useful and helpful to any part of the City as occasion is but specially for the benefit of those parishes in which they are We must as some Shop-keepers drive a trade a far off beyond the Seas but be sure not to be idle in our shops at home We must mind others at the Throne of grace but be sure to remember our own people He that starveth his family is not likely to feast his Neighbours Secondly By a fiducial expectation of good or by faith we commend our business to a friend when we cast on him the care of it and trust him with it Ministers commend their friends and affairs to God by beseeching his favour towards them and believing that he will be tender of them We have many cares and fears about our dear friends whom we do love and whom we must leave but faith easeth our hearts by committing them into safer hands The burden of all the Churches lay on Paul and surely t was heavy enough to have broken his back had he not learned the art of faith by which he removed it to stronger shoulders Cast thy burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee Psa 55.22 Here is our charge and our discharge Our Charge is to cast our burden on the Lord and our Discharge He will sustain thee The Apostle prayeth God for the grace given to the Philippians and prayeth to God for its increase I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine making request with joy 1 Phil. 3.4 5. But mark how he enliveneth his prayer by the soul of faith knowing that without it t would be but a dead Corps Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ vers 6. Our prayers for our people will be to little purpose if faith be not joyned with them There are indeed many blessings in the womb of prayer but without the Midwifery of faith it will never be delivered Whatsoever ye ask in my name beleiving ye shall receive Prayer is the Key that openeth Gods Treasury but Faith is the hand which takes out and receives of his infinite bounty Prayer must have a promise or else t is a Vessel without a bottom and that promise must have faith or else the Vessel lyeth still and cannot stir at all When a full gale of faith fills the sails then the Vessel of prayer launcheth fourth most hopefully and returnest with its riches fraught When God had acquainted Abraham with his intention to destroy Sodom Abraham sensible of his Nephews danger commends him to God by prayer and by faith Gen. 18.23 now mark the issue God remembred Abraham and brought Lot out of Sodom Gen. 19.29 Abrahams prayer hit the mark at which it aimed but t is because the eye of faith leveld the Arrow Faith honours God by committing to him so great a trust as the inestimable fouls of his people and God honours faith by being true to his trust and answering fully his chosens and suppliants faith The Children of Judah prevailed because they relyed on the Lord God of their Fathers faith engaged God in the combate and therefore they could not but conquer 2 Cron. 13. He that prayeth for himself and not for others is fitly compared to an Hedghog who laps himself within his own soft down and turns his brissels to all the World beside And he that prayeth for others without reliance on God through Christ for audience works at the labour in vain and like Penelope undoeth by night all that he wrought in the day The truth is we lye to God in prayer if we do not rely on him after prayer So then for the Preacher to commend his brethren or friends to God is in brief thus much To open their cases and conditions to God in prayer earnestly begging the releif of their indigencies and beleiving that through Christ he will supply all their necessities In the next place I come to the Reasons why the Pastor must commend his brethren and friends to God And they shall be drawn from these three heads From God from the World and from the Brethren themselves Gods propriety in them the Worlds enmity against them and their own impotency do all require that they should be commended to Gods care and charge I shall now shew the necessity of commending them to God that its the greatest good will appear in the Vse because he is the most able loving and faithful friend First In regard of God his propriety in them None so fit to take care of the Child as its Father A brute will venture its self and encounter with that which is much stronger in defence of her own the fearful Hen which hath nothing but flight to secure her self from the Dog will yet hazard a duel against the Kite to protect her little Chickens The blessed Jesus gives this ground why he commends his Chrch to God I pray for them I pray not for the World but for them which thou hast given me out of the World for they are thine Joh. 17.9 I pray not for strangers nor enemies to thee but for thine own people thine one family for them thou hast chosen called loved For they are thine thy jewels thy portion thy temple thy children Men in a flame will venture far to secure their own jewels Nabath would hazard lose his life rather then part with his own portion What cost will some be at and what care will they take to keep their own houses in good repair David would have died that his own Son might have lived Propriety is a sufficient ground for special protection God doth by a general providence take care of all his creatures because of his general propriety in them because they are his creature He feeds the young Ravens and satisfies the hunger of the Sparrows He is upon this account the preserver of man and beast but his special providence is exercised about them in whom he hath a special propriety The Saints are his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiar people therefore he hath over them a peculiar protection Hence his peculiar care is compared to a Bird flying over the Nest where her young ones are Isa 31.5 He abhors him as an infidel who doth not provide for his own surely then he will take care of his own himself Aristotle saith Propriety is the ground of all the toyl and labor in the World If all things were common every one would be careless but because it s their own ground therefore they Dung and Plow and Sow it because it is their own wealth therefore they work hard to increase it God hath a propriety in his people they are his by Election The new creature was conceived in Gods eternal purpose before he was born they are his by redemption he paid an infinite price for them They are his by regeneration begotten by him and born of
bottom of the pump and cannot by all our labour be raised up till God pour in his exciting grace The flame doth not more depend upon the fire then we upon God Things that are weak lean on that which is strong the Wood-vine not able to stand of it self clings about the hedge or tree and thereby gets to some heigth the weakest will go to the walls if not protected This reason is implied in Christs petition to his Father Father keep them As if he had said They are poor shiftless children that can neither stand nor go without help therefore they must not be left alone Alas they are such pitiful helpless creatures that anyone may wrong them of the Legacies which I haue purchast for them and bequeathed to them they will lose the grace I have given them and fall into the sins which I have kept them from whilst I was with them if they be but one moment out of thine eye and armes therefore Father keep them If they who were to be endowed with an extraordinary measure of the spirit were unable to keep themselves much more unable are we if Pillars cannot stand of themselves much less can weak Reeds Having spoken somewhat in the Explication I shall proceed to the Application of the Point First It informeth us of the Piety of a true Pastor he commends his people to God this is his character When others curse their people and commit them to the Devil he blesseth his Parishioners and commendeth them to God the mouth of some indeed like Rabshekahs are full of raylings and their tongues are even black with blasphemies against God and his people though their curses are but like false fire which may flash a little but will do no Execution but the faithful Ministers of the Gospel have learned other language as they are blessed men so they are blessing men Some Ministers are Ministers of Satan all their business is to accuse the Brethren they are the Saints enemies because they follow the thing that good is Publicans bless them that bless them but though the people of God pity them and pray for them and beg the blessing of God on them yet they far worse then Publicans return cursing for blessing but true shepheards seek and study the welfare of their sheep The false Mother did not care though the Child were divided and slain but the true Mother cried out Divide not the Child in no wise slay it for her bowels yearned towards her Child 1 Kings 3.26 Ministers are called Fathers and their people their Children Wicked Ministers are false Fathers and cares not what becomes of their children the great murderer of souls may slay them at his pleasure and they will not open their mouths against him nay too too often they help him drive the poor silly sheep out of their pastors to the slaughter-house But godly Ministers like true Fathers endeavour by all means the wellfare of their children they cry out with Hagar How can I see the death of my child How can I see the eternal death of my poor ignorant carnal neighbors they open their mouths and their hearts too for their bowels yearn towards their children for their people to God as the Ruler to Christ Sir Come down quickly ere my childe dye Lord such unregenerate scandalous children whom thou didst commit to my charge are at the very point of death I have acquainted them from thee of the evil and end of their wicked ways but cannot obtain so much as a sober hearing but Lord if thou wouldst speak to them they would hear thee thou canst open their eyes break their stony hearts and make them stoop Lord come down quickly ere my children dye nay dye eternally Secondly It discovereth the great priviledge of a gracious people When they are deserted by man they are commended to God Those that part them and their Pastor cannot part them and their God And now brethren I commend you to God though Christians may be left by weak earthly friends yet they shall never be forsaken by their Almighty heavenly Father Christ prayeth for them in heaven Christians pray for them on earth how rich must they needs be who have a stock in such faithful hands employed for their use in both worlds It was the misery of Julian that the Church shut him out of her prayers and that was a forerunner of his sad future doom It s the felicity of true Christians that they are in all the Saints prayers All the felicity of man is bound up in the favour of God and therefore to be commended to his care must needs be a great comfort I must tell you no people can enjoy a greater priviledge Israel was famous for this above all the Nations on the face of the earth For what nation is there so great saith Moses Deut. 4.7 They that consider Israels outward condition may somewhat wonder how Israel should be glorious beyond all comparison Israel was now wandering in a desolate howling Wilderness having no food for their bellies but what a miracle must send them in and no raiment for their bodies but that on their backs Heaven must rain down bread or they must perish with hunger a rock must be broacht to give them water or they die for thirst their cloaths must grow with their bodies and not wear out neither or they must go naked they had not an house to hide their heads in but some slender tents turn which way they will they fall into the paws of ravenous beasts or into the hands of men no less cruel yet in this barren Desart and in the midst of these destractions no nation in the World were their tables never so richly spread and their Wardrobes never so largely filled can compare with Israel for honour and happiness But what is the reason truly none but this God was their Patron and Guardian For what nation is their so great which hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things we call upon him for Other Nations might excell them in number in treasure in creatures other Nations might have honours and pleasures nearer them but every Nation was inferior to them because no Nation had God so near them T is the near approach of this Sun that causeth a Spring and Summer of light and gladness of warmth and delights That Nation from which he departeth whatsoever they enjoy have but long dismal nights and sharp bitter frosts When men are said in Scripture to be obnoxious to all evil they are onely said to be forsaken by the chiefest good I have forsaken my house I have left my heritage Jer. 12.7 But what is the fruit of Gods forsaking his house Cannot the building stand though the Workman be gone No t is tumbling down apace I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies Many Pastors have destroyed my vineyard they have made my pleasant portion a desolate Wilderness v.
10. When this fence is removed the vineyard is quicky destroyed When David would pray his worst against the Churches enemies what doth he beg Let them be confounded Psal 12.5 or disappointed in all their designs this is much to conceive with sorrow and to have hard labour and then to bring forth nothing Let them be as the grass upon the house top which withereth before it be grown up vers 6. Let them perish speedily suddenly and irrecoverably this is more The former was bad that they should take much pains to no purpose but this is worse that their pieces that they discharge against others should not onely miss their mark but recoil upon themselves But all this and much more vers ult which the Psalmist addeth as an amplification of the latter Neither let them that go by say The blessing of the Lord be upon you this is worst of all David knew that if they were out of Gods care they should be under his curse and then they should be miserable indeed As an eclipse of the Sun darkens the Creation though the other lights of Heaven shine never so brightly so whatsoever comforts any man enjoyeth if God be wanting he is miserably woful It s Seneca's observation of Alexander He overcame the Persians but he slew Calistines he conquered to the Ocean but he slew Calistines c. That the slaughter of his friend drew a black line over all his honourable enterprizes and as too much shadow to a picture sullied the glory of them It may be said of some men they have large estates but no God they have high preferments but no God they have excellent parts and natural accomplishments but no God This want of a God gives a dash to all the other and like Copris turns all their wine be it never so rich into ink and blackness On the other side the fruition of God is the greatest favour As some write of the Christal that what stone soever it toucheth it puts a lustre and loveliness on it So whomsoever God approcheth to he puts beauty and glory on the soul Because the witness of an Adversary is a double testimony Let Balaam who as some write of a toad had a pearl in his head though his body was poysonous give in his evidence How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel Numb 24.5 He speaks both by way of interrogation and admiration their tents were so comely and their tabernacles so lovely that their very enemy was affected and ravished with them But whence came Israel to be such a well marshalled army that he who came to fight against them thinks them beyond all compare nay doth himself admire their postures and order their glory and gallantry Why from the presence of their Lord General The Lord their God is with them the shout of a King is amongst them The new temple which the spirit of God describeth so exactly in its various dimensions and curious perfections such as should never have parallel hath all its glorious priviledges from Gods gracious presence The name of that City from that day shall be the Lord is there Ezek. ult and ult It is observable Exod. 33.1 2 3 4. that God seemeth to make Israel a very gracious offer And the Lord said unto Moses Depart and go up hence thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt unto a land flowing with milk and honey And I will send an Angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hitite and the Perizite for I will not go up in the midst of thee for thou art a stiff-necked people lest I consume thee in the way yet mark how the people take this bountiful tender And when the people heard these evil tidings they mourned and no man did put on his ornaments vers 4. What evil tidings were here 1. To have an Angel their guide and guardian I will send an Angel before thee surely that nurse would have been very tender of his Lords Son his first born 2. To have all their enemies conquered and I will drive out the Canaanite might not Israel march along without fear when God had engaged that all their foes should be thrown at their feet 3. To be conducted to the goodliest country under the cope of Heaven To a land flowing with milk and hony to a place that was the paradice of the earth and the fittest to be the type of Heaven would not thousands have valued such a promise at an high price What was there in all this which called for mourning that the Israelites take it so heavily and lay it so much to heart Truly this the want of Gods presence which could not be made up by all these priviledges therefore Moses prays If thy presence go not with us carry us not hence Lord it s better to be in an howling barren wilderness with thy presence then in Canaan without thee T is not a glorious Angels being our Captain which can give us true comfort t is not the casting down our enemies that can lift us up in glory t is not the pleasant land flowing with milk and honey that can please us without thy presence if thou leave us all our Isaacks do they promise us never so much joy or laughter are Benonis Sons of our sorrows and Ichabods the glory the honour the happiness is departed from Israel if thy presence go not with us carry us not hence But here is the priviledge of Saints they have Gods presence My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest Thirdly Here is comfort for Christians they are commended to the living Gods care The Apostle had little to give his sorrowful friends but he would speak for them to that King who was able and willing to give them all things And indeed this was his greatest charity By bodily almes he had opened his own purse but by commending them to God he opened heavens Treasury Pauls prayers were more worth to them then the Empire of the whole world The Apostle was a right courtier he observed his Princes will and drew up his petitions according to his pleasure and therefore knew they should be prevalent Joab did not doubt of success when he set the woman of Tekoah a work for that which David desired more then himself Beloved friends I esteem it my duty and priviledge that I may write after the Apostles pious copy ye are the people to which I was first called to be a Pastor though opportunity hath sometimes been offered for greater preferment yet I still waved all thoughts of leaving my first love and removal to any other Parish I have been amongst you these eleven years and cannot wholly complain that I have spent my strength in vain and laboured in vain some have acknowledged that they are the seals of my Ministry Others that God hath made me instrumental for their increase in grace Gods
power hath appeared in my weakness and his mercy been manifest in my unworthiness yet alas how many of you have had the dark side of this glorious pillar of the Gospel all this while towards you which is matter of sad lamentation O how speechless will they be at the day of Christ who after so many years publique and private preaching of the word to them shall be found in a Christless graceless estate surely none sink so deep into Hell as they who are pressed down thither under the weight of the Gospel I must notwithstanding this ground of unspeakable grief admire that free grace which hath made me helpful to any one souls good Besides that I enjoyed more of God in his Ordinances amongst you then ever I have enjoyed all my life I cannot but acknowledge that many of you have had much hearty kindness and respect for me not onely above my deserts but much above what any parish that I have known or heard of in the County have had for their Minister I may say as Paul did my joy was the joy of you all that feared God but now the providence of God is parting us I know not better how to speak my love and faithfulness to you then by imitating this holy pattern in the Text and commending you to God and the word of his grace Indeed all is in this one God if he charge himself with you none can hurt you if he be yours every thing will help you When Alexander asked Porus his Prisoner how he would be used Porus answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like a King Alexander asked the same question again he gave the same answer still do you desire no more said Alexander No saith he All is in that one word Plut. If it were demanded of you to whom ye would be commended I hope ye would answer to God for ye cannot but know that all good is in one God The Covenant of grace is a rich mercy to which all the Crowns and Empires in the World are but Nits and nothings but this is the Sun which makes that Heaven so glorious this is the sum and substance of it I will be your God and ye shall be my people The design of the Son of God in his birth and death was certainly high and honourable It was a noble end that was in the eye of such an agent but it was no more then to beg and buye of God to take care of man whom for his rebellion he had cast off He suffered the just for the unjust to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3.18 Living David when his soul was amongst Lyons and ready to be torn in peiees every hour commits it into Gods hands Into thy hands Lord I commit my spirit Psa 31.4 The dying Redeemer who knew the worth of that inestimable jewel his own soul by the price which he paid for the souls of others desired no other Cabinet to have it laid up in Father into thy hands I commend my spirit To commend you to God is all that I can do for you and it is indeed all that ye can desire of me Were you my nearest Relations and the object of never so dear affections though ye were as near and dear to me as my own soul If I had the strongest ingagement to you imaginable and the greatest obligations possible I could do no more I need do no more then to commend you to God Therefore give me leave now I am taking my leave of you to commend you to God And now Brethren I commend you to God First I commend you to his special favour and affection The good will of God is such a lump of Sugar as will sweeten the bitterest cup it hath a vertue in it which will turn the smallest liquor into cordial water The little Bird in her small down Nest sings pleasantly when the great Birds in their large thorny Nests have but harsh voices The Saint in the soft bed of Gods special love sleepeth comfortably when the wicked in their high places great preferments for want of this are in little ease His general love is like the ordinary beams of the Sun which convey light and heat for the refreshment of all the World So the Lord is good to all his mercy is over all his works but his special love is like the beams of the Sun united in a glass which passing by others fires the object onely Gods love to his new creatures in Christ is burning love he hath choice good and good will too for his chosen ones Let me see the good of his chosen Look upon me and be merciful to me as thou art to them that fear thy name It s said of Socrates He prized the Kings countenance above his coyn A kiss from God is of greater value then all the Kingdoms on earth The Christian can travel merrily though his way be dirty underfoot if the heavens do but favour him and it be clean over head Prov. 16.15 If in the light of a Kings countenance there be life and his favour be quickening and refreshing as a cloud of the latter rain what is there â—…n in the light of Gods countenance If an Heathen could say Contemno minutes istos Deos modo Jovem propitium habeam I care not for those petic gods and demy-gods so I can have but Jupiters good will Surely a Saint may say I care not for mens frowns or Devils fury so I may obtain but the blessed Gods favour This special favour of God is a pearl of such price that it was bought with the blood of Christ and none can beg a greater for themselves or others This was Davids prayer for himself Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Psa 4. As the single Saint so the Church cause thy face to shine upon thy servants and we shall be saved Psa 80. Beleivers who love their neighbors as themselves can desire nothing better or greater Joseph loved Benjamin entirely his bewels yearned upon his brother Gen. 43.29 30. But how doth he shew it what doth he request for him God be gracious to thee my son Daniel who fasted prayed and was sorely affected with the Churches afflictions when he poured out his very heart to God for them and would sum up all his prayers into one petition this is it The Lord make his face to shine upon his Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake Dan. 9.17 The prayer of the High-Priest for the people was to this purpose The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you Numb 6.24 Affectionate Pauls lips spake the same language on the behalf of his Corinthians The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all 2 Cor. 13. ult 〈◊〉 to this God in whose favour is life nay whose â—…ng kindness is better then life Psal 30. Psal 63 I commend you and my prayer
the unquenchable fire He loves them as his own Son Joh. 17.26 27. Who can tell the love God bears to his Son the same love he bears to his Saints His name is love his nature is love his Son is the token of his love his Spirit is the earnest of his love the Gospel his love letter Hence it is that they are so happy who are committed to Gods keeping because he is so loving a Guardian All the while that his people suffer he doth sympathize and he will support them As a tender father he proportions the burden to the strength of his childrens back He doth like a Lutanist to use Chrysostoms similitude who will not let the strings of his Instrument be too slack lest they mar the musick nor suffer them to be too hard screwed up lest they break He who taught the Husbandman to use several instruments for the threshing of several sorts of grain and not to turn the cart wheel about upon the Cummin Isa 28.25 will certainly himself not suffer his people to be afflicted aboue what they are able 2 Cor. 10.13 His love will set all his other Attributes at work for his peoples good His Wisdom will contrive his Power will act and his Faithfulness will perform whatsoever he promiseth for the comfort of his Church and all because he loveth them What would not David have done for Absolom whom he affecteth so dearly when Absolom rebelled against him and sought his life his heart relented towards Absolom out of love What a charge doth he give his Captains concerning him Deal gently for my sake with the young-man even with Absolom What will not God do for his chosen whom he loveth when they wander and run from him he followeth after and wooeth them For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart Mark Here is a childe in a great crime his Father corrects him and instead of kissing the rod he kicks at the hand that holds it He went on frowardly in the way of his own heart Well what is the fruit of this frowardness you might expect greater severity upon such contumacy surely if few stripes will do no good many must be laid on or if the rod will not do the ax might be used But lo what love doth I have seen his ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comforts to him and to his mourners Isa 57.17 18 19. Well though he be undutiful yet he is my child I will throw away my rods and draw him with the cords of love though he freez under the nipping frosts yet he will thaw under my warm beams 13. He is the most Faithful friend He is constant in his love Some are able and loving also for a time but their love like a candle though it burn a little in a closs room and calm weather is easily blown out by a stormy wind If a Christian be called to the cross he is like the Deer that is shot by the herd pushed out of their company but God is a lasting yea an everlasting friend his love like the Sun can never be abated much less extinguished by the greatest tempest but is always going forth in its full strength A brother is born for adversity A friend loveth at all times Prov. 17.16 Such a friend is God who when few men will never fails to appear for his suffering servants 2 Tim. 4.16 17. Basil ventured very far for a persecuted friend and being blamed for it answered Ego aliter amare non didici I have learned not to love otherwise The Antients pictured friendship in the shape of a fair young man bare headed with his breast open meanly apparelled with this inscription on his cloaths To live and to dye with you and this on his Forehead Summer and Winter and with this on his heart Prope longè far and near God is such a friend as will never disown or deny his people In the furnace the three children shall have his presence where ever he is absent When men are mutable and appear as Tertullian saith of the Peacock all in changeable colours use their friends as we do Sun-dials look no longer on them nor regard them then the Sun shineth on them God is a faithful creator 1. Pet. 4.19 will be sure to mind the house that he hath built and that most of all when it s out of repair and ready to fall Bucholcerus upon his friends going to Court to teach the Prince Electors children told him I will give you one piece of counsel which may do you good whilst you live His friend hearkned to him I commend saith he to you the faith of Devils Take heed whom you trust Indeed there are many men like ponds clear at the top and mud at the bottom fair in their tongues but foul in their hearts The greatest mens words are often like dead mens shoes he may go barefoot that trusteth to them But O what a faithful friend is God who never faileth his he is such a Physician as will be sure to visit his Patients often when sick although he may pass by their doors when they be well He is faithful to his promise his Word is the truth Col. 1.5 His Church is the Pillar of truth not to bear it up but to hold it out 1 Tim. 3. his Sacraments the seals of truth he himself is the Lord God of truth Psal 34.5 Who feares to be deceived when truth promiseth He keeps his promise to a word Quis falli tâ—… m at cum promittâ—t veritas Aug. confes lib. 11. cap. 1. Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that there hath not one good thing failed of all that the Lord promiseth Josh 23.14 The birth of the promise will answer their conception and they bring forth in full feature and glory God is usually better but never in the least worse then his word In sacra scriptura non solum bonitas est quod praecipitur faelicitas quod promittitur sed etiam veritas quod dicitur Hugo His promise is equivalent to possession He keeps touch with his people in the time of performance to a day The self same day Israel marched out of Egypt Ex. 2.4 The four hundred and thirty years were that very day expired nay to a night Dan. 5.30 In that night was Belshazer the King of the Chaldeans slain When the big-bellied promise had gone its full time the seventy years being then expired it could not stay till morning for its delivery but fell in labour that very night and was safe delivered The promises are the flowers of which the cordial Julips are made which refresh you in fainting hours but as Gods love is the root upon which they grow so his faithfulness is the hand that must bring them to you T is your happiness that your riches lye