his minde and hee rests upon her without casting any scruples May it bee so betweene sinfull couples who may be and are in many things unfaithfull and shall not the Lord much more be trusted Yes doubtlesse A true beleeving soule goes not to worke by guesse casts not with herselfe what if God should faile her What if she should bee defeated But because the promise hath secured her of Gods unchangeable truth she takes it Simil. and as with a knife cuts in two all such cords of withdrawing feares and throwes herselfe upon it as the anchor is cast upon the bottome under water when once the Pilot hath by his plummet sounded it and there it sticks and holds the ship from tossing too and fro with winde and waves even so doth the soule which hath known the Lord and taken sure markes of him knit and fasten it selfe upon him and stands not to descant off and on this way and that but drownes it self once for all in the sea of his Attributes no more to be distempered by any of her objections That time which others spend in asking Shall I Shall I I could be content but may I safely doe it and shall I be welcome With the like stuffe shee spends in doing as she is bidden 1 Sam. 15. Esay 26.3 and hazarding all upon the faithfulnesse of him who is the everlasting strength of Israel and cannot lye Oh thou wouldest cast thy selfe upon the truth of a man whom thou hast found to keep touch in his promises and wouldst blush if such an one should cast thee in teeth that thou didst distrust his promise having never taken him tardy in any thing Should a sinfull man so engage thine heart and so ingratiate himselfe with thee and shall not the Lord much more deserve it of thee Gen. 8 9. If ever thou wilt have thy weary wings at rest fly to this Arke and settle there Buy and sell upon the promise set downe thy staffe there for this is the way to engage the Lord to thy selfe thou honourest him above all honouring by thy faith and he will for it requite thee and trust thee for ever and bind himselfe not to leave thee because he knowes thou makest full reckoning of his helpe thou hast cast off all other props of thine owne that he might be instead of them all unto thee Such a one shall not need to feare that it shall be disappointed So much for this Use Vse 4 I come in the next place to a briefe Use of Admonition to all that would cast themselves upon
wife good ministery when bad times examples of debauchednesse malitious foes treacherous friends when all these or any would make us thinke our faith was but a fancy and we cast our selves upon a promise in vaine Then looke about thee here and never till now is the triall whether thou hast cast thy selfe upon God or no upon his wisdome to reach thee a way of escape upon his power his truth love and constancy that he can and will free thee Is this faith to pretend casting thy selfe upon God once for all and when trialls come Joh. 11.27.39 to warpe and to say with Martha Now hee stincketh To fling up and downe and say How shall I beare this losse Endure such affront Get out of this poverty Avoid this enemy Cease all other tricks and learne one better then all As the Cat once being challenged by the Fox in point of wit when the Dogs came upon them the Fox with all his wit was torne in peeces the Cat had but one way but it was worth all she got up an high tree and secured herselfe Read Ezra 8.22 He would not dishonour God but fell to the worke of fasting and beleeving and so prevailed Give not thy right in one promise for a world It s a fountaine better then all dry pits A wise man will not sell his possibility of a great inheritance for a trifle assure thy self there is a promise in the word belonging to every duty and every part of a Christians course which who so can beleeve shall go through it whether doing or suffering with sweet ease in respect of him who goeth to work of his owne head He that casts himselfe upon the word cuts off many troubles which others meet with because his heart being well appaid in Gods love is not easily unsettled and as for such as must pinch yet there hee is upheld knowing they come from God in love are no greater then mercy sees meet are such as Christ himselfe is a party in and affords to his members his owne courage meeknesse power and victory to sustaine them in and in his due time will give a redemption from to all who wait for it in well doing and faint not Plead therefore the promise and trust God in all The third Branch of Exhortation concernes those who have cast Branch 3 themselves upon the promise both for pardon Persevering in beleeving procures assurance also for all other support here To such I say give not God over here neither but still presse him for assurance fulnesse of perswasion touching both The faithfull improvement of the promise in respect of the truth of the promiser is often requited by the Lord with such a gratious strength and full faile of the Spirit of the promise as makes God and the soule to grow into close communion and holy familiarity and carries the soule above her doubts feares and complaints because the Spirit of God witnesseth unto our spirits both that we are his and hee ours Nothing shall separate us from his love nor it from us All things pertaining to life and godlinesse shall be ministred This is that which Paul speakes of Ephes 1.13 By which Spirit after you had beleeved you were sealed and by it the Lord makes the soule so interessed in him that as he knowes who are his 1 Tim. 3.1 So they who are his know themselves so reflecting this assurance to their owne consciences so that they walke as enlarged ones because perfect love expells feare I will not say that their joy doth alway equall their peace But their peace equalls their assurance Hence it is that commonly such finde hard duties easie crosses welcome feares vanisht Lesser light in Faith may goe with greater assurance God present in ordinary so that their falls are few and their peace is constant according to that knowledge which they have Which I adde because I doubt not but many an upright Christian may in some cases exceed him in some acts of closenesse and obedience both in doing and suffering who yet goes beyond him in assurance the reason is plaine because assurance followeth not alway upon the greatnesse of light but the constant living by faith in that light which a man hath so that for lacke of light greater faith may come short of that measure of obedience which lesser faith may have To returne let none be wanting to himselfe in seeking the greatest degree but beware of resting upon this that his faith is unfeigned and the faith of the Elect and so never seeke further This is the generall disease of most Christians at this day wherein I am perswaded few attaine that degree which formerly in times of smaller light but more tendernesse conscience watchfulnesse and sincerity with diligence they attained unto Oh thou shalt one day finde the fruit hereof Note this when that broad doore of entrance into the Kingdome shall not be granted thee If any aske by what markes the Spirit of sealing is discerned I answer First by more then ordinary selfe-deniall humility Markes of assurance Luke 5.8 spiritualnesse The nearer the soule comes to God the more it abhorres it selfe Secondly such an one hath much inured herselfe to weigh the promise as that scholler soonest growes to bee above his rules who hath got most exactnesse in his rules Thirdly he is ordinarily free from doubts Rom. 8. ult I am perswaded that neither life nor death c. Fourthly death is welcome to him as it was to Simeon Lord let thy servant depart in peace because mine eyes have seen thy salvation Fifthly such an one is above carnall respects or owne ends for he knowes his requitall is not daunted with trouble hard duties losses for Gods cause for hee understands his hundred fold And so I might adde more which the examples of David and Paul in Scripture will affoord One more I adde If God visit them with any spirituall desertion as he may in extraordinary yet the experience of former mercy at the lowest point keepes them so that the grace of God shall ever be sufficient and therefore they shall bee content for the time of their eclipse to be under infirmity seeing hereby God is most glorified Luke 22.42 and their grace approved Thus it was with our head Christ himselfe and with Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 So much for this third and last Branch and so for the whole use of exhortation Vse 6 Lastly this is use of Comfort and Encouragement to all Gods weake Consolation Weake beleevers must not quaile and give over though sound and faithfull ones who though in much poverty and infirmity of spirit have desired to cast themselves upon the promise when yet their light is divine and their setling and comfort but small Say thine owne heart oft misgives thee saying I have long heard and received the Sacraments with other helps but I cannot put on the Lord Jesus I cannot in particular fasten upon each part of
you will bee filthy Rev. 22. be filthy still Adde to the number and fulfill the measure of your abominations goe forward you can but goe to hell therefore take your pleasure Know that hee who sets up Altar against Altar and his will against Gods a close following of his Justs his cups his harlots his oppression pride envy against Gods close Commands shall apply all his closest plagues and vengeance against such and who soever shall rise up against God in judgement Esa 54. Esay 54. Psal 50. him shall God most righteously condemne Oh thinke of it you that forget God! Shall not the hypocrites avoid everlasting burnings who doe but adulterate the purity of close Commands and you shall escape who disanull them You walke as the forlorne ranke in the face of the Canon and what wonder if you be shot all to pieces And all who will desperately follow your steps let them know they goe straight forward neither turning to left hand nor to right to the Bethshemesh of destruction It s terrible to heare of and see the present plagues of such even here some open defiers of the Sabbath to be struck mad others in their fencing upon that day to fall downe dead a third in shooting off his recoyling gun to be beaten to shivers the end of proud rebels is terrible in this world Iezabels Sauls Herods But the whole of their misery here is not the tenth of that hereafter the day is to come Esay 1. wherein the Lord will cry Aha I will be avenged of mine enemies I will laugh at their destruction I will make my blade fat with their bloud And when I have done I will take as little thought for their woe as they did for my Commands Oh tremble at this Vse 3 I proceed to the third use of the point and that is Examination Is it so Examination that the commands of God must be obey'd according to them that is their intent and extent and that they are so sad and close things Oh then in the feare of God try we our selves whether they be so to us or not It imports us exceedingly to doe it for if God be sad and we be slight if his issue be to enquire after close obeying but we onely looke at the surface and outsides of duty taking what wee please and sâ—umming off the fat and easie part leaving the leane and more unwelcome part to whose will we shall finde a wrong bargaine of it The eyes of God are piercing eyes and looke over the whole earth where he may finde close strict and sad obeyers of his voyce as he saith Esay 50. and there is his delight But as for him that with-drawes himselfe and secretly like that Iudas whips out from his fellowes for his owne ends Heb. 10.38 his soule shall have no delight in him Therefore in such bad times as these wherein every one will be religious but few or none close with the power of commands how imports it every of us Brethren to let loose stuffe goe to try our selves touching the soules concurrence wiâ—h God in this Soveraignty of his Commands And because me thinkes I see you to be desirous to try your selves about this but want direction how to do it aright therefore I will lay down some such rules of direction as through mercy may sweetly search every such heart as is willing to come to the touch-stone and leave it sound and sincere or if it shall discover it selfe to be otherwise then to looke to it selfe and to abhorre all such lets as it shall finde to hinder it from this closenesse and faithfulnesse in obeying commands First that soule which obeyes closely Trials of close obedience is very active and lively in Triall 1 her enquiring after the true and plaine intent and extent of Gods commands dare not flatter it selfe in her owne way and ease She is truly willing to know the uttermost of the truth but suspects her selfe still in her obedience that it is too loose too easie and too slight to be good She desires to goe downe right with Gods commands and having found out Rom. 12.2 what that good acceptable will of God is then nakedly she desires to close with it come what come will of it whereas the hypocrite is of a cleane contrary straine For why having a guilty conscience of withdrawing a part of the heart from God it is death for him to come to the triall 1 Sam. 15.12 Saul was as a Beare haled to the stake when he came to Samuels inquiry Acts 5.5 because he knew himselfe crazy So Ananias and Sapphira when they came under Peters inquisition Sold yee it indeed for so much Fell down dead Oh! the hollow heart shrugges and shrinkes at the extent of Commands cannot endure to thinke them larger then it selfe is willing to doe them If she should heare of a rule of more closenesse then she can admit she must needs bewray her selfe which she is loth to do Oh! how desirous a base heart is to get abatements of commands There is no man so forward to urge the uttermost allowance of the weight of gold that his light peeces might passe for currant as an hypocrite craves still for allowance to his slight obedience It kils his heart to heare of the strictnesse of a Sabbath what the rules of a lawful Fast are to prepare himselfe to the Sacrament to heare the Word to deny himselfe to be tied to doe or take good in company to walke unspotted of the world to oppresse none by fraud usury hardnesse Alas his Trade lies in this kinde take him off that you kill him See 1 King 22. Ahab being urged to call for a Prophet of God sent for him But as the Messenger went for him in his returne hee entreats him that his words might bee like the words of the foure hundred Prophets and that hee would not bee too strict But the closer obeyer is a close inquirer like Micaja who would not bee pulled to the right or left hand from God he is a willing person to bee informed about the nakednesse and simplicity of commands desirous to know the hardest Thus Iob cap. 34. and verse 32. saith If I faile that which I see not doe thou teach me Thus David Search me O Lord and try me if there be any way of evill in me Not that they have not much corruption and come farre short but yet they have no treacherous heart of withdrawing but rather an entire affection to be equall to Commands And as the heart of an hypocrite doth infinitely disobey So the soule of a beleever hath a boundlesse unlimited desire to obey a word according to a word in which regard it s called a perfect heart because it would be so and mournes that it cannot as a naturall childe is troubled that it cannot doe the fathers will to the full and therefore doth what it can to the uttermost
in our Lord Jesus Was thy soule alway under the authority of the commands both of Law and Gospell with sweetnesse and delight Was it not rather bitternesse and gall Who then hath made his yoake easie Surely hee who deserves unspeakable thankes at thy hands for it And therefore bee also truly joyfull in thy portion The time was when such a liberty of going in and out with the Lord would have made thee leape and shalt thou now carry it about thee Delight in obeying the sad commands of God affords solid comfort without savour or sensiblenesse Perhaps thou wilt say I have my load another way a deale of base corruption hanging upon me to coole my courage Oh! but the Lord hath onely tryed thee thereby whether thou wilt forsake his yoke or no for thine owne ease he doth but put a back-bias upon thee that he might weigh thy motion to himselfe thou art not hereby hurt one whit but much bettered kept in awe and humblenesse before God whereas else thou wouldst be puffed up But is this or ought this to be any cause of thy discontent ought it not rather to encrease thy comfort when thou seest the Lord hath provided against the vanishing of it to make it durable Oh! bestow but a few houres in a weeke to thinke what a priviledge it is for dust and ashes nay a dunghill of rebellion a depth of treachery to be so changed as to come under the line of God and to be under his authority with a willing heart to make the love of Christ thy banner and to bee subject to God thine heaven Oh! to have thy will captived to his and to desire to know feare love close with nothing save his will what is it but the suburbs of heaven to feele a veine of sweetnesse to overrule thy soule and to cure that light giddy and frothy emptinesse of it to sadden and settle it under this power and kingdome of the Command To cast out the law of the members the law of a proud a stout self-loving and self-seeking heart to bee above these above corruption so that as they stincke in thy nostrills so shouldest thou in theirs Oh doe not count this a common priviledge rather nourish it hugge it in thy bosome beware lest any steale away thy Crowne And rather then thou shouldest live to see that day wherein the commands of Faith and Love should wax stale and unsavoury chuse to be taken out of this world that thine eyes may never see the evill of a revolting heart Heb. 3.12 to depart away from the living God Vse 5 Fifthly if we feele by due examining that our hearts warpe from Gods Commands Admonition Le ts of close walking with God must be abhorred then let us be admonished to amend it betimes and to search and cast out all such lets as do hinder and forestall in us this closing with God As it fares with hypocrites of whom I have spake that they have an habituall contrariety so it often falls out with the people of God that they meet with many actuall rubbes which oppose this subjection of spirit Not onely that old Adam which is ever present and when they would doe good still suggests evill and when they would shake off evill still hinders good as Rom. 7.14 But also they meet with one or other actuall affront in whatsoever command the Lord tenders unto them which dogges and disquiets them from the entry upon the worke What they are to the upshot thereof There bee as many Let. 1 subtilties of heart or stops of incumbrance as there are commands one tricke or other still is put upon us If the command be to bee unspotted of the world then the Divell comes in with the necessity of following my calling of close attending our worke and trades he tells us the world is hard and he that labours not must not looke for meat we must have no more then we toile for we must therefore do as others doe and sell as the market wee must make the most of our commodities and spare for a hard time and yet perhaps we be rich have not a childe or kinsman to bestow it on and so under this cloake breakes in abundance of worldlinesse not only to keep us from unspottednesse but even to drowne us in the world So let the Lord but Let. 2 presse us to suffer for a truth rather then betray it perhaps we answer we would faine doe it but then throng in such a number of feares how shall we endure persecution How shall we beare reproach Insulting of enemies imprisoment threats fines hard handlings How shall I beare the losse of my gifts credit favour of the world company contents How shall wife children be maintained family and charges supported defraied in this unthankfull world Thus while the meer outside of things is looked at the crosse is terrible all suffering is tedious and thus is it in all other commands carnall reason ease remissenesse and slacknes of spirit vanity infidelity and such other scurfe breaks in and then comes in a marveilous wearinesse of resistance of our lets and so a willingnesse to be foiled to give up our weapons and to resist no more as if we despaired secretly in our base spirits of ever recovering and therefore must give our selves some intermission and ease Sutable hereto is a third let when we think our strength not yet Let. 3 growne to such maturity as to digest so strong and beare so weighty commands as Gods puts upon us and so assume the whiles a kinde of exemption and liberty to our selves for the present So also when we Let. 4 nourish not the Promise with the Command without the which who doubts but it is burthensome But are carried by the present sense of our spirit how that welcomes or distastes it and goe no further and so marre the worke by ill handling Otherwhiles defiling and abusing Let. 5 our selves by some truths which serve us not to hatch us up to lasinesse and ease but to encourage us in weakenesse As that God passes by the transgressions of his people our perfection here is the sight of our infirmities No perfection is here to bee looked for Againe Let. 6 looking at the common guise of the world their formall loose religion and yet how they carry it out God suffering them and men admiring them or at least looking at the looser sort of Christians what largenesse and breadth they allow themselves Sometimes also by ill custome in lesser evils not espying how the Let. 7 heart waxes degenerate and unsavoury losing ground of close obedience daily And this is not the least let of all that men will not give Let. 8 themselves leasure of thoughts to meditate and so to equal their hearts to the sadnesse and closenesse of Gods Commands but goe on in their course and run their round as blinde Sampson in his mill not considering what wash way they make of Gods Commands
so mistakes and misconstrues must either deceive himselfe in looking for more or defraud himselfe in looking for lesse then the promises containe in them What a continuall vexation is it then to erre about the extent of those things wherein to erre is above all other errors most dangerous and remedilesse Many more reasons might bee added but the substance thereof will occurre otherwise Vse 1 I proceed to the Uses First this point is Terror to all in generall who doe not beleeve the whole body of truth according to it selfe Of Terror Branch 1 without the which promises cannot possibly be construed aright Now alas Truths of God must not be taken by tradition and prejudice but from the whole body of truth beleeved as Gods what a common error is this Who beleeves or deducts promises from the rocke of truth as marble pillars digged out of the whole quarry Men take the whole truth of God for the most part from the tradition of men from the interpretation of others which is no other save upon trust as their Parents Masters or teachers have instil'd it into them and I grant its meet to be so at first for so those Samaritans John 4. at first harped upon the truths preacht by Christ by the information of the woman But they did not rest there till by her they were drawne to heare him speake himselfe and then they told her plainly that they resolved their faith not into her report but Christ himself It is with many of us as with Papists who use the Church to bee the principle of their faith whereas she should onely be a guide an informer and directresse It s not to be doubted but the Church is the preserving and sustaining pillar of truth in point of guiding the soule to the truth for had not the Church nursed us taught and train'd us up where had we been But this must not be enough to stablish us except we meane to disguise our selves and bewray our sandy foundation when tempests and troubles shall try what is in us no we must put a difference betwixt our drawing to the truth and our beleeving the truth and never rest till the bright morning starre of the Word the Lord Jesus hath risen in our hearts who will cast such a through light into them as shall shine from East to West Matth. 24. and enlighten us in all truth yea lead us into all truth by his Spirit Churches judgement must guide us principle us in the truths of Scripture that Spirit I meane which assists his word in the hearts of all humble and teachable ones This will cause us not to take here a shred and there another such a command or such a promise as pleases us not knowing what to make of the rest but to set open our whole hearts unto the whole truth the whole body thereof that it may enter into us possesse and dwell in us plentifully in every part it will present to our eyes that God of truth speaking in his word and piercing thereby into the very marrow and bones dividing the thoughts and carrying the soule into the streame of that excellency of his whereby we may be convinced of his truth it will shew us the truth of the written word in the eternall word of the Father full of Grace and Truth the way the truth and the life in whom who so beleeves to salvation doth also beleeve all and every truth which ever came out of his mouth and wee shall no more doubt of that then of Christ himselfe in whom all truth is established and gathered as the whole verge of a garment into one knot so that as no man bids us to prove that its day light when the Sunne shines so wee shall need no proofe or demonstration of any particular part of the word having embraced Christ that eternall word of God into our bosomes because he brings all his truths with him and having himselfe fulfilled that one great promise of his incarnation and redemption hath also in that made good all the other promises and made them Yea and Amen to the praise of his glory Oh therefore The Spirit of Christ must be our first planter of truth in the soule how wofull is the condition of such as forsake this way of faith and goe to dig pits which will hold no water boasting that nothing shall ever pull them away from the truth no feares persecutions change of times and I know not what away with thy vain brags If thou hast not first planted thy selfe upon Jesus the body of truth thy particular knowledge of truths will vanish of it selfe for he who gathers not with Christ scatters but how much more when thy slight building shall be shaken with crosses and enemies Therefore gaster your selves from such frothy bottomes as will deceive you get truth first planted in your soules with the love of it for some reall and maine good which it hath done you Terrour to all Popish and blinde maintainers of truth upon error and opinion and when Christ shall have brought his truth with the saving comfort of it into you it will hold your hearts close to it never to goe from it it shall keepe your hearts and mindes in the knowledge of God it shall discover to you that rich hoord of promises which are hid in Christ out of whom they are but as the sound of many waters and vanish as fast as they come This will teach us a rule of conceiving truth aright This will scatter all mists of error darkenesse mistakes from the minde and purifie the heart by the obeying of the truth as Saint Peter speakes 1 Pet. 1.22 2 Pet. 1.19 yea it will be a light shining in a darke place and guiding the feet into the way of peace Abhorre then a patched confused knowledge of truth destitute of the truth in Jesus as thou wouldest abhor and loath utter blindenesse and arrant ignorance it selfe in the highest degree For indeed setting aside the shew of it it s but cousen germane to it who abhors not a misbeleeving Turke or Jew as a very infidell Who loaths not an Hereticke Papist Pelagian or a Schismaticke as we doe misbeleevers Yea in some respect worse because they are so leavened that it is easier to draw a Pagan not prejudicate to the faith then such It s true that the other have more of truth in them then the other But they doe so corrupt confound and misapply truths they maintaine not truth in the accord and the harmony of truth therefore they hold truth rather to overthrow truth then to establish it and in effect are greater enemies to the promises and to the truth in Jesus then they can seeme friends to some kindes of truth whatsoever their abettors and patrons would or can speake in their defence So much for this first Secondly and more particularly its terror to all audacious and impudent Branch 2 spirits of hypocrites Of
Terror Hypocrites who rush upon promises ere they be fitted for them reproved who boast themselves of faith in the promise having yet no right to a promise Promises if aright beleeved must be beleeved according to their order not contrary thereto and against the edge thereof Ah poore creatures and raw beleevers Did you ever come under the condition of faith Were you ever in a strait and at a deadly losse for want of a promise Were you not alway beleevers from the first till now Yes surely you never came under the Law to drive you to a promise and to make it sweet to your taste drinke to one a thirst Therefore you dream of promises like brainsick folke Simil. Once a phantastick fellow standing upon a Tower would needs have men to beleeve that each ship comming up the channell was his owne whereas it was neither so nor so Even so doe these But know it you have neither part nor fellowship in this businesse of promises We have a rule in Physicke that humours must not be raw but met and digested ere they can be purged else physicke scatters them rather into the parts of the body then expells them But if they be once setled physicke will purge them So say I to these your lusts are violent fierce not brought to an head but by the conviction of conscience and the spirit of bondage if they were then perhaps the promise being applied in season might purge them out but else the promise is ranke bane unto you and would rather disperse your lusts make you more jolly mad resolute in sinning without feare or remorse then rid your soules of them Promises breed either the best bloud in mens souls or worst if kindly appiled according as the truth is in Jesus when the sad Schoole-master of Rebells hath once sent them to Christ they breed the best settle the soule produce faith and cleanse the conscience But when they are catcht at by bold and presumptuous ones who although there be but three saved yet looke to be of them they breed the worst bloud of all even the bloud of impudent secure presumption Therefore away from promises all such hands off be affraid to mix with them Gold will not unite with drosse nor promises with you rather goe to the terrors of God which may like darts smite through the dead loines of your soules to tame you and prepare you for purging Goe to Iohn Baptist first to cast downe every high hill to fill every valley and fit you for the King of heavens free passage upon your hearts and then shall you perhaps see what a promise meanes till then you sleep under the hatches dangerously till you be throwne into the storme of wrath which yet will not cease then neither Oh ye proud Pharisees Papists Pelagians what have you to doe with promises As he said to them so say I to you Matth. 3.7 what doe you here Who taught you to escape vengeance to come You are the vipers who fret in sunder this wombe of promises Can you indeed doe as you say that is fulfill and more then fulfill the Law can ye merit and supererogate Surely then promises and you accord not your righteousnesse hath destroyed the righteousnesse of God As for promises and Christ himselfe you make him but a stalking horse to a proud heart and as a stirrop to get up into your owne sadle when you have tired your selves in your owne wayes and wearied your selves in your error compassing your selves with your owne sparkles this is the portion which God gives you Esay 50. ult even to sinke in your owne sweat and to lye down in sorrow Behold all you that venture upon a promise in this pickle wonder and vanish for you shall not beleeve the promise though a man of a thousand should declare it unto you Act. 13.38.39 That Doctrine that belongs to you is a doctrine of despaire in your selves for your stout hearts and standing out with God This Word must first cast downe all high thoughts and make you calme 2 Cor. 12.4 ere ever the doctrine of a promise can finde entrance into you What have you to doe with peace and promises Turne behinde Iehu the furious marcher 2 King 9.22 arm'd with the revenge of God to humble your soules So much for this And thirdly lest I should forget it let this be terror to that generation Branch 3 of Rome who make no bones of the Lords promises Of terror Popish abusers of promises terrified but devoure them all whole without scruple Who can read those usurpations of the Romish Whore and impudent claiming of promises even the choycest of all which the Word containes for the comfort of the true Spouse of Christ in all her turmoyles under her malicious enemies Dare they who are the tyrants lay claime to the promises which onely belong to the innocent Saints The persecutors themselves to the promises of the persecuted members An harlot to the promises of the chaste Matrone When that wofull Gregory the Pope called Hil debrand or Brand de Hell trode upon the necke of good Henry the fourth Emperour he used these words Psal 90.11 Thou shalt trample upon the Serpent and Cockatrice and tread upon the Lion and Dragon Can any modest eare heare such abuse of promises I speake not onely for the malitiousnesse of calling a Lamb a Lion and Dragon but the prophane arrogating of such a promise to himselfe who indeed was one egge of this Aspe and Serpent whom Christ shall crush and destroy But who wonders at this in him Who takes upon him to make Scripture and marre it at his pleasure So he takes that promise to himselfe Psal 2.8 I will give thee the Nations for thine Heritage and the Gentiles for thy Possession And thus he defends his unlimited jurisdiction And againe The wicked shall hoord up treasure but the righteous shall possesse it Job 27.16 This serves his turn for his raking in of Treasure So againe I will give thee the Keyes of the Kingdome Matth. 18. This for the pardoning of sinne He might as well take one promise from the Divell as abuse so many of Gods Behold all the Kingdomes of the world they are all mine and I wil give them thee if thou wilt worship me Sure I am of all other promises this most fitly belongs to him upon the condition But as for all other Oh wofull prophane mouth to chalenge promises contrary to their scope Paul I know and Iesus I know but who art thou Terrors are for thee not promises Secondly this point serves for use of sharp reproofe and that of Vse 2 sundry sorts First of such as being under the condition of a promise Reproofe yet refuse to cast themselves upon it I spake of these before but this Branch 1 point enforces it much more For what is so according to a promise as that they who need it apply it But these dally
as you know And so I say to us Levit. 26.21 If wee walke contrary toward the Lord hee will walke contrary to us trust to it And that not onely in case of foule revolts if wee should play the Adulterers Oppressors Blasphemers c. Such sinnes wee dare not meddle with haply for the lowd cry and inward wasting of conscience Heb. 10.37 But yet perhaps we dare withdraw our selves from God by unbeliefe fall out of love with his promises wee dare forgoe our joy and delight which we have had in his presence Jer. 2.13 and runne to pits which will hold no water as if the fountaine were unpleasant Wee dare suffer that pretious seed of Life to dye if it may dye in us and walke deadly coldly basely in our course We dare allay and forsake our first love to God and zeale to his truth wee dare run to the course of this declining formall saplesse and powerlesse world and shake off all spirituall closenesse and communion with God and yet wee thinke to doe well But know it this is the great quarrell of all Levit. 26.25 I meane the quarrell of Gods covenant God will avenge it sadly his soule shall have no pleasure in such Lay it to your hearts brethren and know the performance of promises is the immediate way whereby the Spirit of Grace conveyes the presence of God to his servants Wee have no voice to heare nor sights to see save the voyce and light of the promises If we can cleave to them we hold the Lord and hee is present in our soules as he was to Paul in that sad darknesse Acts 27.23 But if wee shake off the life of faith where is our title to the performing of promises or where is our right to the presence of God I remember what the Lord tells those Israelites in the Wildernesse I will send my Angell before you Exod. 23.20 and he shall carry you forth in your journey But take heed you grieve him not for he will not spare you but withdraw his presence from you So say I We would claime Gods presence and God must bee our God and performe all promises as fast as we gape after them But in the meane season we leave the condition at large Some of us have formerly been zealous yea suffered for God and lost our credit our goods our liberties for him Here was life and power but now wee hold but a carkasse of the old temper a meere name that we live wee are growne Polititians civilians close professors wise in our way rest in the fagge end of formality and common worship And what thinke we May we be as bold upon performance of promises as formerly May we chalenge the presence of God in his Word as formerly No no others of us dare be forward with God as Iona was nourish our spirits in anger Jona 1. 4. let the Sunne goe downe upon it rage and raile like mad men in our moods And if we be told of it wee will defend it we will be so for we say our wrong was reall and flesh and bloud cannot beare it What Will you flye from God and looke that hee should follow you up and downe Judg. 19.3 as the foolish Levite did his whorish Concubine Others of us dare abuse the Sabbath or else have no delight in it speaking our owne words Others cannot be rated off from the creature but run after our profits wills vanities pleasures fashions and cocker our children therein without checke Others will take the uttermost of our liberties and goe upon the brinke Others regard not our families set not up the worship of God there or pray for fashion Others are growne just to the frame of the times and give God so much and no more then the common sort doe and yet passe well And so I might be endlesse But know it Brethren Gods promises are like himselfe and are faithfully performed on his part howbeit if this be our frame we shall finde a change and hee will take in his Sun-shine we shall not finde his presence as in former times to us Job 6. and throughout Did the Lord withdraw himselfe from holy Iob while he walked in uprightnesse and eclipse his presence and promises from him write bitter things against him compasse him about with terrors hide his face and all justly even to humble him more deeply and prevent that which else prosperity might have bred in him Wonder not then brethren if the Lord withdraw himselfe from us and turne away his performing of promises into breach of covenant when hee meets with such scurfe as this in our hearts and lives And let the use of the point in Gods name be this which I pray us all to oberve that henceforth we cease to wonder if wee finde the Lord otherwise towards us then formerly so long as the quarrell of his Covenant depends I grant that there were never any dayes such as ours in point of complaint of Gods absence darknesse and not performing of promises But withall consider when were there such wofull dayes of Revolts Apostasies from God and the power of his truth as now Each face is pale and each hand is upon the pained side But it is rather because men may not have their will of God and keep him close in performance of promises when yet their lives swarme with all abominations Should I not be avenged of such time-servers and hypocrites as these saith the Lord in the Prophet doe you wonder if hee have hidden himselfe Esay 1. and doth count you as you are refusing to performe promises No no wonder not wonder rather if he should looke not for it till you repent If he darken himselfe in the chiefe promise of pardon of peace and comfort in conscience or in point of his Spirit of presence and the graces of it as humblenesse and patience love and mercy if he shorten you in the beauty of your conversation that your lives are not so sweet Spirituall penalties attend spirituall sins your light not so cleare as in time past if hee absent himselfe from you in his Ordinances restraining the influence of them suffering them to be dark and fruitlesse if he leave you in your companies to bee unprofitable in your liberties to bee carnall in your solitarinesse to be dead hearted if he harden your hearts and cause you to erre from his waies so that all your praiers fastings sacraments covenants should come forth at your nostrils as irkesome as those Quales did I say wonder not it s but righteous Make this use of it Vse Breakers of covenant with God shall finde God breake with them to abhorre boldnesse with God in challenging promises to be performed when you breake the condition Rather enter into your soules and search out the cause of the Lords absence saying it was not wont to be thus that thou shouldest breake promise thus Lord and leave me
to shift for my selfe it s I who have broken covenant with thee O breake my heart for it let it not be all one with me whether I feele thy presence or want it It s the death of my soule to be without thee I walke desolately mine heart melts in my bosome as wax I am consumed for thine anger as with a moth and I have no rest in all my flesh for thee Oh Lord let it exercise mee throughly and use any meanes rather then my disease should rankle and grow incurable in me 1 Sam. 20.1 2 3. When David saw that Sauls countenance was changed to him in what a pickle was he How did he bemoane it to Ionathan And yet his favour had beene deare of the price and shalt not thou mourne for the losse of presence and performance of promises from God Oh take heed goe not on adde not drunkennesse to thirst grow not from one or two falls to a falling sicknesse What is the life of most men but a sinning and repenting repenting and sinning againe Yea though the Lord be angry and smite them what doe they save go on still in the frowardnesse of their heart as Esay 57.16 Oh take heed Commune with God and thine heart consider the sad steps of thy revolt undoe thy worke get the Lord Jesus to be thy Mediator better then Ionathan for he was like to have beene slaine for his labour but Christ shall be accepted and the Lord shall restore thee againe and thou shalt bee as in time past unto him returne by a promise and by renewing thy faith as by thy unbeleefe thou didst revolt the Lord is willing that thou doe so and he will heale all thy backslidings and marry thee after thy harlots tricks and divorce Jer. 2. and 3. read the places Soder not up thy errors by duties weigh not good against bad but by a promise And so doing thy flesh shall returne like the flesh of a childe and thou shalt bee cleane and then thy title to the performance of promises shall bee restored And as the daughter of the Priest having buried her husband Levit. 22.13 might returne and eat bread in her fathers house as when she was a virgin so shalt thou returne to thy former demensum at the Lords board and thy charter of promises shall be restored and the performance of them If thou belong to God thus it shall be with thee some crosse or other God will send thee home by he will cause thy wounds to stinke and thy reines to burne within thee but hee will set home his truth in thee yea rather then faile he will set the Divell upon thee though he pull him off againe in mercy rather then he will lose thee But if thou be a revolting hypocrite and a server of the time thou maist goe where thou shalt God will not owne thee Thus much for this third Use Now it is time that we hasten to other Uses of the Doctrine A fourth Use therefore is instruction with caveat If God performe all his promises let us learne so to carry our selves as becomes them that beleeve Vse 4 this truth let not us joine purchasers with God in performances Instruction Caveat God must bee left to himself to performe promises without mixing of our wits and wills therewith Ruth 3.18 but stand still looke on and behold the faithfulnesse of God let us give faire way to his providence in this kinde and leave the businesse to himselfe as onely concerning himselfe As Naomi said to Ruth Rest and be still for the man will not be quiet in himselfe till he bring the matter about leave it to him so let us doe God needs not our negotiousnesse or double diligence to bring his matters to passe he can doe them best himselfe And yet so it is that as in all other lawfull actions we must come in and chop our gourds in the pottage to defile it so especially in the performing of promises Our mixtures must be added our humors and extremities or else all is marred The Disciples must needs crave fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans Luke 9.54 Matth. 16.21 or else their affection to their Master cannot subsist So Peter cannot love his Master except he disswade him from death Just so is it in this businesse with most men From the chiefe promise of salvation to the least and lowest we must have a finger in the worke and promises must passe through our dispatch To give God the honour of fulfilling as well as promising is too difficult for us And thence it is that we so hardly obtaine the promises they sticke betweene our fingers our hastnings our feares our dallying our presumption causeth so much sorrow betwixt the making and performing of promises If God were nakedly beleeved without our owne selfe-love the worke would soon be at an end Gen. 27.6 God promised Rebecca that the elder of the twinnes should serve the younger She could not rest content with that but she must devise how as if God needed her sinne shifting and lying to bring it to passe and in doing so she being taxed by Iacob tels him Indeed God foretold it to Abraham and alledged the sinnes of Amorites were not full yet why might not this come in as an externall motive to God his execution Gen. 15.16 Thy curse bee upon me my sonne But she could not so easily latch the blow For what might be the cause why Isaac fetcht over the blessing the second time save onely to reprove the indirect course that Rebecca had taken It s true that the spirituall birthright tooke effect from the present But the temporall was delayed six or seven hundred yeares till David brought Edom under bondage I submit my judgement to wiser men and I doubt not but other causes may be alledged but why might not the promise have taken effect sooner if shee had suffered the Lord to take his course We see Esau and his posterity were Dukes and Princes when poore Iacob was faine to bee a servant a pilgrim and his children to be slaves foure hundred and thirty yeares ere they went into Canaan Who doubts but that God guided all Yet I see not but we may suspect God to have had an hand of punishment for this prevention of his performances As the midwives subtilty spake of the Israelitish women to Pharaoh Exod. 2.19 That they were lively and needed not them So I may say Gods promises are lively and need no midwifery of ours they are not so weake that our wisdome need bring them to the birth Yet brethren we cannot be kept from venturing God hath promised to be alsufficient yet as if he could not be so without us we must step forth and bestirre us with using some indirect meane or other to purchase a performance God hath promised to blesse us in all we put forth our hand to but if wee marry a childe or purchase a commodity
and looke not that they should drop into thy bosome or be let downe in an engin all on the suddaine upon thee thou knowest not how quicken up thy faith daily else performances will prove but dead ware and according to thine unbeleefe 3. Murmuring so shall it be unto thee Thirdly murmure not when promises answer not thine expectation If crossed in our marriages in our children in the successe of our labours if debts pursue us if crosses follow us if wee be not presently answered in our fasting and prayers but still our hearts be obstinate and hardned then we fall to mutter against God as if he were unfaithfull but never enter into our selves to see how we warpe from the promise and go to worke with our owne tooles Ex. 14.2 4. Some grosse sin Fourthly lay no stumbling blocke of our owne iniquity in our owne way to stop the performing of promises Every loose common and hollow professor let him decline never so much from God in his course yet will boast as much of promises as others and will not be beaten off Judg. 19.20.21 ca. As those Israelites in fighting with the Benjamites would needs goe forward in the revenge of their sinne and lookt that God should assist them but never saw the sinne which still lay underneath their Idolls I mean which cost them the losse of forty thousand souldiers ere they got the victory Men think if they should be stript of Gods promises they were forlorne folk but in the mean time they walke not close with God keep not touch with him in their covenants dare play most unfaithfull parts with men in their practice and thus runne into arrearedges never dreaming that thereby they forfeit their right to performances but hold up their heads with boldnesse and think that as good bloud runnes still in their veines as in the best beleevers 5. Limiting of God Fifthly limit not God in his performances we care not how little we have for our money so we may have our humor pleased in some carnall content we can forgoe spirituall so we may have our turn served in some one promise we have enough and can give God over for a good while after and think much to hold on with Gods bounty because our strait hearts are pincht with the exercise of faith and therefore its just with God to punish our basenesse and unbeteaming spirits 6. Error of the wicked Sixtly beware of the error of the wicked who goe to worke by sense and esteeme Gods performances according to the outward meanes and possibilities which they have to compasse their ends God is but a formall notion upon point with them If thou looke upon the world thou losest the sight of God and wilt turne Atheist Seventhly beware of oversight and inobservance of promises God performes daily and hourely one or other to thee or thine to body or soule in blessings or in corrections yea more then hee is bound to But thou gapest after some greater or some other things 7. Unobservance so overseest and passest by such as are before thee and thereby stoppest the course of thanks and of blessings because thou seest not how many waies Gods performances lye Be quicke fighted in observing mercies and say with the Church Lam. 3.23 The compassions of the Lord are renued every morning great is thy faithfulnesse An observing heart encourages the Lord to performe more and he cannot abide an heart that pockets all and puts them into a bottomlesse purse Hag. 1.8 8. Curiosity and censure with others Eightly shunne curiosity and propensenesse to challenge the Lord when his publicke government and administrations please us not To these many moe might be added as sloth and ease worldlinesse formality in worship little meditation and such like They procure a dead life a barren heart an uncomfortable course Remember it must be an heart qualified for the nonce which must walke with God in his promises and performances It must be a cleare humble watchfull innocent and selfe-denying spirit not tainted with il custome and such shall have no cause to complaine of God nor be sent empty away So much for this Use Eightly this point is Exhortation to all beleevers and that in sundry particulars Vse 8 First that they revive in themselves the former Doctrine that is Exhortation that they take measure of Gods promises to the full that since God is so faithfull Branch 1 a performer of them all they may understand their owne liberty To take measure of promises and improve it Lose no performance for lacke of a promise God can enlarge Christ to every dimension of fulnesse height and depth So doe thou Those John 6.27 could beteame to follow Christ for loaves but they saw no further Say we thus Lord if thou heare me in this prayer thou shalt heare of me often I will ply thee with importunity for there is no measure no end nor bottome of thy goodnesse I will come to morrow next day continually For thou art yesterday to day and for ever the same Tell thy soule Heb. 13.8 heaven were not heaven if thou couldst reach all in it yet doe thine endeavour and pray with Paul Eph. 3.16 that thou maist see more in Christ then thou canst aske or thinke Mat. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in the Lords Prayer thou art bidden to aske bread enough for the day and that which exceeds for so the word signifies As much more Lord as thy bounty can afford Oh brethren who would not know this Charter and Lease except he cared not whether God performed or no Lord I beleeve in that promise which reaches to all my life to my corruptions temptations straits feares to this and to a better life Secondly having so done learn to lot upon him for each performance Lot upon God for performance Ezra 8.21 especially when it goes hard Branch 2 with thee otherwise except God should sticke to thee Thus Ezra having obtained leave of the King for his journey and being now at a pinch for a sufficient convoy in so perillous a journey concluded he would not goe to the King for it lest he should upbraid him but he would goe to the promise for it by fasting and prayer and having so done was well appaid in himselfe lotting upon God that in such an extremity he would not faile him So do thou Thirdly to this end strengthen thy self by the plentifull experience of performances Branch 3 in time past get a calender of performances Strengthen thy self by thy experience at such a time I was heard for my wife for my childe answered in point of marriage estate gifts credit such a strong corruption was subdued such a grace enlarged so that I see it were not in vaine to waite upon thy promises if I had faith sufficient to equall and concurre with them Let me forget none of thy faithfulnesse in my receivings of the Sacraments
Esa 26.2 Salvation will God appoint for wals and bulwarkes Esay 26.1 2 3. What is that The Church under the Gospel should fasten upon the promise for salvation and this should fence out all her troubles and former enemies as a Wall or a Bulwarke keepes out any affronts and vers 3. Thou wilt keepe him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee As the needle of the Diall set just on the North point settles and shakes not and as the Anchor holds in the Ship from floating up and downe so the promise fastned upon stablisheth the soule from her former wanzings and unsetlednesse And the reason is more fully set downe in vers 4. Trust yee in the Lord for ever for the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength that is he is reall in all his promises and gives a being to them as being strong enough to doe it Hence it is Esa 55.4 That the Lord Jesus in the offer or promise is called a Witnesse Behold I have given him for a Witnesse to the people And in Revel 1. That faithfull and true Witnesse Why because he is Yea and Amen all the promises of God in him become so Now as a Witnesse in the Court who is sworne and without exception decides the Controversie betweene two at oddes so the promise beleeved quits the soule and puts an end to strife So in the Hebrews the promise beleeved is compared to a City of refuge which rescued the poore man-slayer whose heart was full of feare and distresse because of the pursuer but there he was free even so the oath and promise of God received into the soule determines all doubts betweene the Lord and her It is said of Hanna that ere Eli had resolved her from God of a sonne shee was full of trouble in spirit But when once hee had satisfied her lo then shee was cheerefull and look'd no more heavily even so is it with the promise fastning upon the soule it causes the waves and stormes of an unquiet heart to turne to a calme Hezekiah was mightily troubled upon the message of death but no sooner came Esay backe againe with the newes of his recovery and the signe of the Suns going back but Hezekiah's moane was turned to a song So is it here For is there not more in a promise of Christ and preach'd to the soule in his name then in all the promises of speciall deliverances which were more darkly derived from him Yes verily Hence it is that the Prophets never describe the power of Christ in his word but they runne very much upon the description also of this effect of chasing away of all spirituall distempers Upon all the glory shall be a defence and there shall be no more weeping nor mourning upon his mountaine In stead of the Bramble Esay 55. ult shall be the Myrtle and in stead of the Thorne shall come the Firre What 's that all shall bee new the face of things shall be changed Teares shall be wiped from all eyes with many such phrases as come not to mind each chapter is full of them So Job 22.29 When men are cast downe then thou shalt say There is a lifting up and hee shall save the humble man Lo consternation and terrors cease by beleeving So Psal 32.6 For this cause shall every good man pray in a time of finding The flouds of great waters shall not come neare him And examples are as evident as other Scriptures How was Cornelius by Peter the Eunuch by Philip the Jaylor by Paul and Silas freed from their doubts and demurres and set at liberty Reasons are many and weighty First this appeares by proportion Reas 1 if we compare the priviledges of Beleevers together we shall find that there be as many as concerne them in point of freedome from their inward distempers as outward enemies But the beleever is really set free from enemies Devill curse law wrath of God an evill world the gates of hell else whence come those triumphs O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law incensing sinne But thankes be to God c. Now if redemption deliver us from enemies so that they shall not hurt us from all crosses straits tribulations so that they shall not separate us from the love of God shall not then Justification free us from inward horrours feares guilt doubt of conscience rebellion of sinne cavils prejudice and distempers Shall not reconciliation ridde us of our enemy and that shame and confusion which sinne brought upon us Yea much more for both come from faith Secondly the contrariety of estates proves it before and after Reas 2 faith The condition of the wicked is That they can have no peace there is none to them Esay 57. ult because as the winter aire is never temperate by reason of those moist and cold vapors which annoy the aire with winds tempests frost and snow and the like so the coast of their spirits can never be cleare because of the guilt of their consciences they may now and then please themselves with a little truce but still warre returneth the dint of their feares is not broken So on the contrary There is no warre to the soule that beleeves As the aire perfectly clensed in the summer is setled and affords a continuall calme so doth the conscience of a beleever Now and then may be over-castings of clouds but the dint of guilt and wrath is gone Thirdly else we should ascribe more to particular promises Reas 3 and the effect thereof which are weaker then to the maine promise which is the Reuben the first borne of God and the sonne of his strength But we see what particular promises have done to them who have beene under sad distempers by affliction Of Hanna and Hezekiah I have spoken before Adde another The Lord promised the Israelites that upon the sprinkling of their door-posts with the bloud of the Passeover Exod. 12. the Angel of the Lord shall passe over their houses and smite none of them Did they find any distempers possesse them when there was out-cry throughout all Egyt in every family No surely they slept sweetly in their beds Did they doubt of the victory against Ai when as they had received a promise of victory or were they afraid as at first when thirty of them were slaine No. When the promise was made of the fall of the wals of Jericho by the sounding of Rams hornes and compassing the City seven times did the people stagger at it were they not resolved And shall not the maine promise of God remove distempers within as well as afflictions without yes and much more Reas 4 Fourthly the contrariety of corrupt infidelity and the power of the promise doth evince it The strength of infidelity stands in bearing downe the word Whatsoever distemper of heart can be mentioned either selfe carnall reason rebellion
disease which every man cries out of but few know how to heale and fewer apply the remedy Some tell us Melancholy will have her course when all is done the best cure is to be patient till the fewell be spent Others tell us we must be merry and cheerefull as if a man should bidde a man whose legges are cut off to goe of his errand Others make short work of it and thinke nothing but riddance of their lives will ridde them of it I doe not now speake of the meere bodily humour I leave that to the Physitians Art I meane such accidentall Melancholy as befals men from the sadde reflecting of their condition upon their owne thoughts till they have brought themselves into a maze of confusion Whither this sorrow be carnall or godly either indirectly caused by such diseasednesse of body weaknesse of constitution losses reproach as beginnes to worke the heart to a conceit of Gods displeasure or such depth of Melancholy as ariseth from a long and unprofitable struggling with our spirituall diseases without finding any issue The best cure of both these is by faith in the promises That onely like that sword of Alexander can cut the Gordian knot in pieces at once without picking it out Men spend themselves infinitely about the thought of these sadde dysasters and what may come of them how miserable a plight and pickle they have brought themselves into As if a man fallen into a deepe Well should cry out and tell folke a long tale how he fell in but still lie there and desire no man to hale him out But the best remedy is to cure one contrary by another Guilt and feare an unquiet conscience is that which causeth thy Melancholy All is not as thou wouldest have it thou feelest not thy selfe as thou wouldst be Why what wouldst thou be merry cheerefull a free man ridde of thy chaines Well goe to that which onely can ease the soule of all her distempers that is get the promise of Christ grounded upon the strength of the satisfaction bestow thy plodding thoughts upon a new subject say thus to thy selfe Did God indeed of his owne accord cut off his owne quarrell when he might have destroy'd me in a moment Hath he appointed his owne justice a ransome that he might have strength to resist and disanull it Doth he offer his bare breast and heart of love to be seen by every poore soule that is in straits for want of it and knowes not whither to turne it selfe Doth he bidde such a soule drowne all her guilt and feares in this free and full good pleasure of his to be reconciled with her May she beleeve that the requiring of this price of his owne Sonne will ridde the soule of her debt and discharge her of it Set thine heart then deeply upon this meditation pray God to turne it off from the ill custome of thy distempered thoughts and noysome feares that possesse thee And if thou canst but obtaine this grace to divert them thus I say unto thee That through Gods goodnesse a quarter of that needlesse and distressed plodding of thy misery might drowne thy distempers in the bottome of the Sea and turne thy Melancholy into freedome and joy For why so saith my doctrine Trusting to the Word will ridde the soule of all her distempers Thirdly this point strongly confuteth that Popish tenet That Use 3 no man can come to know himselfe certainly to be in the state of grace and favour with God but we must alway be in doubt Confut. betweene hope and feare and that 's the best way they say to hold us well occupied to keepe us in a wholsome awe and feare of our corruptions and to exercise us in the practice of repentance But as for this faith to ridde us of our distempers that they call a fancie and that a dangerous one as provoking a man to loosenesse and presumption But O yee hypocrites dare you thus dishonour that blessed truth of God built upon such strong foundations as to detract from it the maine prerogative of stablishing the conscience Shall the Promise have no more power in it than the vaine and carnall presumption of an unsound heart Shall both alike leave the soule in staggering Farre be it from us to yeeld so prophane an absurdity As for your revelations which you say have beene given to some speciall Saints of God to assure them of heaven although wee grant that Peter and Paul had greater measure of assurance and more than ordinary freedome from these distempers yet we affirme that the evidence which they had came from no other revelation than that which the Word breedeth by the the concurrence of the Spirit which is no other than faith and as for that greater measure of full assurance of the Spirit it was wrought in them by the promise and faith receiving the same for the Spirit although it be above the Word simply considered yet it is not without the Word Neither is that Spirit so peculiar a thing as is onely given to speciall men but even to some of all sorts of beleevers even so many as it pleases God to stablish after they have long clave to the truth and faithfulnesse of the promiser So Paul speakes Eph. 1. Ephes 1. By whom the Spirit you were sealed after yee had beleeved But to leave these deafe Adders who will not be charmed what should it need to trouble us to heare them speake against the power and authority of the Word who if the Word should prevaile must forfeit their Kingdome of Traditions unwritten verities wherewith they embondage the pretious soules of them whom Christ hath redeemed This Word of God which they so bitterly declaime against being that eternall truth which shall survive all their inventions and that breath of the mouth of God which shall one day consume whatsoever hath set up it selfe against the comfort of a poore soule and the glory of the riches of Grace Meane time we abandon this their conceit as the most horrible cut-throat of the Conscience and the greatest tyranny in the world to wit That a doubting and distempered creature wofully tired with her estate must be compelled to returne to her old misery with an encrease of her bondage worse than Egyptian Use 4 Fourthly this is Terrour Terror to all hypocrites who presumptuously will beare themselves upon the Word boasting that they have got a promise from God and they are called to beleeve they may beleeve they must beleeve They have had troubles as many as the most men have had but God bids them drown them in the freedome of his gracious promise and therefore so they will And although there were but three saved they claime to be of that number no man shall beat them off But as Samuel said to Saul when he pretended he had obeyed the command of God Whence then is the bleating of these sheep and lowing of these oxen So say I to these
if you have beleeved the Word of God indeed whence are those privie nips of your conscience which do so continually assault you Whence are those terrours of heart with which many of you are met with when you would faine be at peace When you are in the middest of your ease and jollity your liberties your sports and pleasures whence come those cold qualmes over your base spirits barring you out from peace and fastning terrours upon you stronger then you can resist Dare you pretend your selves beleevers when you feele still your old distempers to tosse and turmoile you and to hold you downe with strong hand in secret Joh. 8.30 If they whom the Sonne hath freed are free indeed whence is your slavery No no you do but set a good face on it you make faire weather outwardly but hatch inwardly such a viper as will fret your bowels and destroy you it is one thing to smother and choake your feares and beare downe your distempers another to drowne them in the sea of the promise you have other delights to fill your hearts withall the Lord would have set on the worke of the law more throughly and made you more to stinke in your owne nostrils and to prize the Word of God and the promise of ease if ever you had beene truly loaden But sithence you would have both your lusts and the promise too holding a wolfe by the eares which you are loath to forgoe and yet cannot well keep know that you deceive your selves in boasting that you hold close to the promise for they that do so may lose their distempers therein which you keepe still It is true That the Lord would have all his as Esay saith count it their strength to sit still But how not in a chaire of ease pretending a freedome which you never had and favouring your selves in any forbidden vanities of your owne envie lust pride revenge and the like But the strength of a poore soule is to sit still in respect of her cavillings and fightings against the truth of the promise Perhaps you will say you do so and feele no such matter in your selves but are quiet and secure But I answer your peace is not sound there is a crack in it as appeares by this That you walke not as Gods free-men do you are as close to God in your love in your tendernesse in your humble carriage as you would pretend to be in your beleeving No man can palpably discerne the Devils chaines upon the Lords free-men Wherefore to conclude I say to you as he to that messenger What hast thou to do with peace turne thee behind mee Oh these are the daies wherein the most vile and presumptuous hypocrites catch at a promise and beare downe their consciences But be not thou O Christian friend like to them for their disease wound is but healed deceitfully and shall breake out againe most deadly when they shall not be able to resist it except it please the Lord to send them upon better conditions to claime the promise So much shall serve for this Use Fifthly this bitter reproofe of all such who in the judgement Use 5 of Charity do beleeve and cleave to the Word yet will not be drawne from the bad custome of their former doubts conceits and distempers but suffer Beelzebub still to light upon their sore and to molest them and gall them still Oh! what a dishonour is this to the promise of God still to hold a secret correspondence with Satan and to nourish our old picking of knots and answering of feares by our owne blanching wit and devises yea spending houres and daies wearisomely in setting our owne wit and invention on worke to beat off our objections and thinking they have done themselves good service in the meane while Whence comes this surely by your weaknesse and relapsing from your former hold of the promise This self-wit and will is so naturall that we are prone and propense to revolt and roll backe unto it as fast as the Lord seems to settle us by his Word it is an inbred evill alway fighting against the law of faith as it is easie for a woman to go to a pond or pulke standing neere to her doore though the water be not so good rather then to goe to a fountaine of living water further off Ease and ill custome are inchanting enemies But remember that onely that blood of sprinkling hath in it a sure bottome of staying feares so that the soule may be quiet from the destroying Angell and the out-cries of Egypt Could they who never had the experience of such a thing before yet so confidently venture their lives upon the Word and shall such as have in likelihood approved this promise of God by experience and ventured themselves upon it and felt it a soveraigne remedy against their distempers returne to tread the maze of their old confused thoughts the second time As if the Word had suddenly lost her strength and virtue to sustaine them as formerly Shall forgetfulnesse melancholy temptation corruption ill custome be able to pull them from an assured hold of rest to assured vexation and distemper I speake it brethren upon knowledge It hath beene thus and is thus with many through a wearisomenesse of this spirituall trade of beleeving that men grow into a very falling sicknesse in this kind that is such a custome of wofull doubtfulnesse and distempers that they seem to delight in it Alas poore soule dost thou thinke that to be presumption in thee which the Lord himselfe calls confidence or because perhaps thou feelest the dregs of a bold heart still abiding in thee hast thou no other way to avoid a shallow save by running into a gulfe If the Lord be willing thou shouldst hold thy peace upon the naked termes of his offer and promise seemes it too good for thee or if it be must thou needes undervalue his grace by thy basenesse as if it were too great for him to bestow because it is too good for thee to enjoy Know it from the ground of this doctrine the Lord delights as little in this practise of thine as thou seemest to delight much in it And although I deny not but in respect of thy weaknesse there may be some place for pity yet there is more cause of sharpe reproofe For why Didst thou never beleeve the Word deceive thy selfe no longer and put away thy distrust from thee But hast thou beleeved for so thou didst pretend then trust the Lord still and say with him Why dost thou thus fret O my soule in my breast and recoyle against that which hath formerly satisfied thee Turne rather thy vexation into prayer and say Remove these unpleasing chaines Lord at last and set mee at liberty shew me this wisedome from above not onely barely to cling to it but also to improve it so as to feele the power of it to shut out my base distempers out of doores and there to hold
the cost I remember how one of the poore Martyrs encouraged his fellow the one being a blind man and the other a lame being at the stake Be of good cheere saith the one to the other we have a sharpe breakfast but we shall have a sweete supper my Lord of London Boner shall heale me of my blindnesse and thee of thy lamenesse in a short space Could a poore blind creature encourage himselfe against the fire for the hope of freedome from his blindnesse and count a bloudy wretch a good Physitian in that respect What shouldest thou doe then for the hope of riddance from those distempers which have hindred thine inward peace and have held thee downe all thy dayes till now Oh! how good a Physitian should he be and how blessed a medicine should that be that should ridde thee from them Secondly how should thy loynes blesse the Lord for this mercy How precious was Elisha to Naaman for his cure how beautifull should the feete of them be that bring glad tidings of peace But especially what experience should this worke in time to come in all such as the Sonne hath thus freed What Giant shouldest thou feare having overcome the Lion and the Beare What after births and paines should affright thee having escaped the chiefe paines of travell and birth it selfe It is sweete to thinke how strong the Saints of God have beene by this experience and with what triumph they speake of this deliverance As Paul in 2 Cor. 1. Who hath delivered from so great a death who doth deliver and I am perswaded will deliver And yet who had such after reckonings as he had So often in spirituall desertions in soule-buffetings in perils by land sea enemies he was much in labour in travell often stoned imprisoned persecuted yet saith he out of all these the Lord delivered me yea and still will to his glory till my worke be finished Thus the Church speakes Psal 123. That if God had not beene of her side the waves had swallowed her up and yet God had broken the snare and her soule was escaped And what then Our helpe saith she stands in the name of the Lord. The poore lame and blind man in the Gospel being bidde to come to Christ was heartned on by the standers by Be of good cheere say they the Master calleth thee So say I Be of good cheere If when thou wert yet weake and unable to helpe thy selfe yet the Lord bare thee through eased thee of all thy distempers when thou saidst It shall never goe well Oh! what speciall lets by infidelity feare and tentation what speciall risings up and bubblings up of corruption can he not suppresse in thee Now he hath given thee strength and experience by his promise why shouldest thou distrust him One saith What can seeme great to him to whom the greatnesse of the whole world is knowne So what can seeme tedious to him to overcome who hath got the victory over his horrors of conscience and pangs of a froward sullen heart through unbeliefe Let us nourish this experience lively and effectually in our selves against straits either by inward desertings or outward enemies Our Lord Jesus felt both upon the crosse that we might trust him for freedome from both That Crosse to which he nayled all Devils and men enemies to his grace shall also overcome all their second assaults and affronts and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against us if we cast not away our confidence Yea this our freedome shall be our earnest-peny of that peace which the Lord shall settle upon our consciences for time to come a pledge of that eternall rest which one day when he shall cleare the coast from all tempests and blasts of this world with full serenity and calmnesse the Lord shall translate us unto hereafter If this Angel stand by us although we were in as deepe distresse as Paul when no Sunne Moone or Starres appeared for fourteene dayes we shall leape up as he did among a rout of Ruffians and Souldiers saying I trust God that not one haire of our head shall fall to the ground Oh! how well-pleasing to God is it that we give not over our hold and cast not away our Shield and Sword when we have greatest need of it And so much may serve for this Use Lastly this may serve for instruction to teach us the just proceeding of God against all Hypocrites who reject his Word in this respect loving their distempers so well that they care not Use 7 for getting faith to be rid of them The soule that longs for faith Instruct longs for peace and riddance of such slavish companions but they who withdraw from God and will not beleeve it is just with God to leave them and their distempers together till they cannot be separated Ezekiel speaking of the people of his time compares them to a seething pot whose meat liquor and scum sod all together till they with the pot it selfe were burnt all together So it is just with God that they who would not have the precious separated from the vile should have their owne faith still and be left to their staggerings unquietnesses false case deceits and delusions and never be purged from their defilements Peter excellently speakes to this purpose Epist 1. Cap. 2.6.7 of such as will not accept the Lord Jesus to be their corner-stone of safety Surely they find him a stone of stumbling and offence So I say to these Since you cared not to trust in Christ to ridde you of your corruptions dead hearts vanities lusts earthlinesse your unbeliefe false hopes feares your owne affections and wayes it is just with God to leave you still to astonishment and anguish of heart to sinke and perish to fall and be destroyed Esa 28. by this Rocke of offence Christ is either a Rocke to save or to crush in pieces And I have noted that many Pharisees and Hypocrites refusing Christ have turned cavillers against the way of God complainers murmurers against it as base tedious and difficult if not scorners and enemies So much for this Doctrine and Lecture THE THREE AND TWENTIETH AND LAST LECTVRE Vpon the fifteenth VERSE and so forward VERSE XV. to the XIX And he returned to the man of God he and all his company and came and stood before him and said Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth save in Israel Now therefore I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant But he said As the Lord liveth before whom I stand I will receive none And he uâ—ged him to take it but he refused And Naaman said Shall there not then be given two Mules load of earth to thy servant c. In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant c. To whom Elisha said Goe in peace Entrance upon this 4 generall ALthough Brethren at my first entry upon this text I propounded no more Verses of this Chapter to treat upon save what
being convinced of their killing the Lord of Life were prickt in heart and filled with mourning and tendernesse it is called there a powring out because of that impotencie and unsatisfiednesse which was in it that it could not tel how to expresse it selfe enough to God or man and the holy Ghost uses words of the plurall number noting how frequent their prayers were at first conversion and how bitter those complaints and mournings were for their sinnes So wee know John Revel 2. Revel 2.3 touches the same poâ—nt when he checkes the Church of Ephesus for the losse of her first love we know how tender and ardent that love is which couples do beare each to other when they are first espoused together it may be a patterne all the life after Sometimes it s styled by the name of joy as it is said Matth. 13.44 Matt. 13.44 That when the Merchant had found that Pearle for joy thereof counting himselfe happy therein he went and sold all that he had and bought that Pearle And those in Acts 8. Act. 8.8.39 rejoyced greatly having beene converted by Philip as those who have found an hooâ—d of treasure who would not part with it againe for a world so the Eunuch went away rejoycing Sometime by the esteeme of the messenger Ro. 10. Rom. 10.15 How beautifull are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace As Eliezer Gen. 24.30 who brought Isaacs tokens and bracelets and newes of an husband was very welcome for his message sake Sometime it is described by the close fellowship and cleaving of the Saints of God together as Act. 2. Act. 2.44 45. where those that beleeved could not part with each other but sold their possessions and gave the price for the maintenance of their poore brethren Sometime it is noted by the dearnesse of the heart to the Ministers of God as Galat. 4.15 Galat. 4.15 For I beare you witnesse tha you would have pull'd out your very eyes and given to mee And much more by that prodigall spirit of suffering for God Heb. 10.37 as Heb. 10. Call to remembrance the dayes of old wherein you suffered willingly the spoyle of your goods were made a gazing-stocke both by reproaches and afflictions and chap. 11. were persecuted and tormented refusing to be delivered Many phrases are used in the Prophets to describe the strangenesse of this change as chap. 55. end The Thistle shall become a Myrtle tree Esay 55. ult and the Bramble shall become a Fig-tree that is things before uselesse should now put on a new hew and become profitable for all uses yea to describe the acceptablenesse thereof to God it is said That the wildernesse shall be as a flood Esay 35.2 3. and the desert as the garden of God Esay 41.10 and as the face of the earth after the winter is gone and the spring is come In the Canticles there is much to this purpose The winter is past the spring is come Cant. 2.11 12. the voice of the bird is heard the trees bud and the blossomes put forth what do all these phrases of well pleasingnesse intimate saving that savour which the soule brought home to God affords to him and the favour which shee finds in his eyes But what shall I need multiply over-many proofes It is harder to conceale them then to name them Others will offer themselves in the processe of the Doctrine Reas 1 Now for Reasons they are plentifull the first may be this God will have it so for the manifesting of his worke in the soules of Converts For the manifesting of his worke in the soule their course formerly having beene so contrary base and odious to God and man noysome to themselves barren and unprofitable themselves so insensible so dead hearted blockish and savourlesse of good what can be a more sensible marke of mercy to them then that the Lord hath wrought such a change such affections desire hunger love tendernesse closenesse to communion forgetting their dung-hill their pleasures lusts vanities companies What could be a sweeter marke to a rude savage Jaylor of conversion Act. 16.29 then to spring in to the Apostles wash their wounds make them great cheere and send them away from their chaines What could more comfort the heart of poore Lydia Ibid. then for a coy Dame now to hang upon the Apostles and to say If you have found me faithfull abide in my house So that the Lord in part doth it for the better contenting the hearts of such who if some such apparent change were not wrought would be ready to vanish in their feares and acknowledge no worke at all to be wrought Reas 2 The second Reason Because as in the early loves of the married For their heartning against their difficulties See Luk. 5.34 35 37. while they are together in the Bride-chamber all is festivall after-sorrowes must not be mentioned for those will come alone and too soone now it is honey-moone now all must sound of joy and gladnesse and to talke of debts children charge of house-keeping and crosses it is out of season so is it here The Lord foreseeing the many brunts damps eclipses and sorrows which his people must meet with gives them this wine of his flagons and these Apples and dainties to make merry with that they might forget care and endeare their hearts at first so deeply in himselfe that when troubles must come the remembrance of the love of their youth may encourage them to beare the more willingly and when they are growne stronger to beare then he conceales their first delights and allots them harder conditions suffers their feasting to be turn'd to fasting their mirth into mournings their songs into sorrow suffers them to be crockt among the pots hurried in the world dampt with hard conditions and files of their first edge that their inward metall and substance may grow better Thus he fits them for both conditions Reas 3 Thirdly he causes these expressions to come from them that they may not lie hid To make them objects of observation in the world like Saul in the stuffe but be objects of marke and observation in the eyes of others Sometimes God puls out Wisedome out of her corners and clothes her with all orient and beautifull colours that she might raise up admirable love of her selfe in such as behold her And when it is thus each man covets to have a share in her These admirable operations which God workes in his converted ones are so convincing and precious that even they who do not desire them for themselves will yet covet them for their beauty and comelinesse which they see in others Whose heart was not pierced in the Gaolers house to see such strange affections bred in him all of a sudden when the Lord comes into a family and discovers his worke in some one or two in tender sorrow in savory desires after the promise unwearied
at times or a little water in a glasse to keepe it sweet will this prove a cure Or if he go to a cunning Chirurgion and he tell him I can cure you and make you as sound a man as ever you were but then you must be at some cost endure some paine be content to be lanced or to have your sore search'd to the quick or to have the dead flesh deeply corrasived and then to be tented and to be patient till it be quite healed But then the sore man should say Alas here is cost I am loth to waite so long Can you not bind it up for me the whiles and keepe it warme and the Ague from taking it if you can I le be content a while and hereafter I will come againe But by that time the sore is gangreen'd or fistulated or hath taken the bone and marrow and the Cihrurgion tels him it is incurable his legge must be cut off or it will cost him his life Would any man praise this man Surely such are many lazars cures even such as will make them creeples or bed-rid ones But sound cures we heare of few In the feare of God take warning All cures are not of one sort God can bee slight with the slight and sound with the sound Therefore come unto him open thy wound move him to pity thou art but a dead man if he helpe not come ere thy heart be quite hardned and past hope confesse his skill submit to his cure let him search tent and handle thee as he will If a sound cure be thine aime to get an heart truly purged of thy humours broken beleeving and repentant know the Lord can cure thee wholly as good cheape as by halfes renounce thy patchery and hollownesse and come to plaine termes and he can make thy flesh come againe as a childs But know that till then no spirit of a cure will be seene in thee nothing save a shifting shuffling doubtfull darke and staggering course will be come by Onely this sound cure will create a spirit of cure in thee to be a zealous humble and close Christian to be for the honour of Him who hath delivered thee from death and hell which no Physitian under Heaven save him selfe could have done for thee Use 2 Secondly Terrour this may be terrour to all whose frame is contrary Branch 1 to this spirit of Grace and Conversion So farre from being for God his Glory his Gospel and Ordinances so farre from the spirit of thankes Terrour to all such as nourish open and notorious diseases in themselves zeale and joy for grace and pardon that they still continue in the myre of their owne filth and still wallow in their defilements of covetousnesse prophanenesse uncleannesse and the like wofull wayes So contrary to the spirit of such as God hath healed that they carry about and upon them the nasty and leprous skin of Naaman An heathenish brutish and ignorant mind void of all light of truth an uncircumcised heart a rebellious obstinate and impenitent course fraught with all sinne possesses them I may say these rather have the spirit of deepe and mortall disease upon them then the spirit of a cure they carry that in their bosomes which is farre more mortall then Naamans disease To wit the spirit of old Adam of blindnesse bad customes the spirit of the earth and their lusts nay worse the spirit of rebellion malice and untractablenesse of heart they will not be reproved nor convinced but fight against the Lord and his truth yea some of them against their owne light which is as contrary to the spirit of Grace as can be Oh! the sinnes they commit are committed with an high hand they were never slaine by the killing letter of the Law but are alive jolly and secure their sinne weares a Crowne the King is not higher when he weares his Crowne then these are when they are in their Alehouses their games their adulterous and ungodly practises Their tongues are their owne for they were never redeemed with a price their passions humours are violent Their thoughts Psal 12.5 1 Cor. 6.20 Esay 13.22 a very through-fare for the Devill as Esay saith an habitation of Dragons and Ostriches so furious so false in their dealings so intemperate that none can live by them Brethren it is one thing to have sinne another to have a spirit of sinne A spirit of wrath is a prevailing habitednesse of it a spirit of revenge is a restlesse spirit never quiet till it have wreckt it selfe upon an enemy a spirit of uncleannesse is to be given over to it a spirit of the world is when not onely the soule hath the world but the world hath it It is one thing for a man to fall into a river and to have some water got into his body A spirit of sin what and how fearfull it is Heb. 13.5 another to lie under water and to be drown'd in it The Apostle Heb. 13.5 tels us of a conversation in covetousnesse or the love of silver as the word is which is then when a man is in the power of that lust when it hath got the soule into her snare and chaines so that the flame and bent of it is for gaine all the thoughts affections and devices of the heart are that way sleeping waking alone or in company in calling or in worship of God worky dayes or Sabbaths all is fish comes to net with such a base heart as is powred out after that Idoll And Brethren how many still of our people are such as these So farre from the spirit of Grace tendernesse 2 Cor. 4.4 compassions bowels of deare affection to God to his truth and Name that rather the spirit of the Prince of this world rules in them acts and carries them as sworne slaves of hell and foes of grace according to his owne pleasure Oh brethren these are the sadde times wherein the true spirit of Grace and of a converted soule are rare dainties Since the power of the Gospel hath beene resisted God hath given men over to the spirit of all sensuall prophanenesse The spirit of roysting swearing drunkennesse long lockes and all lust yea scorning the Gospell and all wholsome Ministery is come in stead thereof That promise of powring out the spirit of prophecie upon all flesh is gone The spirit of the Stewes and Alehouse Ioel 2. ignorance and every man for himselfe is come in The faces of men and women are altred with their spirits into the faces of Lions Wolves and foxes The Gospel serves either for a stalking-horse of hypocrites or a scare-crow of the lewd Except God be a breaking off our whole frame and knocking together of our old brasse and pewter to melt us and mould us anew in the Furnace of affliction I know not what to thinke of the spirit that rules among us If Heathens should see some of us it would make them loath the Gospel and
you should sinne But now you that so strained out a Gnat can swallow a Camell Some of you dare grind the faces of such as you are to deale with and no money is sweeter to you then that which you get by an hard bargaine Once if you be remembred you tooke thought how you should subsist from weeke to weeke for lack of the Word Now you can passe weekes and moneths and never come at a powerfull Sermon and which is worse whereas the least offence in this or any other kind would smite you like the sting of an Adder now you are so brawned that it never troubles you awhit The time hath beene wherein the sorrowes and sufferings of Gods servants went so neere you that they made them deerer to you then ever Now no peny no Pater-noster as the Proverb saith and let them sinke or swimme what care you Once you could forfeit your names your states your paines your liberties for the truth of God Heb. 10. and professe that it was better then ten thousand of your lives Now alas the least stirring of a Mouse behind the painted cloth is enough to make you tremble like an aspen leafe Oh! you love to sleep in a whole skinne and the notion of a persecutor an enemy a prison or a fine is hideous unto you Rather had you to spend five pound to quit your selves of such a feare with a crasie conscience to please a timorous and degenerate spirit then five shillings to hold out the Profession the Resolution for that truth which once was dearer then your lives The dayes have bin when Novices and first Converts Zeale of first converts described were very scrupulous of their fashions in attire their companies their liberties games and recreations both for kind and measure both for for feare of sin and also of scandall marvellous loth to incurre the least suspition of a carnall spirit in these or any kind as jarring with the tendernesse of heart which the first sense of mercy wrought in them Now every man fals to his dispensations and swallowes downe all these as if there were nothing either within them to checke or without them to stumble at Once the manner was to enquire after the closest strictest course of worshipping and walking with God as thinking no cost too much for God Now the fashion is to aske what is the least degree of true faith that if they can make themselves beleeve they have that there they may set downe their staffe Now the first question is What liberty may a godly life admit how may we be religious with least adoe how may we save our selves best and goe neere the wind without too much note for precisenesse or trouble for our profession Iudg. 9. The fatnesse of the Olive and sweetnesse of the Vine was wont to be so precious with most of us that wee abhorred to exalt our selves above the trees with the forfeit thereof But alas those dayes are out of date now each Christian thinkes it no bargaine except he may jolly it out in some carnall manner and live with reputation in the world above his fellowes and with note among them that are carnall if they cannot brave it out with great shewes fine cloaths matches for their children raking up heapes that they may bestow upon the pride of life that which they were wont to bestow upon God good persons and causes it savours not in their nostrils Once they troubled them most who suffered them not to bee godly fast enough now these are no eye-sores they can beare them well enough but they trouble them most who will not let them be rich fast enough who mourne to see that money and pleasures and vanities steale away their hearts they could smite such Numb 22.27 as Balaam did his poore Asse who thus trumpe in their way and stop their pace in that which they cannot seeke fast enough Oh poore wretches Went not the spirit of Grace out with you to stop you also What had you laid this sweet babe in the Cradle to sleepe while you thus play your parts Is there thinke you no dinne to awake this sleepy spirit no crosse to sting you as fire in your flesh and so to recover your temper Take heed then you cozen not your selves at last as you have deceived the hope of others for sure if you be or ever were right there must be a way to let out this Pleurisie Brethren I can scarce tell to whom I speake I scarce beleeve mine owne eyes If I may are there not some here who counted it a marke of their true tendernesse to shunne the least appearance of evill 1 Thes 5. But where is this become Shew me the man whose jealous heart can prove that he hath not by nibbling at smaller evils so imbezzeled his peace and gull'd down the Sea-wals of his feare and conscience that now he is waxen hardned by the deceitfulnesse of sinne What shall we say in these cases Surely either Gods Word and the worke of Grace admits a change with the time or else these are those sadde dayes wherein men have gotten the start of this spirit of Grace and gotten more wit then our Predecessors have had to wit to joyne Religion with the liberty of our owne wils Such dispensations doubtles the Church of God never knew but rather in the loosest times counted it their eare-marke to be closest Christians Those who now nourish tendernesse are made scornes and by-words as fooles who know not their liberties It was once a marke of the true spirit of Grace to make conscience of the Sabbath day as a morall charge although changed by the speciall instinct of the Lord Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the eighth But where shall we come now where every man speakes not his owne words if not prophane yet common and ordinary in all mixt discourses about personall matters or else newes and novelties Who curbs his spirit to the talke of a Sabbath ruling his thoughts affections or converse so as at night he might lie downe in peace Truly Christians shall not have need of enemies to bring in a forme of godlinesse for ought I see themselves even in their distasting it outwardly love it too well inwardly all love a Religion of ease and breadths and owne ends This is that Viper which threatens to eate through the bowels of Religion and to bring it to nought Ah! little doe we thinke that this temper of ours doth lie heavie upon Gods stomach till he spue us out How just is it with the Lord for such a deserting and revolt from the first spirit of our conversion and falling to the mixture of Sardis Ephesus and Laodicea that is a dead a decayed and luke-warme temper to remove the Candlesticke out of his place Revel 2.5 3 18. to take his flight not from the Cherubims to the threshold but from the Temple into a Wildernesse there to gather
such respect in my place do so and so in my family and the like Here 's eagernesse and zeale but most unsavory stuffe mixt with it too ranke for an humble heart to smell of Let thy hints and overtures be for God abhorre thine owne mixtures nothing so opposes the true spirit of grace as the spirit of a Pharisee Lord I thanke thee I am not thus and thus I do so and so Luk 18.10 11 12. nothing more consonant to it as the spirit of that Publican I abhorre my selfe as the spirit of those that know not what they did Mat. 25. Lord when saw we thee in prison or naked and visited or clothed thee This loadstone of selfe will become a loadstone for God if thine heart be sound And to conclude even so will the carriage of a true spirit be wise considerate and well ballanced such an one will establish his thoughts with counsell Better is hee that is patient in spirit Prov. 24.3 then the hasty A coole spiâ—it is an excellent spirit Eccles 7.8 if it be but coole in the carriage it may be fervent in the substance Whereas the unsound spiriâ— is fiery quick rash and utters more with a breath then it can undoe with ten and so brings it selfe upon its owne knees to cry Peccavi when perhaps it is with reproach to himselfe and religion I will not condemne all for unsound who are rash But I wish all sound spirits to beware how they trench upon such suspitious markes Bring not sorrow upon your selves by this rashnesse you shall meet with trouble enough in your best discretion but that which rashnesse procures seldome brings peace either in suffering or in the issue Thus much for a taste of those markes of tryall which may help us to descry our owne spirit from Gods grace Many more might have beene added but I hasten to an end To conclude then let this be an use of Exhortation and that Use 6 sundry wayes Exhort First to all that have this spirit in them to mourn bitterly for the losse and decay of this spirit throughout the Branch 1 Christian world Alas how farre are we sunke from that zeale of God against Popery and heresie which was wont to abound Looke into Germany where this spirit began by Luthers meanes where is so much as a sparke of it to be seene Declining of the temper of zeale and power ought to be bewailed sadly Even in the daies of Luther what horrible opposition was made to this spirit of the Gospell By how many meanes did the devill then stop the proceedings of Reformation What wayes were not used by Politicians to quash that zeale by their interims and sundry bookes of Reconciliation with Popery in their most Tenets Since which times even to the age we live in both in Germany and the Low-countries the Reformed Churches in France and among our selves how hath Satan laboured to quaile the spirits of men from zeale of the Gospell By what meanes hath Popery so much encroached upon us how hardly is the name of it odious even at this day in most places And if perhaps it be here and there so yet as for the zeale of peoples to the Gospell from the experience of that grace of conversion and the worke of faith how rare is it to find Oh! that our heads were welsprings brethren and our hearts fountaines of teares to mourn for the desolation of this Spirit of Grace among us As he said Scarce theâ—e is mention of Rome in Rome the change is so great in the places where the Gospell hath beene most famous It is recorded of those Jewes of the returned captivity that many who had seene the first Temple mourn'd to see the latter Some Jewish writers render the reason because not onely the frame of it was so poore in comparison of the former but because of the radicall defects it had in it It seem'd Ichabod the glory was gone Ezâ—a 3.12 The Holy of Holies was empty of the Arke of Gods presence and the Merey Seat upon it no more going into it with blood to fetch atonement no more fire from heaven to kindle sacrifices they were faine to kindle it from the Sun-beames with a glasse and as for the Priesthood the Jewes used to call it a Priesthood of clouts or garments 1 Sam. 4.21 because only those were left the Priest to weare the Urim and Thummim those holy shoulder pieces those precious stones of the Ephod and Brest-plate were gone Truly brethren beleeve me as Elijah in his Cave once mourned for the misery of his time 1 King 19.10 so might we for the losse of this spirit of the Gospell among us What do I deny but through mercy and the government of our Princes both living and of famous memory we have enjoyed the truth of God Or that God hath had and still hath abundance of worthy learned famous instruments of service both in Ministery Magistracy Commonalty No God forbid and I doubt not but in many places Truth and light are much improved although it were to be desired it were scattered more generally but the misery is that there lackes a sutable spirit of love tendernes closenes affection and soundnesse to the Gospell The body of knowledge in many is so vast and unweildy for lacke of equall power integrity and life to quicken it that it is like to totter by her owne weight That former effectualnesse in Preaching convincing converting waxes straitned scant and collapsed That spirit of siding with the Truth of God defending it against errours and lukewarmenesse that ingenuity and cordiall simplicity in us that professe seemes to be quite gone Trash and drosse of mens profits pleasures ease forme of religion and such other scurfe as is not to be named hath eaten up all as one said The usury of the New hath eaten up the gaine of our Old University So may we say The spirit of our new hath eaten up the power of our old dayes in point of edge affection earnestnesse and zeale All is growne to discourse contemplation and empty shadowes of sincerity Not to speake of many who formerly have stood for diligent preaching and for the power of it and are now gone aside and slinke their neckes out of the Collar Alas brethren it is not your going into new England which will deliver you from the spirit of your old death and sloth except the Spirit of Grace conduct you thither All cannot goe what shall become of such as must stay except God revive us at home Secondly it should provoke us to pray to God the great Branch 2 Physitian of this Epidemicall disease of exhortation to heale this decaying temper and this consumption of our vitall spirits that heat and moysture life and vigour of grace which threatens utter consumption in us How much better were it for us to fall into a burning ague then into such a dead palsey as this
yea to runne into some morall evills which yet were damnable then thus to play the hangbies upon Religion Prayer for healing of our times of this numbe palsie of spirit necessary Ier. 2.2 and to eate out the very heart and entralls of her by our wofull unsavorinesse and declension Oh that God would heale our back-slidings cancell our Bill of devorce and make new love to us as in old times As those Martyrs so pray we Once againe Lord the power and life of thy Gospell give unto us the skinne and bones of an empty profession to be fill'd up and beautified with flesh and colour with countenance and savour of grace Oh Lord thou who madest the spirit of man breath a second spirit of thy Word to inspire our dead Carcasses with a second and better life Thou who causedst that Sunne of the Heavens to go backe ten degrees Esay 38. cause this Sunne of Grace to goe forward tenne degrees for it is gone backward too many already Thou who by that happie wind of thine scattered upon the surface of the earth didst hazle and drie up the forlorne dregges and slime of Noahs deluge Gen. 8.13 cause a new face of zeale and grace to appeare upon our age drunken and soaked in ease and sensuality Lord help us to cast our Eagles bill Psal 103.5 pluck off our Snake skin and renue us as the flesh of Naaman after Jordan Oh command an heart spirit of first love courage thanks joy and esteem of thy pretious Truth and Christ to return into us let it be as new blood in our veines and marrow to our bones count those daies of our decay declinings death distemper as if they had never bin Impute not unto us our unfruitfull Ministry unprofitable hearings returning to our vomit lingring after Popery and her defilements contempt and disdaine of powerfull ordinances which have deserved that we should be stript and wasted of all meanes Malach. 4.2 and left to utter woe and ruine Come and bring healing in thy wings at last and pardon the sins of all sorts that might hasten further wrath for what can be such a marke and symptome of misery comming spuing out of thy mouth Revel 3.18 as this decay of our temper So many of us as cleave to God let us not give him over for this mercy for surely many of us here especially of the richer sort whose gaines come in merrily and live at ease in Sion do shrewdly leane to this disease of luke-warmenesse Amos 6.1 begge it I say of the Lord that he leave us not quite here in this corner and make us not an hissing to all our neighbours for our barrennesse and desolation of the meanes who have hitherto abounded and caused the borders of our Towne to be wetted with those streames which have overflowed among us So much for this Branch 3 Thirdly so many of us as hitherto have lurked in our dens of ease and unprofitablenesse looke up at last and endeavour after this spirit of Naamans clensing and cure Exhort Gen. 18.12 Exhortation to get the spirit of true conversion Alas perhaps we laugh as Sara did when she heard she could give suck to heare of this that such dead blockes and lowring louts as many of us have beene to this day surviving our owne hopes and outbidding all threats and feares of the Word by a carnall stupor of our owne savouring nothing save our lusts and humours I say we thinke it impossible that ever wee should become any other Should such as wee ever be healed of our ignorance hard hearts and senselesnesse Should we ever come to be quickned by the hope of the Gospell to be forgiven and saved Should we ever become savory humble tender and zealous ones Truly I must tell you considering how some of us in this place have snorted out seven times seven yeares of Sermons or well nigh and fatted our selves under the Gospell with nothing but sottishnesse and security me thinkes I am halfe afraid of it Now am I leaving of you but how many shall I leave as I found them if not farre worse and what is like to be their end if they should live under no meanes or unfruitfull who knowes if a good day have not mended them must not a bad needs paire them The Lord flaite many of you this day out of your holes and corners me thinkes I behold your face with horrour and feare of any good Esay 55.8 but seeing the long sufferings of God are bottomlesse and his love as farre above our thoughts as the heavens above earth therefore I leave Gods secrets unto himselfe and spread before you still even at this last farewell the cords of the Lord and beseech you to come in and be converted and get this spirit of grace into you ere you goe hence and be seene no more Psal 39.3 Gal. 1. ult Oh it would make the Angels rejoyce and the world to wonder as Paul saith Gal. 1. Those that having knowne mee a persecutor heard that I was become a Preacher of the Gospell they magnified God for mee so should praises be offered up by many for you if it should be thus Who can tell brethren long hath the Gospell been laid in three pecks of meale in some of you Mat. 13.33 if now it might at last breake out as leaven and season you throughout what a blessed parting should it be to you and mee As you are I grant most of you no other is to be looked for then hath beene earth at first earth still and earth hereafter But if earth earth earth will heare the Word of the Lord it shall be otherwise Naaman was as far off as you till hee washed in Jordan but afterward what a spirit of healing and conversion came he forth withall How doth he come backe to Elisha Who can stay him How is his lowring heart enlarged to the Prophet What is too deare for him hee loves the ground hee stands upon and would carry it away upon mules his heart is ravisht with God and his worship and much water cannot quench love Such might you bee if the Lord would send Elisha to you Elisha is gone and the comming and going death and departure of many both Elija's and Elishaes you have seene and now of mee a poore Minister of Christ What shall no fruit come of all I am now going to tell my Master what fruit of all these sixe yeares worke here and many more in other places and by other my Predecessours hath beene reaped What shall I be able to say nothing to comfort the heart of God and his people Oh sad thing Well I leave it to your thoughts it is as much as I can say That if God perswade you nothing was done upon Naaman but might be done upon you Many of your own number out of the stools wherin you sit some of your wives in your bosomes children and servants under your
resist that spirit by which you speake and walke It is not your duties hearing Sermons which will serve turne except you get into the way of God and get your spirits whetted up to a lively temper of godlinesse you shall but adde heapes to heapes and die of thirst Rake up the ashes of your first sacrifice and see if there be any one sparkle alive Iudg. 15.16.18 to kindle that old fire in your hearts God hath now farre more need of it then he had then If you cannot find old sparks goe to Heaven for new for a double portion of it else you will hardly hold out in these cold times You young Novices here among us who in your youth have begunne well and honoured the labours of Gods servants by your zeale by your answering to Catechism by drawing on many to God be not discouraged that the same Grace which made you young Sts. can make you old ones I doubt it not but blesse God for the hope I conceive of your growth and fruit Esay 8.18 1 Iohn 4.4 though we are as signes both we and the children which God hath given us and wonders to the world feare not greater is he that is in us then with them You Magistrates hereabouts you Headborowes and Officers at home doe not play the cowards in the cause of God and the government of the Towne suffer not drunkards to fill up your Alehouses here upon the day of our Lecture and to rout in all cursed behaviour all the day after going together by the eares swearing and swaggering let not your Taverns and places of resort be more frequented then Gods house I see ruine before mine eyes and the young fry will prove worse then their Predecessors your glory is gone except you hold together and prevent sinne from flowing downe your streets and overthrowing all 2 Cor. 2.14 â—â— And in a word to all sorts I speake scatter the savour of this spirit of Grace all about the places where you dwell shine especially within your owne sphere and families lay in for grace and mercy for your husbands wives children kinsfolke and neighbours who have long beene ignorant profane or formall worshippers at the best pluck them out of the fire by violence Iude ult Perhaps some seed lies under a clod they are not so deeply sunk under the slavery of those Idols but that God may fetch out somewhat of them at the last and shall it die for lacke of stirring up Be earnest with God and strive hard for the whole corner this poore Countrey in which ancient zeale and the spirit of Grace decayes exceedingly Easie serving of God for fashion and this love of the creature hath eaten up all The last yeare we were almost starven for bodily bread but God be thanked better food did helpe well both to content the poorer sort and to uphold their spirits with patience yea and to perswade the richer sort to mercy and compassion Now we feare a worse famine if not want of the Word yet that the Lord for our wretched unfruitfulnesse may fill our mouthes with Quailes Mumb. 11.20 and suffer them to come out againe at our nostrils may fat us with meanes and curse us with leannesse in our soules Psal 106.15 Lord suffer not the child to die at the breasts for lack of milke nor having it to surfet Oh thou who hast bred us by thy Word with the lively spirit of Grace preserve us by the same nourishment whereby wee are begotten And so for such among us brethren as have continued constantly Branch 5 in this zeale of the Gospel Consolation to all such as walke in the comfort of the spirit of conversion I doe here reach out comfort unto them and say to them as Elisha to Naaman Goe in peace Though you and I should never heare the voyce nor see the face of other yet we shall do well as long as the peace of God is with us Nourish your hearts still till death in this love of the Gospel Make not shipwrack in the havens Thinke not now of any new way Turne not to the world for they care not for you you stink to them therefore hold to your old Master and be his servants for ever Let the Lord beate you out of his doores before you dare start from him you have beene his so long that as Peter said Whither should we goe Lord from thee Iohn 6.68 thou hast the words of eternall life Though there be neither Calfe in the stall nor Bâ—llock in the heard though the Olive cast her fruit and the Vine decay yet God shall be your salvation Though meanes faile Habac. 3.17.18 yet this spirit of grace in you shall be a lively immortall stock in you and preserve you by faith to the day of salvation 1 Pen. 1.5 These are times wherein sinne abounds it is the very houre of darknesse Revel 3.10 Pray that as you have kept the Word of Gods patience all this while so he would keepe you though all the world should be over-shadowed And although perhaps you take thought for your first edge which is blunted by long continuance and custome Ephes 3.16 17 yet so long as your metall holds good steele to the back and you grow rooted settled and stable in all faith love and fruitfulnesse feare not he that hath begunne will perfect his worke Faithfull is he who hath promised 1 Thes 5.24 To the worke of whose Grace I commend you which is able to sanctifie you throughout and both to keep your bodies soule and spirits 1 Thes 5.25 pure and blamelesse to his comming through the Lord Jesus to whom with the Father and the Spirit that immortall invisible and onely wise God 1 Tim. 1.17 be all honour and praise for ever Amen FINIS AN APPENDIX OR POSTSCRIPT TO THE READER ANd thus good Reader thou hast these Lectures penned to the uttermost wherein they were preached And as I inteÌ„ded to preach no more so neither doe I purpose to trouble thee with more then I preached The Verses following to the twentieth savour wholly of a spirit carried zealously towards God whose mercy cured both Naamans body and soule a draught whereof I gave thee in this last Lecture I grant there are some passages of obscurity attending the words next to them I have handled which some scrupulous Reader might thinke himselfe wronged if they should wholly be unsaluted Wherefore to give a very short touch of them thus conceive of the severals thereof THerefore take a blessing c. But he said Vers 15. end 16. As the Lord liveth Touching this Addition of his large gifts to his large heart I have already spoken of it in the servants arguments and shewed there the duty of the people to their Ministers And we must know it did not abhorre from the custome of those times either to offâ—r or accept gratuities by the Prophets But touching his refusall
himselfe and his If the Lord Jesus did justly accurse the servant I mean the figtree for not bearing figs at all seasons which if sin had not letted it might have done shall not the master much more be accursed for making himselfe barren being created fruitfull 5 Nor for leading into tentation So also let us not accuse God for suffering them to fall It s said Hophni and Phinees could not hearken to their father because God would slay them And the Jewes could not heare the voice of the Lord because Esay had foretold the contrary viz. that God had hardned them For why Act. ult God put no evill into any of them But because he saw what basenesse and rebellion was in them already he left them thereto and would not overpower their hearts for it was just for him thereby to be avenged upon them for their wilfull contempt and so make them as snares to others to fall by Those ten tribes were justly snared by Ieroboams calves because they had plaid the Idolaters before in Salomons daies under the freedome of the Temple worship and so God would plague them for all at once and both give them a King in wrath and sweep them away in displeasure A master having a slie servant oft drunken and carelesse of his businesse to the end he may pay him for all doth justly send him to some place which accidentally occasions him to fall he sends him upon an errand justly but because he means to prevent all his shifts and punish him soundly he will suffer him to fall into a snare that he may take him in the manner and punish him for all his prankes together So when God punishes the sinnes of parents upon the children Ahabs upon Iehoram Eli's upon those hundred and eighty Priests slaine by Saul Salomons upon Rehoboam For why The Lord beholding them in the sinnes of their parents imitated and unrepented of destroies both serpent and egs together Let us I say strive to be convinced in our judgements Exod. 20. Nor for punishing the sins of parents in their posterity touching Gods most just Prerogative in all these and all other kindes and being settled in judgement we shall not easily stagger in our affection and practise Thirdly let us submit so farre under this Soveraignty of God as to do Branch 3 to the uttermost of our power to obey all his charges and commands Do what lies in us to obey Gods will and to stoope to all his ordinances which he propounds unto us for our conversion Shall God have us at so great a bay as he hath and shall we wax carelesse Or because we are not able to do that which he requires for the matter shall we therefore in a sullen and desperate humour sit still and doe nothing Shall we not shun any sinne for conscience which we can shun if hired with mony Because all is not either in our willing or running shall we neither will or run Nay more put case we have brought upon us by our sin such an avoidable languor disability that we cannot put forth our selves to the uttermost that common enlightning might worke us to what Shall we therefore doe nothing which lies in our power to do yes surely in holy awe of this freedome of God to do with us and our endeavours what him lists let us tremble and in all humility doe the best we can yet trusting to none of it loathing to be Pharisees and Pelagians but abhorring much more to be Epicures and malecontents walke we in Gods way in which he only is found and may be found of us But those that disdain to heare to pray to take paines because God hath the bridle in his owne hand shew themselves Giants rather and such as would be revenged upon God then desirous to get heaven by submitting to his power and Soveraignty As those lamps were fitly planted under the olive branches to receive the oile which dropped from them by the providence of God so let us accommodate our selves under the dropping of the ordinances ascribing nothing to our selves but all to the meer grace of the ordainer as Zachary there speakes Zacha. 4 5. not by strength or mans wisdome but by my spirit saith the Lord. Fourthly let it teach us tendernesse and charity towards meane ones Branch 4 ignorant yea loose and dissolute ones Be charitable to others let us not affect the disdaining of the basest simplest vilest although we ought to loath their manners but consider thy selfe if thou onely exceed them in morality wit and parts tremble to think that such silly ones and ungodly may perhaps arise pull heaven by violence to themselves and thou with all thine abilities be thrust to hell where were then thy boasting Ipta was thrust out for a base excrement from the family of Gilead Judg. 10.4 But they were all glad to seeke him for their Captaine in their distresse Poore Ioseph the slave was yet so preferred that the Sun Moone and starres were faine to do homage to him despise not the least free grace may make him thy better and make thee glad to seek to him for helpe and succour ere thou die and envy not the greatest neither for the Lord can ingraft thee also into the same stocke as meane as thou art if thou canst adore his soveraigne mercy which magnifies it self as much in the setting up of the low as the mighty that they who boast might not boast of their person or quality but of the Lord. Fifthly let thy stony heart break in peeces between the hammer of his Soveraignty and the pillow of his long suffering and patience toward Branch 5 thee Surely in that he hath so long had thee at so infinite advantage its strange that ever he should forbear thee so long Breake thy hard heart hereby offer thee such meanes ordinances or should passe by the daies of thine ignorance or suffer any seed or remainder of a tender heart to abide in thee I say it is strange he should restore thee out of so many perills diseases and hazards stil present thee with hope and possibility of forgetting such a multitude of transgressions and forgiving thy offences What should all this argue save a most bountifull abatement of extremity rigor and that notwithstanding his power yet his love is more prevailing with him to spare thee Shall this kindnesse of his leading thee to repentance be an occasion to forget both his soveraignty and thine owne guiltinesse and according to thine hard heart which cannot repent wax stout and wilfull against him and so heap up wrath against the day of just vengeance Rom. 2.4 No rather this mixture of both should keep thee within bounds and put holy thoughts of his purpose and pleasure into thee then breed a desperate enmity on the one side or security on the other to both which thy heart is far more propense then to come in give up thy
portion never to be taken from her To apply the answer the cause of such staggering is self-love That which you feele to agree with your selves and to come easily pleaseth you too well and causeth you to dwell upon it too long and to withhold you from better things The remedy of your disease must bee to ascribe no more to your selves but to the glory of grace to abase selfe and to exalt mercy to renounce all selfe-reflex from duties and endeavors of your owne because they cannot shed any meritorious bloud to save you and to claspe to that promise which is established upon a satisfaction to justice which though it be out of your selves yet is after a sort made your owne by him that promiseth because faith is his gift and he hath covenanted to give it you for that end and purpose What skils it how little grace you feele within when as he who offereth you mercy onely seeke such as want it that he may have the glory Or what shall it boote you to thinke you have lesse sinne then others when as he who calls you to forgivenesse cares not how great it be so it hinder not your beleeving in him Read this wisely who seekes the superabounding of grace where sinne hath abounded Accept then such grace offered as those in whom nothing dwelleth toward any grace Grace best accepted by such as of themselves are emptiest of it and as if yee had stept no one step toward it more then the vilest publican and sinner have done Be content to gird your selves and serve grace and let not grace attend you as if you had wrong if it be not laid in your laps but come under the banner and authority of it the ends and honour of it It is something that grace runnes in your streame but your staggerings shall never cease till your streame be dried up and turned to runne meerly in Gods streame to be carried both whither how soone how and how farre it shall please him Use all meanes walke so in the way as making use of all incouragements but still looke forward to the price of the high calling of God boast not your selves as if you had put off your harnesse But rather thinke thus if it be so joyfull a message to heare of a pardon how much better were it to sue it out and apply it to my selfe and how wofully should it sting me if any things should come betweene cup and lip to defeat me of it Remember that all preparations of grace serve onely to testifie to the soule that the Lord hath beene at worke not that it should rest in a taste of absent but presse on with unweariednesse to obtaine the fulnesse of a present and enjoyed happinesse and betrust it selfe wholly to his workemanship who would never have begunne if it had not beene in his power and will to finish Stand therefore at his curtesie wholly as disabled in thy selfe to cooperate with him much lesse to have him at the bent of thy bow binde Selfe to the altar with cordes and turne thy active medling spirit into a meere passive and waiting spirit upon the worke of God not as a slave nor as a loyterer but as a self-denyer and one whose strength is to sit still and behold the salvation of God Oh beloved that I could so follow this councell of mine with effectuall prayer to the Lord that through mercy it might become a mean to put to an happy end those endlesse innumerable complaints of staggering consciences to settle them in some tolerable measure with comfort and quietnesse And so much may also serve for this third and last Branch of instruction Vse 4 The fourth use of this point may be examination of your selves concerning this secret sinne of Selfe Examination I say not the being of it for hee that would be rid of it must goe out of the world but the raigning and defiling and deceiving power of it to keepe the soule from Christ I need not be large in this I have prevented my selfe already in all which I have said before to describe this theefe by his markes But what shall it profit you brethren to say they are laid down in the opening of the doctrine if ye let them lie there apply none of them to your selves to find out your owne let What shall it availe that I have told you what grosse Selfe is and what this secret and wyredrawne Selfe is To have shewed you many instances of it The steppes and degrees of it The carriage of it both in the ground the proceeding and the scope of it The reasons of it both from the cursed nature of Selfe the curse of God and Satans advantage What good will it doe you to heare the danger of it described by the naturalnesse subtilty closenesse violence of it If none of all these will stirre ye up to cry out and aske Am I the man O Lord or with Rebecca feeling her twins to stirre within her to goe to God for counsell Alas brethren To this end all serves else all is as water running over in a full vessell some of yee perhaps will say there is so much said of this that it fills your head so that ye know not where to beginne I answer If it be so much it may make some amends for the little or nothing which most men will speake of it and oh that it might occasion others to speake more But to answer you I say take any one of these and trie your selves by it especially cull out such instances and markes as you thinke sort best with your condition let not plenty make you barren Who knoweth what is in the spirit of man save the Lord and it selfe Or rather the Lord searching the heart by his owne Spirit Jerem. 17. and teaching it to dive into the depth and secrets of sinne Selfe requireth good and deepe searchâ—ng Who can judge whether it be grosse Selfe or privy and subtill Selfe which pesters the soule and disables the promise Who knowes whether ease or pride feare or presumption conceit or error and ignorance hinder most Try therefore thy selfe knowest thou not that Selfe must stoope if Christ enter doe not thinke that because here thou maiest finde some markes of this else therefore by and by thou hast snatcht him no no thousands who know their diseases carry them under their privy garments as running sores till they destroy them especially remember if Selfe bee so deepe an evill so naturall a twinne eating laughing and living in thy bosome with such familiarity and bewitching what save the infinite wisedome and power of God can worke the discovery or resolvednesse of heart to cast it out Therefore not to urge any thing already urged in speciall I doe onely in generall urge thee to make use of what hath beene said already of this mischiefe Goe aside hide thy selfe in thy chamber Esay 26. powre out thine heart to
God beseech him to helpe thee with faithfulnesse in the search else thou wilt end as thou beganst not to spare thy self but desiring that the spears point which pierced Christ sides might let out the thoughts of thy heart in this kinde or rather that the sword of conviction may open the bowells of it and shed them to the ground doe not this work when thou art otherwise occupied and hast other businesse to doe thou shalt finde this work enough alone if not too much for thee and doe it by frequent meditation which is nothing else save making the truth of God thine owne and that which thou canst not finde thy selfe guilty of at one time or perhaps capable of or able to lay to heart to abhorre or to finde sweetnesse in the doing of goe to it another goe on where thou leftst praying God thou maiest not be new to beginne and thou shalt finde that at another time the second or the third thou shalt obtaine it Thou shalt not repent thee of thy labour in thus preventing and cutting short that enemy which would else have prevented and cut thee off from grace only resolve of this that till the Lord hath grounded thee in the truth of this doctrine a principle of practicall Catechisme it is impossible for thee to thrive in grace or use of meanes Further pressing of the triall Say therefore thus to the Lord Thou knowest the paines of thy servant in the use of meanes thou knowest how poorly I have thriven under them how little my faith my comfort my obedience is how ready I am to deceive my selfe in that I seeme to have to take up my rest therein that so I may not be molested any longer but soke my selfe in the dregges of my ease and will not to stirre one inch off my owne ground Now Lord if thou wilt be pleased to shew me whâ—t hath done me all this hurt I should infinitely blesse thee I am not so foolish I thanke thee as to trade for religion and yet crosse mine owne ends in wilfull holding any evill within my bosome which should deprive mee of my hopes I am willing to be informed and heare of the worst yea to unbottome my selfe of my old rotten mixtures and false grounds for the bettering of mine estate rather then to sleep in death and lie down with them in the dust Lord therefore now before my heart bee hardened in custome and security blesse mine examination to the true ends which it serves for Here I thought to have ended the use but there comes one objection to my minde Object Do all see this Selfe who are truly converted which must be answered For some will say You make a great discourse of this Self What think you Are there not many Christians truly converted to God who never discerned this disease as you have described it and yet are unfeigned and true converts and beleevers Answ 1 I answer you 2. or 3. wayes First hoping that their Quaere proceeds not from self-cavilling The grace of election working a greater measure of humiliation and tendernesse in some poore soules who want this knowledge supplies this want sweetly but from simplicity thus Many poor soules have through mercy obtained from the Lord a great measure of brokennesse of heart humblenesse of spirit more then the common sort of Professors either have or seek and by this means their helpes in both publique and private being few and their discouragements many the Lord beholding them in the grace of his election supplies all wants by his owne Spirit keepes them hungry abases them in the sense of their many infirmities puts in a spirit of perpetuall jealousie over themselves and works them to a marveilous plainnesse of heart to loath all falshood as they can discerne it and so perfects the work of faith in them secretly farre otherwise then in such poore creatures might bee expected of these I say that although perhaps they heare not so much discourse of the name and dangerous markes of Selfe yet they feele the realnesse of it within themselves and are better acquainted with it then many who heare more of it And these persons if it should please the Lord to bring that home in doctrine use and admonition unto them which I have spoken would be formost in acknowledging and blessing God for such truth and make better use of it then the most doe Answ 2 Secondly I answer Satan and corruption in these last daies doe conspire to withold many subtill wise and carnall worldlings from embracing the truth then ever and as all Arts so this art of Selfe serving into the truths of God by the counterfeiting and deceiving of men is grown rife and perfect Satan more prevailes with this subtill world then ever Ephes 4.14 therefore needs the more exact and carefull countermining Thirdly the Spirit of God under constant meanes workes leasurely and therefore corruption is not cast out all at once but by long discipline and discovery of it by the word and in the multitude of helpes such as Answ 3 God be thanked have beene enjoyed in sundry places much rankenesse hath growne as a canker in a faire apple in the spirits of many Professors as pride selfe-conceit and prejudice which the Lord hath justly punished as I noted in the reasons with a spirit of fulsomenesse and furfet hardnesse of heart and difficulty of perswasion so that in these daies that old tendernesse and selfe-deniall which possessed the spirits of most Christians is rare to finde Much need therefore of urging this doctrine in these our daies Much more need therefore there is of this doctrine to be urged in these dayes that such as are the Lords and yet held under this snare may be pulled out and saved and those who are not may be left therein because they would not receive the truth in the naked love of it Lastly to end this use this I adde That although the Lord should Answ 4 have called home many without any former knowledge of Selfe in any great measure yet I doubt not but when they do come to a better view of it they will both mend their former bottomes see cause to trust God and glorifie his grace in Christ more then ever before and also looke to themselves in the course of their sanctification the more watchfully lest this enemy should hurt them more in that then it did in the matter of their first conversion However I see no cause why the more cleare discovery of the will and way of God should seeme superfluous because God had his number when the light shined not so cleerly And so much for answer to this question We may discover it by these marks First by the true humbling of the soule A proud heart will have her will to die for it Because pride hath high thoughts and must be satisfied as Rabel with children or else shee dies And her daughters having lost their children by
owne But the true mother who knew the cost and price of her child could not endure the cutting of it asunder but cried Give her rather the child then it should be slaine Just so is it here A base heart never bred by the grace of the Spirit to obey Commands rejoices when it selfe and the word may have share and share like is glad to see the word mangled and that God should have one peece of his will and she another But a close soule obeying Commands is of a farre other frame for she hath been bred of the immortall seed of the word lien in the wombe felt the warmth and drawne the breasts of it and lives and growes by it Therefore shee cannot endure to see it divided wrested abused and cut in two rather she is content to abhorre herselfe her owne ends and respects and cries O Lord let not the childe be hurt rather let my will bee cast in the dirt This is a sad triall indeed let us come to the scanning of it While Gods and our streame may be suffered to runne in one chanell we easily give way to God But if it so fall out that he will not suffer our dung to swimme with his Apples but if we will goe in his stream we must goe in it meerly onely our lusts must bee renounced nay perhaps so the case stands that even our lawfull liberties must be removed our lives healths gifts contents ease elbowroom credit and sway must be shaken off to obey a Command and those who would perswade us as Peter did Christ to pitty our selves Mat. 16.25 must bee rated away and forsaken wife childe friend counsellor people Minister who come in and tel us if you suffer and obey God farewell the ease of our life farewell the jollity of our towne our shops trades takings revenewes credits contents Oh! I say if in such a case the life of the childe the honour of the world and of conscience bee more pretious then all these 2 Chr. 34.17 if then we flagge not with hopefull Ioash when his Princes came to entice him If then we stick to a Command if then we cleave to a charge this is a signe of soundnesse indeed Triall 6 Sixtly if we cleave to Gods Commands prove it by this marke if we looke at a Command nakedly and cavil not against it by the opposition of it to other commands if we set not Gods Commands together by the ears as Saul did affirming that the killing of al sorted not with piety or charity if we leave the consequences of our obedience to God without pleading against them by arguments from absurdity or inconvenience it s a signe of a close heart Our nature is when wee see the sad command to lie before us to dispute against it thus What shall become of my people if I obey this command what shall become of the glory of God But honest obedience takes no more thought for God then he takes for himselfe if he commands us ought he cals not at our hands for more then he allowes us but takes that to his owne consideration and will have us let him alone with that Wee shall not need take thought for the good which is lost by our obeying But we must not doe evill that good may come of it To forecast the disasters which our obedience may inferre Note well is to take upon us the person both of the Subject and of the King if the King call for obedience let the inconvenience upon it lye upon him wee have done our duty Try we our selves then about this if we bee negotious and curious for God in a thing wherein wee are not called its thanklesse double diligence 2 Sam. 6.6 As we see Vzza in staying the Arke was more provident for God then hee required and therefore paid dearly for it though his intent was good So when we judge of obedience not by successe but by the word It was God his will that the Arke should be brought home by Saul though he slew the men of Bethshemesh for looking into it See 1 Chron. 12. Seventhly he obeyes closely who onely trusts God and licks himselfe Triall 7 whole upon him for any losse which he sustaines It trusts God to make good all she loses either for doing his will or for suffering for it An hypocrite upbraids God as for his doings Esa 58.6 so for his sufferings Matth. 25.24 Hee thinkes God to be bound and beholden to him for them and if hee either regard him not in the one or reward him not for the other hee thinkes himselfe wronged Contrarily a close obeyer counts his reward to stand in his obedience that God will account him worthy either to doe or suffer for him Acts 4.22.23 And if he lose either his will and base lusts by the one or his credit health wealth or friends by the other he lookes at the promise of an hundred fold grounded upon Gods alsufficiency and faithfulnesse A notable text we have 2 Chron. 25.9 when the Prophet forbad Amaziah to goe fight with his enemies his objection was That he had hired Souldiers of Israel for some thousands of Talents how should he doe for those The Prophet tells him The Lord could abundantly restore those Talents Brethren we would suffer perhaps for God but then as it was with Amaziah these Talents are the sorrow of all hence comes our unwillingnesse to suffer But as the Prophet said so say I The Lord can make them good doe but trust him Affliction is a bitter herbe but it beares a sweet flower and sweeter fruit Give the Lord thy Talents and thou shalt have an hundred fold backe againe These losses which thou fearest thy wife thy children thy contents give them up to God trust him with them and he will refine them all for thee that thou shalt receive them at his hands purer and cleaner not to say greater and fuller then ever before Those vapours which the Sunne exhales from the earth lose nothing by it for they are so altered in the ayre that they come downe againe more fruitfull upon the earth then ever So if God have once tryed thee in this furnace all shall come forth purer then ever The daughters of affliction are the fairest of all other There were no such women for beauty as Iobs three daughters were after his affliction He himselfe was purer and so was all he had Job ult and as affliction is a furnace so is it a banque Iob had twice as much after he had lost all as before No trade so gainfull as this of the Crosse a man that hath had the experience of it gaines twice so much nay an hundred times more then he had before I say not temporally and yet God is alsufficient but spiritually to all that suffer meekly and patiently Cast off therefore the clog of these Talents both from thy heart and thy heeles which do so hang on and oppresse and
trust God and he shall make them good Let us try our selves in this case Put case we deny our selves in our passions and distempers of wife servants in the family when we bee provoked surely we thinke our selves to lose our owne will and the satisfying of our lusts which is as our life what shall we have for it Surely the peace of God Phil. 4. passing all understanding shall rule our hearts we shall be more then conquerours and the sweetnesse of the love of Christ for whose cause we doe deny our selves shall bee sufficient boot in beame to pacifie us Judg. 9. wee would not forsake our fatnesse and sweetnesse for an humour to exalt our selves rather wee would deny our selves to keepe that precious pearle unstained Can wee then rest in this pay Do we chuse rather to picke out the mystery of this hundred fold and to improve it by faith then wee will forfeit our obedience Do we chuse rather to maintaine our liberty with God in communion in prayer in a quiet conscience then we would breake a command Would wee endure the greatest evill of punishment rather then be guilty of the least knowne evill It is a good signe So I say also in our sufferings perhaps we see our selves slighted and disregarded by men for our service to God yea those who awe us most doe unthankfully if not trecherously handle us our labour seemes to bee lost and we are left to sinke in our owne charges Can we now in this case commit our selves freely to the promise of God and say Though there be neither calfe left in the stall Hab. 3. nor bullocke in the flocke yet we will still rejoyce in God our salvation When the wife in the bosome is not to bee trusted as Micah Mica 7.5 speakes when a guide a friend prove unfaithfull and our enemy is one of our owne Tribe familiarity houshold Can wee then trust in God and make him our strength Can we finde sap and savour in a promise of Gods support whether he seeme to answer our prayers or not yea though in stead of releeving us he adde sorrow to sorrow and give our enemies the better of us Can we make songs of him in our pilgrimage and finde a realnesse in his promises when nothing appeares save that God leaves us to sinke under our burdens Surely it may appeare then that our hearts are close in our obedience Triall 8 Eighthly if we close with both the substance and the extent of commands It closes with commands without colours or cavils without colours or cavils against either The guise of this world of hypocrites is contrary For the former when the question is touching the substance of reading hearing prayer Sacrament wee colour over our unwillingnesse with some by-cavils Being urged to read good bookes they cavill and say They are too deep and too learned form our understandings as if wee would read them if they were plaine whereas the bookes are plaine enough but wee have no heart Being urged to heare a good Preacher wee alledge wee conceive not his method If we be bidden to frequent such a good Congregation we say we cannot endure to bee so crowded and thronged If to follow such examples we answer they are too eminent for us to follow whereas indeed as once one answered when he was urged to doe some good with his great wealth The thing you urge is good but I have no heart to it so we want an heart So when wee are called to serve God in our time to fast and pray we cavill That it is dangerous and therfore we crave pardon whereas the Lord calls us to serve him with all our strength and courage not onely in safe and easie duties but even in such as hypocrites count dangerous and offensive Try we our selves then by this Rule If we professe to serve and obey God even in those duties for which the world loves not with Paul we be not ashamed to make them the best and fairest flower of our garlands it is a signe of closenesse and honesty See Acts 23. I say if wee bee willing to bend our selves to our uttermost wisedome and ability to obey rather then through feare to give God the slip it speakes well for us That which the world counts evill I am not ashamed to say I worship God by Ninthly if in such Commands of God as border and that lawfully Triall 9 upon our owne content and welfare In the obedience to pleasing Commands it looks at God not ease yet wee rest not in that obedience but can prove that wee are carried upon better respects For example it is Gods Command that we follow our Callings That we punish sin when we can wheresoever it lies Now marke Wee feele our selves prompt enough perhaps to follow our work and businesse because it runnes in the streame of our commodity and therefore wee will not be idle So againe it falles out that hee whom we pursue for his offences is our enemy and therefore we are easily drawne to pursue him Here therefore the triall is if we can by evident Arguments prove that as wee are not drawne to leave the duty for the neighbourhood to our owne ends so yet we doe the duty from a superiour principle of Conscience As for example though we should get nothing by our preaching yet wee would chuse to preach rather then desist And as we pursue our enemy so would wee also our friend if he sinned in like case This is a good marke For why hypocrites are very glad when Gods and their ends concurre As the dung swimming in the same streame with the Apples said We Apples swimme But when wee can separate the pretious from the vile and call dung dung and Apples Apples it is well Saint Augustine sayd well God bids me preach but I feele my selfe to please mine owne humour in it God wills me to shine and lo I feele that I shine to my selfe Therefore as I will not cease shining for this reason so yet I will endeavour so to shine to others in holy life that I may not therewith shine to my selfe by pride Tenthly close obedience growes It is as close and punctuall in Triall 10 old age as in youth and more at least for mettall and substance It groweth with â—ge 2 Chro. 16.12 It is said of one of the Kings of Juda that when hee was old hee put his confidence in the Physitians as if hee had not done so in his younger yeares but closed more with the promise There is a seed of Revolt in our base spirits appearing more in our age then in younger yeares It is not noted in vaine of that old Prophet of Bethel 1 King 13.9.10 that hee sent for the young Propht to eate with him contrary to the charge of God This then is some triall if in our age wee wax not more confident of our strength more loose in our zeale slacker in good