should here labour for an enlarged heart and when others enlarge theirs as Hell Hab. 2. 5. we should ours as the expansum of Heaven Christ and Heaven-ward The more we move towards the Earth the more we are straitned He that here promiseth to fill our Treasures would not have us spare his cost but bids us open our mouth wide Psal 81. 10. even widen and enlarge our hearts to their utmost extent and capacity that we may not only taste of his Goodness but take in as much of it as we can As the Prophet bad the Widow borrow Vessels and not a few 2 King 4. 4. and the water-pots were to be filled up to the brim when Christ was to work the miracle John 2. 7. Let the everlasting doors of our Souls be set wide open when it is this King of Glory who is to come in He that hath received most of Christ Psal 24. hath not enough and he who here thinks he hath received enough hath as yet received nothing Our largest draughts are but tasts and those tasts should but quicken the appetite Indeed our Saviour saith that he that drinks of the water that he will give him shall never thirst John 4. 14. But that is Not after other things but yet the more after more of himself not with a feverish hellish thirst as the rich man in those flames and as some Souls here in an hellish anguish but yet with an heavenly enlargement of desire after that which he finds so sweet and hath not yet enough of After fullest in-flows here our emptiness is not perfectly filled nor his fulness exhausted but after fullest communications the thirsty Soul saith Lord one drop one draught more and Christ as the Widow 2 King 4. 6. saith Bring me yet a Vessel and prove me if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out such a blessing that there shall not be room to receive it Mal. 3. 10. Let not the thirsty Earth cease gaping the thirsty Soul craving yet more and yet more till it be filled with all the fulness of God till that as it is in the Text he hath filled our Treasures Ephes 3. 19. 3. How fully should we rest satisfied with Christ alone Will he fill us And would we have any more Doth he fill our Treasures and that with himself and can we desire any thing better or more precious O Naphtali satisfied with favour and full with the Blessing of the Lord said Moses in his blessing of that Tribe Deut. 33. 23. and O blessed Soul say I though thou beest a Naphtali a Wrestler and in never so great conflict as that name signifieth how full may thy joy be How full of comfort if full John 16. 24. 1 John 1. 4. of Christ Though never so empty of other comforts nay though never so full of outward miseries though as it was with the Psalmist thy body be filled with loathsome Diseases Psal 38. 7. and thy soul exceedingly filled with the scorn and contempt of the proud Psal 123. 4. yet if thou beest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the old word was Plenus Deo Full of God and his Spirit if Christ do but fill thy treasures how shouldst thou rejoice in the Lord and joy in the Hab. 3. 17 18. God of thy salvation though there be no herd in the stall nor meal left in the empty barrel no nor oyl in the cruse yet what a feast of fat things full of marrow art thou entertain'd with Isa 25. 6. whilst thou feedest on Christ How doth thy Cup with David's run over when he fills it When God had said I have replenished every sorrowful soul Jer. 31. 25. the Prophet in v. 26. immediately adds Vpon this I awaked and behold my sleep was sweet to me If God please but to undertake from himself in Christ to fill up whatever our dish cup purse or heart wants of full should it be in the darkest night of all wants and miseries and we know not how dark ours may yet prove yet truly our sleep in them might be sweet and our Souls brim-full of comfort And therefore it is our duty as well for our own comfort as for the more full manifestation of his Glory to make up all our wants out of him our emptiness with his fulness Whilest led by sense and not supported by faith this is a very hard Lesson as it was for Moses to believe that Israel's whole Camp should be victualled and filled with flesh for a whole month in a Wilderness and for Philip Numb 11. 21 22. to conceive how so many thousands should be fed in a desert place with five barly loaves and two small fishes In such straits wants John 6. 5 7 8. desertions we cannot believe that Christ will that he can relieve and supply us But O fools and slow of heart to believe where is our faith Is it Christ the Wisdom and Power of God the Amen the faithful and true witness who here promises that he will fill our Treasures and can he not or will he not fulfil his word Though we wrong our selves let us not wrong Christ too If thou canst not believe that he can fill thee thou makest him an empty Saviour If not to fill thy treasure thou sayst he is but a poor Christ If not a friend in the want of a friend and habitation when thou art thrust out of Doors if not all in the want of all thou indeed makest him nothing and he will be nothing Gal. 5. 4. at least not what he truly is and what he here truly promiseth thee and that is to fill thy treasures 4. This might call upon us to follow God fully Numb 14. 24. and to stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God Col. 4. 12. Numb 32. 11. 1 King 11. 6. that our duty and his mercy may hold some proportion 5. But I end all with that which the Text affords And in it we find that all this of Christ's making us to inherit substance and to fill our treasures is promised only to them that love him The love of Christ As it is the condition of the thing promised or rather of the persons to whom it is promised so it is and should be the effect of it when enjoyed For if Christ do all this for us then to love him for it is a very easie demand I am sure but a very poor requital The things promised fall nothing short of perfect happiness Perfecta beatitudo Cartwr They were solid substantial reality an everlasting perpetuity and over-flowing fulness and plenty And what is Heaven more Did they all meet in any earthly commodity that it were a solid staple commodity and such as would last and were there enough of it we should not wish more it would not want high prizers and many buyers Christ we have heard is all this And therefore methinks it would be very hard if he may
sure to be in Christ as in the Text Christ Jesus my Lord we are in him and then we have understanding 1 John 5. 20. when in the light then inlightned when betrothed to him it s then promised that we shall know him Hos 2. 20. 2. When once in him endeavour with all Care and Conscience to walk on in the fear of His Name in obedience to his Will in a course of Holiness and Righteousness before him and that 's the best and nearest way yet further to know him Fear in Nature is one of the most quick and apprehensive affections Fear and the Prophet saith of Christ Himself that he was of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. How oft in Scripture is Isa 11. 3. Psal 111. 10. Prov. 1. 7. 9 10. Job 28. 28 Robinson it called the Beginning of Wisdom as both having the promise of it Psal 25. 12 14. and being ever careful and solicitous in using and improving all the means of it And where Gods promise and our endeavour meet something is ever made of it For Obedience Keep and do for this is your wisdom and understanding Obedience Psal 111. 10. saith Moses Deut. 4. 6 7. and if a man will do he shall know saith our Saviour John 7. 17. Here as in other things we learn by practising and come to know by doing Let not our Scholars be like the Athenians of whom it s said Scire quidem quid deceat sed negligere For Theologia vita est non scientia They Erasm Adag pag. 456. knew righteousness in whose heart was the Law Isa 51. 7. for Lex Lux and therefore where that light is there will be the less darkness For Holiness Piety and Purity you may please to hear what Holiness St. Austin saith whatever is in the World yet for the City of God In hâc nulla est hominis sapientia nisi Pietas Piety there is the best De Civit. Dei lib. 14. cap. 28. Policy I know you will believe our Saviour when he saith Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matth. 5. 8. And so Aquinas you know makes the Donum Intellectûs to answer to this fifth Beatitude And lastly for righteousness The secret of the Lord is with the Righteousness Righteous saith Solomon Prov. 3. 32. Seminate justitiam illuminate vobis lumen scientiae So the LXX would make the Prophet speak Hos 10. 12. As light is sown for the Righteous so the light Psal 97. 11. of this saving knowledge of Christ is sown in a way of righteousness So David ends his Psalm and I my Sermon Psal 17. ult As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness And thus the Eminency of this saving Knowledge of Christ II. Part. should raise up our hearts in the use of these means to endeavour after it NAY to account all else as loss in Comparison of it At St. Maries April 3. 1653. Which is the second part of the Text and the highest pitch of our duty which our Blessed Apostle had here attained and as it were standing upon the highest round of this Jacob's Ladder by this his example he saith to us as the voice from heaven did to John Revel 4. 1. Come up hither And therefore Sursum Corda that our Souls were indeed on the Wing because it 's an high flight that we are to take above all outward Eminencies or inward Excellencies She that is clothed with the sun hath the Moon under her feet Revel 12. 1. And if ever we would savingly know Christ we with our Apostle must account all things loss for this excellent knowledge of Christ and ex animo even from the heart say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. All of them very great words and magni animi Blest Noble Soul to which a despised Christ is of so great worth that in comparison of him all other greatest things are less than nothing This is a strain above the Grandees of this Worlds greatest Gallantry which yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven can truly say and the less he is in his own Eyes the more truly and affectionately he can say it as he here in the Text who accounted so meanly of himself as the least of the Apostles and less than the least 1 Cor. 15. 9. Eph. 3. 8. of all Saints yet so highly of Christ that he accounts nothing of worth without him nay all loss for him And that you may not conceive him herein to brag and vapour confider a little his particular words and expressions which I have in part touched before but must here again take them into further consideration that by the pregnancy of his words we may see how full his heart was of the love of Christ and at how high a rate he valued this invaluable transcendent excellent knowledge of him And to this purpose Consider we 1. The Emphatical significancy of his words in themselves 2. His doubling and multiplying of them 3. How he riseth in his expressions when you compare them one with another 1. The words are Emphatical and strongly significant as you will see if you will run over them as they lie in the Text. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold a troop comes Here 's such a cluster of words as we cannot grasp or the best Grecian well tell how to express in English as Tully said the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could not be expressed in Latin No fewer than five Greek Particles crowded together the more fully to express not so much the strength of the asseveration as of his affection 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I account upon his serious and diligent casting up the account He sets this down at the foot of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non dubito Duco Judico An Act of his deliberate judgment which he Certò duco Zanch. made no doubt of but was clearly led on to and was fully setled in 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things That 's a great word and contains many particulars as we shall see hereafter But doth he not over-lash as he called his Book Jesuitica liberalitas in their full mouthed Vniversalis Jacobus Laurentius Omnis Nullus Semper Nunquam c. or is he not a careless inconsiderate Prodigal that will thus venture and lose all at one cast before he had viewed and weighed and considered what a great and massy sum this All came to No he had weighed Christ in the one balance and All things else in the other and they in comparison proved lighter than vanity it self and therefore he calls them 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loss in the very abstract in which is no gain and so Grotus H. Stephan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 are opposed That is Not only that which he would willingly lose for Christ but which some of them in themselves and all of them in point of confidence in them would be loss with a witness if to keep them and his trust in them he should lose Christ The word signifieth a loss a mulct a punishment And by it he tells you it would be the sorest mulct and punishment that could befal him for him to lose Christ for them but none at all to lose them all for Christ 5. Nor hath he yet given them a title low enough and therefore to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not only loss but dung Things in a storm though in themselves very precious may be lost and willingly cast over-board to save our lives But if it be nothing but dung that is so lost and cast away there will be less fear of repenting of the bargain And yet such in his esteem are all things in comparison of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I list not read a Greek Lecture upon the word or to spend time in telling you what Grammarians See Constantini Hesychii Suidae Stephani lexica say of it Some rendring it Quisquiliae some Retrimenta some Stercora some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit for those Dogs v. 2. as Zanchy suffice it for us to know that on all hands it signifieth such things as are if not most loathsome yet most vile and contemptible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Andr. Downes in Chrysostom See Piscators Analysis loci And yet such doth the Apostle account all things in comparison of Christ They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loss dung To which he opposeth two expressions in the 6th Place holding forth Christs comparative incomparable worth and his answerable estimate and valuation of it in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other things base dung but there 's an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a supereminent excellency in Christ and if they be loss then though he should lose them all and win Christ he accounts himself to be a wonderful gainer Thus first we see how wonderfully strong and emphatical the words are as they are singly taken by themselves 2. But secondly the strength and earnestness of his spirit further appears in his doubling and multiplying of them I touched before of that Congeries or heap of five Particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he poured out together Sure his heart was full that out of the abundance of it his mouth speaks and so runs over and besides all the other three words we have twice in this one verse and if you will take in the seventh verse you have them thrice in two to express that as when the dreams were doubled the thing was certain Gen. 41. 32. So when his words here are doubled and trebled and multiplied you may certainly believe he spake his heart and hereby expressed no double-dealing but the singleness and affectionateness of it 3. To this purpose is likewise further to be observed ut crescit surgit oratio how he riseth in his speech by six steps one after another till he come to the height of both expression and affection together 1. From an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yea but v. 7. to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quin etiam certè yea but verily in this verse not veruntamen as the vulgar which is corrigentis but qui nimò quod est amplificantis He Lapide is risen to a greater certainty and setledness of resolution 2. From an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 7. those things to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the indefinite is proved an Universal Those things are proved All things 3. From an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 7th verse in the time past to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 twice repeated in this verse in the present tense I did and I do I do yet so account of them as not altering my judgment or repenting of my bargain 4. From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did account them loss and which is more he doth account them dung that there is no loss in the losing of things so vile and contemptible 5. From an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I did account them loss yea and I have lost them What in our judgment we may undervalue that by reason of our lust we may not be willing to part with But his judgment and practice his hand and his heart went together he had actually lost that which his judgment told him in comparison of Christ was not worth keeping 6. From a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what sometimes was gain was now become loss v. 7. and on the contrary Christ who was before accounted loss is now become the only gain And that although won with the loss of all that was formerly accounted gain For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I might win and these winnings were clear gains for the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may gain Christ So that as our Apostle 2 Cor. 6. when he had before poured out a whole torrent of most Divine and Pathetical Eloquence and as it were spoken seven or eight verses with one breath he adds v. 11. O ye Corinthians our mouth is open to you our heart is enlarged so he here tells you how enlarged it is towards Jesus Lib. 8. c. 4. Christ that whereas Quintilian reckons up but four kinds of amplification Incrementum Comparatio Ratiocinatio and Congeries of these four the Apostle spends at least three in this one verse in which he expresseth the incomparable excellency of Christ both in himself and in his esteem above all things that may come in competition with him In which he hath set us a very fair Copy to write after him that we with him in our deliberate judgment and practice may account all loss and dung that we may gain Christ And that we may do so the better it will be best for us to consider what particulars are contained under this Universal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what these All Things are which he so undervalues in comparison of Christ Jesus his Lord. They were 1. All privileges that accrued to him by his being born in the Church of Godly Parents Of the stock of Israel of the Tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews v. 5. 2. Which followed upon the former the outward enjoyment of God's Ordinances Circumcised the eight day 3. All his moral best works and legal performances though with all zeal and accurateness as touching the Law a Pharisee Concerning zeal persecuting the Church
and as Macrobius out of Plato observeth Sâ—mn Scip. l. 1. cap. 6. though the four Elements be divers and have opposite qualities and so are at odds one with another yet God in his wisdom hath so order'd it that every one of the four Elements have two qualities and so although with one they fight against each other yet by the other they are linked together to a likeness and consistency as water being cold and moist and the Earth cold and dry though in moisture and driness they are opposite yet both agree in coldness and so in the rest of the Elements ut per tam jugabilem competentiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foederari possint so and much rather in the Body of Christ though there be much variety in the members and that if not better looked to may be occasion of too much opposition yet in that they are by one spirit united unto one head and by reason of many other ties and ligaments they have much more to unite and keep them together than there can be to disunite and pluck and keep them asunder It should make us do our utmost to endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace But because it 's the God of Peace and Love who only can make us to endeavour and then make our endeavours successful to so glorious an end and because he may be sooner intreated than froward man be perswaded I end this particular with Noahs wish and prayer Gen. 9. 27. The Lord perswade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem that our many Sects and Schisms being abandoned and all our rents and breaches made up once at last our Jerusalem may be builded as a City that is compacted together even a Psal 122. 3. Isa 33. 20. quiet habitation a Tabernacle that neither shall be taken down nor any of the Cords thereof broken SERMON X. ON PHILIPPIANS 3. 5 6. THIS is the first Particular which from these words As Touching the Law or the Sect I was of a Pharisee That it is not the being of any Sect or Party that commends us to God or is to be rested in no not though never so learned for such was that of the Pharisees who had their name of Pharisees from their greater skill in explaining the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Josephus expresseth it and therefore were accounted De bello Judaico l. 1. c. 4. amongst their chief Doctors and opposed to the rude ignorant multitude as John 7. 49. Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him But this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed The Jewish Jesuits I called them as for their pretence of greater sanctity so for their either real or pretended knowledge and learning above others And Paul had been one of these and if you consider what is said of him in Scripture or what even Porphyrie thought of him or what he speaks of himself Gal. 1. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he profited in the Jews Religion that is as some expound it in the study and knowledge of the Law and Jewish In Judaicae Religionis notitiâ sive legis studio Grotius Religion above many his equals in his own Nation that he was * Acts 22. 3. 5. 34. brought up at the feet of Gamaliel the great Doctor of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 institutus accuratè as the Tigurine rendreth it most exactly instructed in the Law of his Fathers yea and in other humane literature above all the rest of the Apostles as his disputes and writings testifie I say If you consider all this you will conclude that as he was a Pharisee so one of the highest form amongst them for parts and sufficiencies And therefore when he was but a young man made use of by them as a fit Act. 9. 1 2 3 14. 22. 5. 26. 10 12. and choice instrument for their purpose And yet though he was a Pharisee and such a Pharisee both for his Order and his personal accomplishments so knowing and eminently learned yet this he valueth not himself by nor rests in but counts it also loss and dung that he might gain Christ Whence This Note ariseth That it is not our greatest parts or learning Note 2. either natural or acquired abilities that can so commend us to God that we may rest in them but they also are loss and dung in comparison of Christ and are so to be accounted by us that we may gain Christ And of this now I cannot say as I did of the former that it is of little or no worth No. Next under Christ and his Grace above all things in the World of greatest Excellency Solomon who had most of it can best tell us the true worth of it and he saith that Fools indeed despise wisdom and hate knowledge but Pro. 1. 7 22. he calls them fools for it But for his own judgment it 's positive that Wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excells darkness both Eccles 2. 13. in its own nature and for the admirable usefulness of it which the ignorant fool whilest in the dark perceiveth not but when he once cometh into the light is made sensible of as theâ— frantick or deadly sick man as long as such feels not his malady till he begin to recover out of sickness and madness and then he begins to discern the difference Scientia Deorum vita They accounted it the life of their Gods and it 's indeed a bright beam of heaven This transcendent worth of knowledge and learning learned men usually know too well whilst they little know themselves and therefore as the Apostles word is swell in pride and are puff'd 1 Cor. 8. 1. up with the conceit of it that like Saul they are higher by the head than all their Neighbours and so do tanquam ex alto despicere 1 Sam. 10. 23. all others as their underlings nay lift up themselves against Christ himself his Truth ways and Ordinances as poor low things too inferior for their Altitudes to stoop to A Psalm of David a dull piece to an Ode of Pindar A Believer an half-witted crackt brain Simplician To such Preachers as to the Athenians are but vain bablers Act. 17. 18. it's the foolishness of preaching and therefore they think they more wisely spend their 1 Cor. 1. 21. time in reading of a Book than in hearing of a Sermon Yea Christ himself though the Wisdom of God to the learned Greeks is no better than foolishness 1 Cor. 1. 23. as to the Jews he was a stumbling block And therefore they thought their saying Have any of the wise Rulers or the learned Pharisees believed in him laid a sufficient block in the way for any that had wiâ— in their heads ever to have a purpose in their hearts to come to him And such thoughts it 's likely enough our learned Paul had of Christ whilst he continued a Pharisee
in heaven may be of some good use but such in our brains will never light us thither Let therefore such Spanish Alumbradoes or English Illuminates please themselves Casaubon Enthusiasme p. 131. in such fantastical attainments On the contrary let it be the care of every one that would prove a substantial Christian by all good means to attain to a solid judgment of saving truth and not rest there neither but because Theologia is not scientia speculativa but practica and because in Scripture-use verba sensûs affectum effectum connotant words of knowledge and sense imply affection and Divinity is an art of living and not only of bare knowing as many of us as would be solid Divines and substantial Christians as the lamenting Churches eye affected her heart Lament 3. 54. so let our knowledge effectually press on to earnest affection and real action which leadeth on to the other two Heads before mentioned 2. And as concerning our hearts and affections two things also either fall short of or come cross to that substantialness which is to be expected from them whom Christ causeth to inherit substance 1. The first is a weak faint listlesness and deadness in the out-goings of our souls to Christ an heartless velleity a wishing and a woulding rather than any true and hearty willing Balaam's wishes Numb 23. 10. the sluggards desires half desires which in Gods account are Prov. 21. 25. none as Gods people when with a weaned remisness they close with the things of this world they rejoice as though they rejoiced not 1 Cor. 7. 30. So when our desires and affections to Christ do so freeze in our bosoms they come short of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Est in the Text they are and they are not When we say and profess that Christ is such solid food his flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meat indeed and we bring such flashy desires and such faint appetites to him what do we but make men believe that either he is not found food or at least that we have but sick stomachs He not substance or we not substantial Christians 2. But Secondly There is another distemper in this kind which wanteth not for strength but yet in substance The wind no solid substantial body yet may be very violent and impetuous such a flatulency there is in many mens spirits which makes a shew of a great deal of real zeal and strength of affection for God and Christ and yet is nothing but an empty swelling tympany an impetuous violence to prosecute our own desires opinions and wayes and to bear down whatsoever rather displeaseth us than what offendeth God Such was Jehu's zeal and 2 Kings 10. 16. Luke 13. 14. the Ruler of the Synagogue his indignation and the more to discover the unsubstantialness of it it 's usually not about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weightier things of the law and such as concern the substance and power of godliness but about circumstances and externals or other less and lighter matters as it was with the Pharisees about their Mint and Anise and Phylacteries and so now is with the Papists about their Ceremonies and Traditions and with many amongst us about some niceties in Church government and outward forms and other curious Punctilioes which are at a great distance from the heart and soul and substance of Religion Here we have heat enough and too much a feverish heat but not kindly and natural fire but such as proves wild-fire making a blaze in lighter straw but such as putteth all into a combustion Oh beware of such a dangerous mistake as to take the violence of an unmortified passion for the power and substance of saving grace And therefore if ever we would attain to solid and substantial evidence of it our contrary care and effectual indeavour must be 1. Contrary to that coolness and indifferency of our affections to Christ to rise up to more strong and earnest outgoings of our Souls after him such as the Scripture expresseth by hungrings and thirstings and longings breathings breakings pantings and faintings after God not a faintness of indifferency but a fainting upon our being spent in eagerest pursuits of what we cannot fully overtake that it cometh not to I am and I am not but as Christ named himself I am so with truth and reality I can eccho back Exod. 3. 14. again and say Lord I am I am really and in good earnest with strongest bâ—nt of my Soul I am for thee and so indeclinably and earnestly move towards thee that I shall not be quiet till I rest in thee I do not measure substance by quantity nor judge of truth of grace by the degree though some now will needs wholly place it in it There is the true essence and substance of a man in a weak Child and weak desires after Christ may be true and serious if this weakness be occasioned from other hinderances and not from an indifferency but still giving Christ the Soveraignty But yet such weakness should not be rested in but over-grown and more strong and earnest workings of the heart to be grown up to if we would have more real and substantial at least more sensible evidences of the life and power of godliness 2. Nor must we satisfie our selves with this There was strength enough and in some respects too much in that impetuous flatulency of some men's spirits which was the second miscarriage before noted But therefore contrary to it our care must be if we would have evidence of true solid substantial godliness that this strength of passion do not only bluster towards others but that it produceth real and substantial effects in our own hearts and that we find and feel it so doing for as they are wont to say that Tactus est fundamentum vitae sensitivae so real felt inward effects in the Soul are surest evidences of a true spiritual life also such as were before-mentioned in the doctrinal part of this point as substantial and real effects and operations of Christ in us are to this purpose to be really felt and expressed by us A serious and hearty making out after Christ indeed and in good earnest working that really in us which Nature cannot effect and hypocrisie but ill favouredly counterfeit which may evidence to others as least to our selves that God is in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a truth as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 14. 25. really changing our hearts and powerfully mortifying our lusts that we may be not as that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2. 18. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free indeed as it is John 8. 36. substantially satisfying the vast desires of our Souls and thereby evidencing that Christ is to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only sawce as he is to Hypocrites and many Politicians but meat indeed And as substantially supporting and comforting us in greatest exercises and faintings either in life or death a
friend in such straits as we are wont to say is a friend indeed And such we express and proclaim Christ to be when we can experimentally know him by his Name I am and find him to be All when all else is nothing though with them Hebr. 10. 34. we be spoiled of all other goods yet then Christ makes good this his word To those who so love him he maketh them to inherit substance 3. For our outward carriage and Conversation contrary to this substance is empty outside formal Ceremoniousness and superficial Hypocrisie 1. For the first What a glaring shew did the Pharisee make in his Phylacteries and Tephilims the Pope in his Pontificalibus What a Pageant and Puppet play is their Mass and what an heap of light chaff is their Corpus Juris Canonici And yet as of old The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these in these and such like outward services and circumstances such weight laid as though they had been the very heart and life and substance of godliness whilest those who most prest them were the most real and bitter Enemies of the power of grace and many of the people who most doated on them were most debauched and furthest off from the least shew of it but that I may use Tertullian's words did impietatis secreta superficialibus officiis abumbrare and although they did drink and drab and live in all abominable filthiness yet if they could take Sanctuary in such Church-Formalities which could let them alone in their lusts missa non mordet if they could bow and cringe and be ready at their postures in the Church and on their Death-Bed receive their Maker and be absolved and when dead be buried in a Fryers Cowl all was safe enough All this only the Whores garish dress far from the Spouses substantial and durable clothing as it 's called Isa 23. 18. But I forbear now to speak further of this because although little do we know how soon our giddiness and Romes Emissaries through God's just judgment may again bring us to such vanities for the present we are gotten to a quite contrary extream of all rudeness and irreverence in God's outward service as though there were no mean between affected finicalness and right down sordidness The Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might make up this 1 Cor. 14. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this great gulf and keep us from sinking either into Idolatry and superstition on the one hand or Profaneness on the other But again I must say Now no more of that superficial Ceremoniousness in God's service 2. And rather let me speak a little of the vizard of hypocrisie in our outward profession and carriage directly opposite to substantial Christianity a sin which as he saith is the worst of all to be accused of by God but the best by men who too often would pin it on the sleeve of all profession and most odiously of sincere professors So Job with his friends is an hypocrite and Christ with Matth. 27. 63. the Jews but a Deceiver and as soon as ever a Christian was espied statim illud de trivio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I wish we might not have not only in the streets and other places but too often also in the Pulpit the power of godliness wounded through the sides and under the name of hypocrisie But yet this false sin may be too truly charged on too many by better men and I fear never on more than now in this false age in which there are not more slips minted in our Coin than in Religion and none cry out more of Forms than those that are greatest Formalists If not totus mundus exercet histrioniam yet in our little World too too many prove Stage-Players that act parts in Masks and Visards with a great deal of the form but a very little of the power of godliness all shew and no substance such shadows using to be most in brightest Sun-shine and in Bernard's judgment make up that Daemonium Serm. 6. in Ps 91. meridianum But I must not here enlarge on the many ugly deformities of such mens sins and how monstrous such visards make them All that I have occasion from the matter in hand to touch on is what contrariety they bear to this substantial reality which is in Christ and should be in all the true solid members of his Body whereas on the contrary these men may be fitly compared to Sodom's trees and fruit which Chrysostom saith Hom. 8. in 1. ad Thessal are Trees and no Trees fruit and yet no fruit all in shew but nothing in substance And therefore would we write according to the Copy in the Text and according to the exemplar which we there have in Christ our care and endeavour should be in our whole course and carriage instead of these vain shews and non-significant overtures really to express so much of Christ as may declare him to be substance and our selves substantial Christians that Religion and Grace is not an Idea or a vain frothy Notion but a real vital energetical principle and therefore to every one that nameth the name of Christ and makes profession of his grace I must say Loquere ut videam ut sentiam Say and do appear and be as Christ said to his Disciples Luke 24. 39. Behold my hands and feet that it is I handle me and see me for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have so the true Disciples of Christ may be able to say to all beholders and to most quick-sighted and most suspicious Enemies Come near and look and mark diligently that it is I that I am really my self and what I seem for that I am not a Ghost or a Phantasm or a Counterfeit which hath not such real Evidences and solid demonstrations of Christ and his Grace which you see I have That my heart is right when my life expresseth righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4. 24. That my profession is sincere when my Conversation really maketh it good and so the Gnomon and the Clock go both together That in my words and promises with the Apostle I do not use lightness that with me there should be Yea and Nay but according 2 Cor. 1. 17. Matth. 5. 37. See Grotius in locum to my Saviour's Precept my Communication is Est Est That although I do not swear yet I am a substantial man of my word that upon it any man may know where to have me And in the constant tenour of my life and carriage I am a square man a solid Christian that notwithstanding some lesser variations which the best Load-stone hath I in the general point right pretend to no more than my life makes good in a stable frame and way of down-right-godliness Whilest I can really vitally vigorously act for God in general and particular calling And if he please to call to it
29. 2. yea a Majesty and that 's more Thus by Faith the Elders received a good Report Heb. 11. 2. And by true saving Wisdome Solomon assureth us we shall receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint a Crown of Glory as ours read it Prov. 4. 9. Every particular Grace is part of a Christians Beauty But as they use to say Pulchritudo non est partis sed compositi so the perfection of Beauty ariseth from all Graces and a Perfetion in all Which though we cannot here attain to yet if we strive after it what we can we shall surely procure either love or reverence If the Amiableness of Holiness will not allure the Majesty of it will daunt the proudest Scorner and why may it not allure the most obstinate seeing it wins Grace in God's Eyes and therefore may justly challenge it in ours And here now I might open such a Cabinet of precious Jewels I mean so many several Graces as were they put on and worn by us would so beautify every part of a Christian that you should not see a Mordecai riding on Ahasuerus Horse with his Imperial Robes and Crown or another Joseph with Pharaoh's Ring on his Hand and a Chain of Gold about his Neck with the People bowing the Knee and crying Abrek but a Man of God partaker of the Divine Nature and well-nigh already glorified and so both himself and his profession glorious in the Eyes of God and Angels But all these curious pieces I have not now leisure to view many of them you may in the following Chapters of this Epistle I shall content my self with two which the Apostle unfolds in the latter part of this Verse in which he useth a Metaphor taken from an Army in which two things are required for the comeliness and safeguard of it Unity amongst themselves and Valour in beating back the adversary Proportionable to which two things he telleth us will become us in our warfare 1. Mutual Love that you stand fast in one Spirit with one Mind 2. Constancy and perseverance in the Profession of the Truth striving together for the Faith of the Gospel In the first place therefore for Love and Unity How well it sutes with the Gospel we may conceive in that it 's called the Gospel of Peace Ephes 6. 15. And therefore agreeth not with our Heart-burnings and Dissensions Brings us glad tidings of our reconciliation with God and therefore as Joseph to his Brethren bids us take heed we fall not out by the way Thus we see it fits well and would it not be as comely as fitting Yes surely And therefore our Saviour makes one part of his Spouses Beauty that her Teeth are like a Flock of Sheep whereof every one beareth Twins as well to express Love as Fruitfulness And was it not this true-hearted Love in having all things common in continuing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord in the Temple in eating their Meat with gladness and in singleness of Heart and the like which made those first Christians Acts 2. 46 47 have favour with all the people that because the multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and one Soul therefore great Grace was upon them all Acts 4. 32 33 And the same believe it would be upon us all if we as they according to the Apostle's Exhortation here would now stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one Spirit that is having one and the same spirit of Grace dwelling in us and thence with one Mind Will and Affection or in one Spirit as some expound it in one Judgment not one Paul and another Apollos not some Lutherans and others Calvinists not some Remonstrants and others Contra-Remonstrants but all of one mind in Christ for as they use to say of an unnatural Birth that hath two Heads if it have but one Heart though it be to be taken for one Man yet it is a Monster So as long as we have one Heart and agreeing in the main we may grow up into one Man yet if as many Heads there be so many Opinions and Judgments it will be if not unnatural and monstrous yet I am sure ungracious and unseemly For we should stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and withal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one Soul and loving affection to each other without hatred and variance and strife and seditions in the Bowels of Mercy and meekness and tender affection forbearing and forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us which if we did and were thus knit together in Judgment and Affection how much it would adorn and advantage the Gospel I say not because I cannot sufficiently Yet this I can that however bodily and outward comliness may be called as it is Concors discordia amica inimicitia yet in this inward and spiritual Beauty Plato's Divinity is again true that makes Vnum and Pulchrum the same a chief part of it consisting in this Holy Unity and Uniformity 2. Which adds strength likewise to that other Grace of constancy and Perseverance in the Profession of the Truth when we do not only stand together but stand fast and fight for the Faith of the Gospel as our Apostle addeth Which how answerable it is likewise to the Gospel this only were sufficient to manifest in that it shews what Christ endured for us and therefore may justly call on us to indure something for him and truly if it bring to us the sure mercies of David we should not be answerable to it if we should prove Flinchers If it be an everlasting Gospel Revel 14. 6. It would be very unfit that we should be like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 13. 21. which for a while believe and in time of tentation fall away Nor can we more dishonour the Gospel than if by falling off in harder times we proclaim to the World that we find not so much good in it as at first we thought for as on the contrary we cannot otherwise bring more credit to it than whilst we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take part and happy afflictions in which we have such a blessed Partner with the Gospel in its afflictions as the Apostle's phrase is 2 Tim. 1. 8. we let all Men know that we indeed account it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good News which we will willingly dye for This is that for which Justin Martyr and Eusebius for the honour of Christ set him before the chiefest of the Heathen Philosophers that he had so many thousands ambitious of shedding their Blood in the defence of his Cause and Gospel which none of them could say of their followers Yea this Glory reflects upon our selves likewise So Peter assures us that if we be reproached for the Name of Christ a Spirit of Glory remains upon us 1 Pet. 4. 14. yea though we dye for it yet Stephens Face will even then shine as an Angel's So that however some indeed like our nice Dames that would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
upon it i. e. It shall have as many Senses as they Fancies and Fetches and so justifie Pighius his Blasphemy who called it a Nose of Wax which they may draw out or put together and alter and change as they think good I abhor and so I know do you all these Blasphemies God's Word is not so Broad But yet I thus far yield that it 's a safe way of interpreting Scripture to take it in as broad and large a Sense as all things considered it will bear And if I do so in expounding this place it self will bear me out in it for it saith that God's Commandment is exceeding broad Exceeding broad therefore because every way broad reaching to all Persons in its Commands awing the greatest Kings and in it's Promises comforting the poorest Begger Reaching all Conditions Prosperity v. 14 72. Adversity v. 54. Alâ— Sexes Times Places all parts of body faculties of Soul Actions of both and Circumstances of those Actions I cannot exemplifie them all If you will go no further than this Psalm and but mark what 's said of it in the several Verses you shall find more than I say It 's Life v. 93. Comfort of Life v. 50. End of Life v 17. the Way v. 35. Rule v. 30. Counseller v. 24. a chief Gift v. 29 Better than thousands of Gold and Silver v. 72. It 's our Love v. 47 48. Joy v. 14. Delight v. 16. Choise v. 30. Desire v. 20 40. Hope v. 43. Trust v. 42. Fear v. 120 161. that which he longs for v. 40 82. seeks after v. 45 94. cleaves to v. 31. It 's his All. And if it be all this and much more then sure it 's Exceeding broad But I cannot insist upon all these particulars Only for more distinct Consideration of it we must remember that God's Word is here compared with all other Perfections and its Breadth with their End Now therefore as we heard before of all other best Perfections there was a double End of them Of Length they lasted not alwayes And of Breadth they reached not to all our Occasions and Wants So now on the contrary there is an exceeding Breadth of Gods Word I. Because it reacheth to all Times II. And to all our Wants in them as able to be a Direction and to make a Supply in all 1. For the first Therefore it is exceeding broad because reaching to all Times The place parellel to the Text fully proves it Isa 40. 6 8. All flesh is Grass and all the goodliness of it as the Flower of the Field The Grass withereth and the Flower fadeth But the Word of our God shall stand for ever For ever that 's long but to stand or to be established for ever as the word signifieth is much more and yet no more than is true of every Word of God whether a Command I pray you mark that Expression Heb. 4. 11 12. Let us labour to enter into that rest For the Word of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quick and powerful or as the words are living and active It may be you 'l ask What 's the strength of the Apostle's Reason Strive to enter into this rest for the Word of God is quick c. 〈◊〉 It s from this Ground we are now upon He had before spoken of an Exhortation of David's Psal 95. Of striving to enter into rest which Exhortation the Apostle urgeth upon them in his time Nondum inquit mortua est vâ—x illa Dei vocantis nos Hodie c. Pareus in locum to whom he wrote But now it might be some would say But why trouble you us with a command of David so long time since spoken to the Men of his Generation and now by this time out of Date and antiquated Which kind of Objection the Apostle takes away as though he should say Nay but do not think that David's word is dead with him For it was not his word but God's and therefore as God never dies nor grows old no more doth his Word But it 's quick or living still It 's not dead no nor grown old and weak but it 's as active and powerful as ever And therefore as much concerns you now as it did them to whom David in Person spake it And so we see in this respect God's Commandment is exceeding broad reacheth from David's time to Paul's And so are hiâ— Threats One reached from Doeg to Judas compare Psal 109. 8. with Acts 1. 20. Yea one reached from Enoch the 7th from Adam to the Day of Judgment Jude ver 14 15. And so are all his Promises which David as I said in the Text principally intends In the first Verse of this Ogdoad he saith For ever O Lord thy Word is settled in Heaven A Word of a Promise is in Heaven and settled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there and that for ever a most strong and full Expression that whereas if a Man look to these outward Contentments there 's nothing settled or if settled yet it 's but poorly not for ever according to that as strong Expression Psal 39. 5. Verily every Man at his best estate is altogether vanity or as the Hebrew is all Men are all vanity even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word in both places when most settled and established yet he continues not so long But when full of Riches and happy in Children and so in a seeming settledness yet it 's soon shaken Nay further whereas if a Man should look at God's Word and Promise as it is in our unsettled hearts we are ready to think that it 's as ready to waver as our Hearts are as the shadow of the Sun or Moon in the Water seems to shake as much as the Water doth which it shines in Yet for all this seeming shaking here below the Sun and Moon go on in a stedfast Course in Heaven So the Psalmist tells us that however our Hearts stagger at a Promise through unbelief nay and our Unbelief makes us believe that the Promise often is shaken withal and when we are at our Wits-end we are ready to think that God's Promise comes to an end too as Psal 77. 8. Yet God's Word is settled though not in our Hearts yet in Heaven yea and there for ever as settled as Heaven it self is yea more than so for Heaven and Earth may pass but not one jot or tittle of the Law and therefore of the Gospel shall fail Luke 16. 17. And thus we see that God's Commandment and Promise in this respect is Exceeding broad reaching to all Times Was a word of Command the Guide of thy youth I assure thee it will be as good a Staff of thine age And I assure you a good Promise is a good Nurse both to the young Babe and decrepit old Man Your Apothecaries best Cordials in time will lose their Spirits and sometimes the stronger they are the sooner But hath a Promise cheared thee say twenty thirty forty years ago
which Patience doth not either receive life from or give life to or both It 's joyned with Faith Heb. 6. 12. Rev. 2. 19. 13. 10. Faith begets Patience Jam. 1. 3. and Patience back again strengthens Faith Fidei fundamentum firmiter munit Cyprian And the like I may say of Hope Sometimes in Scripture Patience seems to be made the fruit of Hope Rom. 8. 25. 1 Thes 1. 3. and sometimes Hope the effect of Patience Rom. 5. 4. 15. 4. And so I might shew of other Graces But that of Cyprian in the general may suffice De unius quidem nominis fonte proficiscitur sed exundantibus venis per multa gloriarum itinera diffunditur This one blessed Fountain spreads it self into many happy streams The patient Man as such believes and hopes is Loving Humble Meek Wise Valiant by it approved to be sincere and trained up to be Heavenly-minded And so of the rest that the Soul that is thus guarded need not fear to be kept in possession How sweetly and fully doth that happy Soul enjoy it self while Patience takes time and by what it suffers opportunity and advantage to exercise all other Graces And whilst it 's suffered to have its perfect work so fully completes our happiness that we are as the Apostle expresseth it Jam. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfect Entire and wanting nothing And sure there is full possession kept where there is nothing wanting And thus Patience doth first as it is a suffering Grace 2. As it is a waiting and expecting Grace So the Husbandman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 waits and expects a Crop in his Wait patiently Psal 37. 7. long patience Jam. 5. 7. And so with Christians that sow for Eternity though it be in tears of Affliction yet it 's with patience because with expectance of a better Harvest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we hope for it then with patience we wait for it Rom. 8. 25. Christian Patience though it suffer much yet is full of Hope and thereby full of Heart And so keeps the Soul in life according to that of the Prophet The Just shall live by his faith Hab. 2. 4. and he there speaks of dying Hours Even in them the Heart may live Psal 22. 26. and that it doth as long as the Man hath in him that lively Hope the Apostle speaks of 1 Pet. 1. 3. and in this a Christian's Patience so much exceeds that of the choicest Heathens as his Hope exceeds theirs They sometimes with patience suffered much it may be out of love of Virtue and hope of Applause But he may more patiently suffer more when it 's out of love of Christ and hope of Glory Nothing more exanimates and dispossesseth a Man of himself than Despair makes Cain run wild out of God's presence Gen. 4. And them Rev. 16. 10 11. gnaw their Tongues and blaspheme God like Mad men And he that you read of 2 Kings 6. when he hopes for no relief from God in stead of keeping possession he gives up all for lost is short-winded and will not wait on the Lord any longer But a patient Christian though he sorrows yet it is not as others that have no Hope and here then invert the saying Dum spes est anima est Till he is Hopeless he is not Heartless He keeps possession of his Soul as long as it 's possessed with a lively assurance of an happy close at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aeschylus was said you know to animate some to patience and courage Sutable to which is that of the Apostle You have heard of the patience of Job 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and have seen what end the Lord made Jam. 5. 11. and his expectation of such an Chap. 19. 25 26 c. end was that which helped him to possess his Soul with such patience And well may the Soul be possessed with that patience now which assures that at last it shall be possessed of Glory It 's through Faith and Patience that some inherited the Promises as the Apostle speaks Heb. 6. 12. Promises are of things to come and therefore patience is put to stay and wait but faints not away in waiting because it 's joyned with Faith and so is assured of inheriting it at last and therefore mean-while keeps the Soul in quiet possession And this I say in these two respects 1. As it 's enabled to suffer much from Man 2. To expect more from God So that what the Apostle said of Charity 1 Cor. 13. 7. that Charity beareth all things endureth all things and withal believeth all things and hopeth all things ver 7. and thereupon in the very next words adds that Charity never faileth may fitly according to the former particulars be applied to Patience Because it 1. Beareth and endureth all things And 2. Believeth and hopeth all things it therefore never faileth nor will suffer the Christian's Heart to fail that the spoiling of his Goods Heb. 10. 34. should come to the spoiling of his Soul Psal 35. 12. but that in greatest Direptions and Depredations he may in patience possess his Soul Which for Application calleth upon us for an earnest endeavour Vse after this Grace and such a due exercise of it that whatever we lose we may be kept in possession of our Souls by it The Apostle's word is strong and very general Let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing Jam. 1. 4. Some Christians then were forward and quick at the first Assault but when the Battery continued long were too ready to faint and so by giving out in the Race fell short of the Prize For want of patience too soon plucked off the Plaister And so came not to a perfect Cure And therefore the Apostle's advice is that they would but stay that it might have its perfect work and then assures them that it will make them perfect and so entire that when come 〈◊〉 to the worst it will come to a Nec habeo nec careo that even when they have nothing they shall then want nothing Such a perfect and perfecting Grace is this Grace of patience that by its perseverance it sets the Crown upon the head of all other Graces For Omnes virtutes certant sola perserverantia vincit coronatur The Arguments by which the Ancients much commend this Tetullian Cyprian Basilius M. Ephrem Syrus c. Grace to us are many The Example Of God who with much long-sufferance doth not only bear his undutiful Childrens manners Acts 13. 18. but his professed Enemies rebellions and insolencies forbearing to punish them when their sins would enforce him and causing his Sun to shine Justis similiter injustis indiscretas pluvias largiatur Cyprian and his Rain equally to fall on them and on them that are dearest to him insomuch that he suffers because they do not and that even by them too whilst they are ready to think that
Sons we will rather have it raw than stay for it 2. We are very Weak And a weak Body cannot stand long under an heavy Burden without sinking How much to do hath a weak sick Man to get over a long Winter's Night without fainting Job was half at that pass when he said What is my strength that I should hope Job 6. 11 12. And my strength and my hope is perished said the Lamenting Church Lam. 3. 18. When her Strength is spent that she can bear no more her Hope is also gone with it that she can wait no longer 3. Vnbelieving As he that believeth maketh not haste So Isa 28. 16. nothing sinks the Heart sooner than Despair which gives over hoping and waiting together 1 Sam. 27. 1. They wait Isa 26. 8. when the desire of their Souls by Faith is carried out to Piscator the remembrance of his Promises 4. Not more Weak than Froward as the sick weak Man useth to be and the froward Child crieth fiercely if you stay long A Burden on a galled Back frets and makes the Man go fretting that he cannot standstill 5. And very Proud too Now waiting as it puts Honour upon him that is waited on and therefore great ones affect it so it debaseth the Waiter And therefore the proud Man cannot endure it is hasty cannot wait no not upon God himself 2 King 6. 33. It 's not so with us when we are humble but ever some stirring of Pride when we cannot quietly wait and sit still 6. And lastly We are very full as of Self-love so of Self-conceit The one concludes for our Safety and the other consults for Means of it of our own which usually are next hand and so we cannot stay to wait on God's Counsel Psal 106. 13. This we see in Saul who cannot stay for Samuel's coming when he apprehends present danger 1 Sam. 13. 11 12. and so strains Courtesie and Conscience together and Chap. 14. 19. he cannot tarry to wait for an answer from God when he conceives he hath thought of a better Course than God could direct him to Which even David also had a strong touch of Chap. 27. 1. when consulting with his own Heart about the best way of his Safety he cannot stay and wait upon God who had so constantly preserved him But he must needs both dangerously and dishonourably run away to the Philistines No greater Enemy to our trusting and waiting upon God than leaning to our own understandings Prov. 3. 5. Thus Weakness and Vnbelief sink us Pride and Frowardness make us swell and hastily rise up against God Self-love and Self-conceit make us in unwarrantable ways of our own start out from him all severally and joyntly keep us from an humble meek faithful self-resigning Waiting upon him Which yet there is all reason we should endeavour and prâ—ctice if we consider 1. Who and how great that God is that we are to wait on O shame we our selves whilst we think how long we can endure to dance Attendance on great Men and have not the patience to wait half the time on the Great God How blasphemously irrational was his reasoning 2 Kings 6. 33. This evil is of the Lord What should I wait on the Lord any longer The Prophet teacheth us a better and a quite contrary Inference Hos 12. 6. because he is Elohim the Great God and ours we should therefore wait on him continually 2. Who and how Mean we are that do wait poor Beggers and Beggers may well be Waiters The poor of the Flock waited on me saith the Prophet Zech. 11. 11. We are Poor let us not be so Proud as not to be willing to wait but so Ingenuous as to blush when we think how long we let the Begger wait at our Doors and yet have not our selves the patience to wait any time at God's who yet are but Beggers At best but Servants And dost thou expect that thy Servant should wait on thee and not thou on God Especially seeing Waiting in Scripture is put for Service Prov 27. 18. So it 's that piece of Service which God sometimes only calls for only to wait on our Master when we cannot work for him That which both fits us for Work and which God expects even Waiting upon him both for Pardon and Acceptance after all our Working Luke 17. 7 8. 3. As Great as God is and as Base as we are yet consider whether in waiting God hath made us stay long Either absolutely when sometimes he hath prevented our Prayers and Thoughts Isa 65. 24. So that as it is Chap. 30. 18 19. He hath waited that we might not wait Not we so much as He hath waited to be Gracious And have we so much cause to be thankful to God that He hath oftentimes rescued us so speedily and can we see no cause then to be content when always for some good Cause He sometimes comes in more slowly Oft-times absolutely it hath not been long that God hath made us wait At least comparatively not so long as Our Betters have waited on him Heman from his Youth Psal 88. 15. and David all the day Psal 25. 5. Our selves have waited on Men for lesser Matters Have made others wait on us for Trifles Nay have made God himself wait on us 1. For first Conversion Hand held out all the day long Rom. 10. 21. 2. Afterwards for further Entrance and Communion Christ stands and knocks at his Spouse's Door till his Head be full of Dew and his Locks with the Drops of the Night Cant. 5. 2. for that which after all his waiting he hath gone away without as in both those places and 1 Pet. 3. 20. His Long-suffering waited One hundred and twenty years in the days of Noah and yet was disappointed 4. Though never so long yet not longer than till we be once fit for it Though till then it did tarry yet then it will not Hab. 2. 3. Till then God waits and not we 5. Fifthly for the most part we have not used to wait so long on God for Mercies in our want of them as God hath waited upon us with Mercies in our enjoyment of them Many of us must say that our Fevers have neither been Quotidian nor Hecticks our Good days have been more than our Ill days as with us in this Climate our longest Winter-nights are not longer than our longest Summer-days Our Peace longer than our War and our Plenty than our Penury and therefore either absolutely we have not waited long or at least in all the former Particulars not so long Comparatively that we have cause to complain of it And though it should be longer yet not longer if we consider the weight and worth of the Mercy we wait for It 's sometimes no less than Christ and Salvation thou waitest for assurance of God's Love the mortifying of an habituated Lust like the healing of an old Sore and curing of a Chronical Disease It may be it 's
the Gospel labour carefully to gain Souls to Christ and that will bring thee plentiful gain both at Death in inward Comfort and after Death in a more plentiful reward Paul was very industrious in this Trade as you may see 1 Cor. 9. 19 to 23. and Chap. 10. 33. in which his Life was so laborious that you find here his Death was gain to him 5. But add Perseverance to all else we lose all that we have gained 2 John 8. As the Nazarite in the Law if after his Vow he were polluted he lost all his former days Numb 6. 12. or as he that runneth a Race though he hath gone on far in it loseth the prize if he give over before he come to lay hold of it and therefore although either the length of the way or our pains in getting on in it put us to it yet with that worthy Knight on his Death-Bed say Sir John Pickring Hold out Faith and Patience yet a little longer and it will not be long before Death pay for all 6. Lastly Remember what went before these words in the Text To me to live is Christ and then to die is Gain Labour that Christ in all the fore-mentioned Particulars be our Life and then we be very certain that Death will be our Advantage A Christ-like though painful Life will certainly end in a most Acts 10. 38. John 17. 4. gainful and joyful Death He went up and down doing good and finished the Work which his Father gave him to do suffered those things which were appointed Him and so entred into Luke 24. 26. Glory And we following Him in His steps need not doubt but we shall into it also But to live like a Beast or a Devil and to think to die like a Saint to live so unprofitably that neither Christ hath service from thee nor any Body any benefit by thee and to hope that Death will be Gain to thee how vain and unreasonable Epictetus could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where there is true Gain there must be true Godliness and the Apostle saith Godliness is Gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. and profitable for all things having promise not only of the Life that now is but also of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. And therefore the profit of it is not ended in Death but then more than ever before comes in and is made over to be enjoyed in everlasting Life and Glory Which therefore for the third Use of the Point should encourage Vse 3 the Faithful against the fear of Death and calls upon them rather to desire it than be afraid of it Our Gain doth not use to be the Matter of our Fear but of our Desire and Joy The Tradesman is not wont to be afraid of a profitable Bargain nor the Labourer of his Day 's work in the evening to receive his Wages and Reward Now this if we believe Paul Death is or brings with it He confidently saith here that it is Gain and therefore as such is not afraid of it but ver 23. desires it Indeed he speaks of some Heb. 2. 15. who through fear of Death were all their life-time subject to Bondage But who were they I confess such he speaks of as were to be saved by Christ as the beginning of the Verse sheweth in those words that he might deliver them c. But yet so as they were out of Christ for the present or if in Christ yet not assured of it but still under a spirit of Bondage according to that Legal Dispensation before Christ And yet I do not remember I read in Scripture of any either under the Law or Gospel truly Godly that were much affrighted at the approach of Death Hezekiah indeed wept sore at the Message of Death and some I confess think he was then under some inward auguish of Spirit But I cannot Isa 38. 3. easily believe that it was simply from any fear of Death whilst he even then had so clear a testimony of his Conscience that he could appeal to God that he had walked before him in truth and with a perfect heart in his life but it was because he yet wanted a Son to continue the Promised Seed or for some other like cause And as Death is an Enemy to Nature so Nature may with submission to God's Will without sin be ready to turn from it So our Saviour desired that the Cup might pass from him And it is said of Peter that some should Matth. 26. 39. John 21. 18. gird him and carry him whither he would not But our Saviour's was more than an ordinary Death than any Martyr's death that suffered never so great Torments in it and was it out of fear of Death when his Face was set to go to Jerusalem to be Luke 9. 53. John 18. 4. John 10. 18. Crucified When he went out to meet His Apprehenders when He saith that no Man took away his Life but that He willingly of himself laid it down and therefore was not thrust out or driven but saith I go to my Father as some observe When John 7. 33. Cartwright even He deprecated to be delivered from that Hour yet saith even for that Cause He came to that Hour And therefore quietly John 12. 27. Matth. 26. 39. Luke 22. 42. Luke 23. 46. and submissively said Father not my Will but Thine be done And even in the Pangs of Death so quietly could say Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And for Peter when now near to Death we do not find him bewailing it but calling of it only a putting off his Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1. 14. Nor doth the Story of his Death mention any such affrightment of him then but the contrary And for others Moses and Aaron went up the Mounts to die as a quiet Child doth at his Fathers command go up to his Bed to sleep as I have else-where shewed Simeon sings his Nunc dimittis Paul knows his departure is at hand 2 Tim. 4. 6 7 8. but he calls it his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that word signifieth such an Unbinding and Taking off of Burdens as we do to our Beasts when we come to our Inn or return to our Home and that I hope is not dreadful but desireable and welcome as his was there when after his good fighting of his good Fight and finishing his Course he had his hand upon the Crown of Righteousness And it was a breaking of his heart that they should weep and pray him not to go to Jerusalem who was ready not only to be bound but also to Die for Christ there Acts 21. 13. As Ignatius in the very like case said to his Friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Rom. How chearfully did the Martyrs in former and latter Times make haste to their Torments as fast as an old Man can said old Latimer imbrace the Flames and had less trouble to endure the Torments than their
it to maintain and promote peaceable and civil converse and humane society in the world which he that doth not value deserves not to live in it 4. And which yet is more valuable in Christians as being a choice ornament of the Gospel and credit of their Religion when they do not only far exceed them in spirituals but even out-go them in morals which is their highest perfection in which they therefore use to excel as because sense is the highest perfection of brutes therefore usually they excel man in it But it should not be so here that because morality is the highest attainment of an Heathen therefore they should exceed a Christian in it But on the contrary if Christians out-shoot them in their own bow if a Paul with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves 1 Thess 2. 10. can out-vie the Greek's Socrates or Aristides and all the Fabii Reguli and Fabricii so famous amongst the Romans oh this is to walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as is worthy of the Gospel so as becometh it and is an honour to it when Clement writing to the Corinthians can congratulate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their sober and gentle piety when Christians are sober and just godly men godly but righteous meek merciful and every way vertuous withal that whilest the Heathen the Hypocrite the natural man doth but turkess an old suit which makes it only look handsomely with the true Christian All 2 Cor. 5. 17. is made new and so is more comely the one is like him that by ointment drives in the itch the Christian takes inward physick and purges it out the one rubs in the spot the other washes it out but so that as we exceed them for inwards so we should more than equal them in an outward seemly vertuous carriage This This would much redound to the honour of Christ and the Gospel and therefore if his Glory be to be esteemed this that makes so much for it is truly valuable 5. And lastly yet the more because as it so much conduceth to the glory of Christ so also to our own inward satisfaction and peace So the Apostle takes notice of the Heathens thoughts excusing Rom. 2 15. of them when innocent and if Epicurus his placing happiness in pleasure meant only that joy and satisfaction of mind which follows a vertuous temper and action as a sweet air after the stroke of a well tuned and touched instrument it was not so much amiss as his Scholars afterward perverted it Surely a sober especially a Christian sober just and unblameable temper and carriage prevents as many unquiet disturbing brabbles and contests with others so many tumultuous hurries of unruly passions within our selves and the many sad reflexions even of a natural Conscience when the bluster of the passion is over as Abigail said to David 1 Sam. 25. 31. that it would be no grief nor offence of heart to him afterward that he had not causlâ—sly shed bloud or avenged himself so it will at the last be no sorrow of heart or inward wounding nay much satisfaction and joy of heart for which we shall as David there did v. 33 34. bless God that we were kept from such out-rages which after we should have dearly paid for and saved those many sad sighs and groans for the pains and smart of those brushes and wounds which our former miscarriages gave us and then rejoice in reflecting upon that sober and orderly deportment which we at least by restraining grace were trained up to Now these and the like particulars fully shew that a vertuous unblameable course is truly valuable which secundùm Austin de Sp. litera c. 27. v. Philip. 4. 8 9. justitiae regulam non solùm vituperare non possumus verùm etiam meritò rectéque laudamus And truly so valuable that we are very apt so to over-prize it as Which is the second thing Even as to our Acceptance with God to build our hopes on it and to rest in it That he was no extortioner unjust no Adulterer or like the profane Publican was that which the proud Pharisee Luke 18. 11. gloried of and looked to be justified by for there justification is spoken of v. 14. And to be justified and saved for our good works is that which not only the most ignorant people but our most compleat Moralists build upon and these latter more than the former because more out of judgment from a self-flattering intuition of their vertuous qualifications and performances their justice sobriety temperance and good neighbourhood so glister and glare in their eyes and are such realities that Christ and faith in him they look at as Notions and being whole in themselves they need not the Physician Matth. 9. 12. And so Austin on Psal 31. sheweth that In praefatione many of the moral Pagans would therefore not become Christians as being by their good life self-sufficient and therefore bring them in thus speaking What would Christ enjoin and command me to live well why I do that already and why then is he necessary Nullum homicidium nullum furtum nullam rapinam facio c. I neither murder nor steal nor commit Adultery Let any of these be found in my life qui reprehenderit faciet me Christianum and he that finds it shall make me a Christian And the like are if not the words yet the thoughts of our exact Moralists They are they think got high enough that they need not ascend higher nay so high in themselves that they look at faith at least at true believers as much under them But however their Morality they rest in 1. As first more suiting with the Law of Nature and so with their natural light whilst Christ and Faith in him is only and wholly from Divine and Supernatural Revelation an hidden mystery which they therefore neither are nor desire to be much acquainted with and especially for this cause that this diviner light discovers motes in their brightest sun-beams many defects and blemishes in their most refined purgative vertues pride and self and many spiritual lusts which such Moralists please and pride themselves in and so they rather hate the light than come to it lest their deeds should be reproved John 3. 20. 2. Secondly They yet the rather sute and close with it because that hereupon it 's more within the reach and sphere of their activity Which upon a double account works in them a complacency and acquiescence in it 1. Because it is more easy far more easy to forbear a vice from a selfish or moral consideration than upon a spiritual to deal justly and give an alms and carry it fairly than to deny carnal natural moral self to repent Evangelically in case of straits and temptation to believe savingly It 's indeed a very easy thing to opine and presume but
nothing harder than when heart and Psal 73. 26. flesh faileth to make God the Rock the strength of our heart when sense is at a stand and carnal reason contradicts for faith to depend and cut these knots which they could not untie and with Abraham in hope to believe against hope Rom. 4. 18. It 's easier to be vertuous than truly gracious and we naturally so love our ease that if the one we think will serve we have no mind needlesly to trouble our selves in advancing further to the other 2. Being within our reach as thereby it is more easy which pleaseth us well so there is more of self in it and self is that which we hug and love most of all To have only an empty hand of faith to receive all from Christ is naturally and to a carnal heart too poor and beggerly we would herein be some body and do something as Pharaoh said he made himself Ezek. 29. 3. Ego feci memet ipsum Vulg. So we would fain be able to say I have saved my self Something it is that we would bring to God by which to commend our selves to him which too often the true penitent sinner hath an hankering after and therefore sufficiently smarts for but the moral self justitiary is chiefly for and therefore for that most which gives him a hand in it And therefore because in these morals he hath an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a liberum arbitrium and so can see in them much of a self-efficiency he hath from what to applaud himself and with hand on his side to say with Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4. 30. Is not this great Babel which I have built by the strength of my power than which nothing is more pleasing to proud Nature or a self sufficient Moralist which therefore he gloryeth of and resteth in 3. And yet the rather because this outward Civil deportment is more visible and so more taken notice of and taking with other men with whom he converseth which as the Pharisees of old Matth. 6. 2 5. he is carried away with whilest faith which is seated in the heart and grace being of a more spiritual nature and less outward garish lustre is by him not at all looked after Upon these and the like grounds bare morality is too often rested in which was the second particular But the third and last is that so it should not be but that after Paul's example here in the Text this as well as the former as to our acceptance with God should be accounted loss and dung that we may gain Christ To a Soul wounded with sense of sin and languishing and dying away for want of Christ it will be no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much less any healing Medicine to say But why are you so trouâ—led that have lived so vertuously and unblameably that have been so sober in your carriage so just in your dealing so fair in your converse for this will be but a faint cordial and you prove but a miserable comforter when it can look on all this but as a fair suit put on a dead Carcase nay on all this kind of righteousness as Isa 64. 6. so many menstruous rags And wo to him if he have nothing better than such Fig-leaves to cover his nakedness and wo to me if when it comes to trial and I shall be set at the Bar of Justice I be found in my own righteousness and therefore passing by Philip. 3. 9. all these But saw ye him whom my soul loveth saith the Spouse now sick of love Cant. 3. 3. And there is great reason for it 1. Because this Morality may be found in them who never savingly knew Christ and so are far enough from Salvation for as Austin observes de sp lit c. 28. you shall hardly find the life of the worst without some good works so in such as are not so bad you may sometimes find many So it was in many of the Heathens that knew not God in our Paul when he was a stranger nay an Enemy to Christ and how hopeful and safe we may think our selves or others to be whilest in that State yet he now by grace brought into a better would not for a thousand Worlds be in the former And hence it is that Austin gives it such homely Elogies sometimes of a terrena carnalisque justitia and sometimes Babylonica dilectio of an earthly carnal righteousness of a Exposit ad Gal. 3. contra Julian l. 4. c. 3. Babylonish Love such as may proceed from nature sed aliud est quod impenditur naturae c. saith Gregory * Homil. 27. in Evangel Naturali bono motus fecit bonum non propter Deum Chrysost hom 7. ad pop Antioch Iâ—'s one thing that Nature yields and far another which Grace 〈…〉 Or if not only from Nature for the Cause yet such â—s meer natural men may be capable of for the subject But as trim as Nature may look in some mens eyes yet sordet Natura sine Gratia in Prosper's judgment that which is highly esteemed among men may be abomination in the sight of God Luke 16. 15. and if by nature we be children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. that sure cannot pacific God's anger which we may have whilst we are in a meer natural condition 2. Which also may consist with the full power and dominion of divers especially spiritual lusts wholly inconsistent with Christ and his Grace and instead of giving check may give suck to them and feed them 1. One is Domineering Pride which ariseth from nothing more than a conceited self-fulness an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which of all others our compleat Moralists are most full of So you find the Stoicks the most moral of all the Philosophers most turgid and swoln with pride and self-conceit of all others How full and self-sufficient their wise man was let but one Seneca inform you who equals him with God and in many things prefers him Epist 73. And with little less haughtiness and pride do our compleat Moralists applaud and almost adore themselves and with greatest scorn and disdain either over-look or set their eyes on the poor puling penitent that mourns for sin and the crack-brain'd Phantastick believer as he esteemeth him who is looking out of himself for righteousness by another whilest he doth domi habitare hath a better and nearer at hand at home of his own which Plethora and proud self-fulness As intùs existens leaves no room for Christ who as upon conceit of their freedom was not accepted by the Jews John 8. so from this proud conceit is rejected by these our self-justitiaries the full soul loathing the honey comb Prov. 27. 7. I say it admitteth not of Christ Directly crosseth the main design of the Gospel which is to exalt Free-Grace which our Free will-vertuous ones think would disparage their better deservings And lastly is diametrically opposite to the true notion and nature of faith which