Divine gift The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is a gift from Heaven To know God it is from God Christ is the gift of God and to know Christ is another gift And therefore the Apostle saith That faith is the gift of God Eph. 2. 8. Psal 119. 125. And therefore saith David Give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies To understand the Divine Testimonies is a gift God must not only give us the Objects of Knowledg but also the Knowledg of those Objects Man lost his Knowledg and therefore must be created again and renewed in Knowledg after the image of him that Col. 3. 10. created him God must set him up again with a new stock of Knowledg else Man can know nothing The Mysteries of Heaven in themselves are intelligible they are glorious and radiant Objects they sparkle with splendour in our eyes but blind men cannot see light without a light we are dark within while the Mysteries of Heaven shine like the light round about us And therefore God must give the opening of the eye to see the out-breaking of the light upon us 2. The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven I know saith Job that my Redeemer liveth Job 19. 25. Vers 26. and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Job knew the Mystery of Redemption and in that glass he saw the Mystery of the Resurrection He knew one Mystery in another In that he knew he was redeemed he knew he should rise again Our redemption implieth our resurrection Job though he lived in dark times yet he knew these Mysteires because to him it was given to know them I know Psal 119. 5. O Lord saith David that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me He knew First The judgments and dispensations of Divine Providence Secondly And he knew that those Judgments were right Thirdly And he knew the mystery and meaning of them That God in faithfulness had afflicted him Christ saith That his sheep know his voice I am the good John 10 14. shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine They are gifted with discerning that they know the voice or Doctrine of Christ they are so well acquainted with the Mysteries of Heaven that they know what is the Doctrine and what is not the Doctrine of Jesus Christ When it pleased God saith Paul to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1. 15 16. There was a time when the Mysteries of Heaven were vailed from Paul and afterward were revealed to Paul God in his time gave him to know what he did not know before Thus you see the second point That the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some 3. The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is not given to others Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in Deut. 29. 2. the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants and to all his land The great temptations which thine eyes have Vers 3. Vers 4. seen the signs and those great miracles yet the Lord hath not GIVEN you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day They saw much and yet they saw little They saw great things and yet they saw nothing nothing to purpose they had not a spiritual apprehension and use of the great works they did see In Psal 82. 5 They know not neither will they understand Psal 82. 5. they walk on in darkness all the foundations of the earth are out of course The Psalmist speaks of such as were great men the Judges of the earth they knew not how to administer Justice uprightly and impartially In Isa 1. 3 The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his masters Isa 1. 3. crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider They are more brutish than the brutes Asses indeed more sottish than the Ass they eat and drink and seed upon Gods Provisions and yet know not God who provides all for them The Papists in their Legends abuse this place and coyn a Fable that an Ox and Ass being in the stable where Christ was born took notice of him and did cherish him with their warm breath as he lay in the manger The story is meer Fiction but Sinners are so brutish that they do not what the others fained the Ox and Ass to do The Lord Christ is come into the world but they take no notice of him he is laid in the Manger of the Gospel but they know him not Did Christ lye in a Manger for you and shall he not lye in your bosoms Ah Sinners more brutish than the Ox and more silly than the Ass In Acts 14. 1 2 There 't is said that Paul and Barnabas Acts 14. 1 2. so spake that a great multitude of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles Here to some was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others 't was not given In the 17th of the Acts at the 32 34 verses When they Acts 17. 32. heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked but others 34. clave to Paul and believed Here to some was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others 't was not given In Acts 28. 24 'T is said That some believed the things Acts 28. 24. which were spoken and some believed not Here to some was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others it was not given The Heathens could observe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Hliad That God doth not give all things to all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To one man God gives Martial skill for War to another the Art of dancing to another that of singing and of musick but to another he gives a wise and prudent mind In this dispensation of God wherein to some he gives the Knowledge of Divine Mysteries to others he doth not I say in this dispensation there is both Soveraignty and Justice First In that he gives not to some the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven there appears Soveraignty For in another Text the Lord Christ saith Father thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Mat. 11 25 26. Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Here Jesus Christ gives no other reason why the Mysteries of Heaven were hid from the wise and revealed to babes but only his Fathers good will and pleasure Secondly In this dispensation of God wherein the Knowledg of Divine Mysteries is not given to some the Justice of God appears Which
is to you is laid down as an Argument to believe as a Motive to believe and therefore did belong to them before they did believe for the Cause is before the Effect Yes you will say to them to the Jews but not to us mark the next words And to all that are afar of even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Object But God gives not Grace to all and that 's the thing that fears me Answ What is that to thee As Christ said unto Peter Peter asked Christ such a question Lord what shall this man do Joh. 21. 21 22. saith Christ to him What is that to thee follow thou me So God gives not grace to all What is that to thee follow thou me believe thou in me saith Christ Object Oh! but I am a great sinner and will he pardon me and give grace to me Answ 1. The Covenant of grace is a free Covenant from the Lord 's free favour without any respect to any thing in thee it looks at nothing in thee no worth in thee can procure it The Covenant is not only a Covenant to grace but a Covenant of grace not only a Covenant to grace to give more grace where it is but a Covenant of grace to give grace where is none 2. The greatness of thy sinfulness will manifest and set out the greatness of his mercy For his names sake he pardons iniquity Isa 43. Now the greater and the more thy sins have been the greater will be the name of his mercy Quest But how may we attain the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Answ 1. Let not sin stand between you and the glorious light of the Mysteries of Heaven Cease love to sin if you would have an Heaven upon Earth a glorious Presence of God in you Render your spirits free to God let them not be ensnared with any lust such entanglement spoils your Glory pure hearts shall see the face of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God You poor souls who are purging your selves will you believe your Saviour then you shall see God Purity makes capacity of Heaven The holyest men ever had the most glorious visions as Daniel and John A man may see Hell in his sin but shall never see Heaven 2. Would you have the Knowledg of these Mysteries Then get upon some hill the air of the lower region is thick and misty I mean live above abstract your selves as much as may be from the world God chuseth his place to make Heaven he makes Heaven above in Jerusalem that is above in souls that are above above the vanities of this World he makes an Heaven and there the Mysteries of the Kingdom like so many stars shine Moses is led up to a mount to see Canaan Christ upon a mount had his glorious Transfiguration he had his Heaven upon a mount Love must mount above all these low things ere the soul can see Heaven enjoy glorious Presence It falls out unhappily still with man when he goes about to make an Heaven here when he sets love at work to take her fortune to make her Glory and Felicity here below as she can This checks the working of a glorious light in any heart it sets a Divine Power a working another way to whip the man with vexation of spirit for seeking Heaven in Earth in glorious vanities No man shall have two Heavens or but very few 3. Let thy heart be Crystal The Mysteries of Heaven shining upon such an heart reflect gloriously I mean an heart that is a pure glass clear from all hypocrisie God descended like a Dove upon a Dove sweetly and gloriously upon him In whose mouth there was no guile It was upon Jesus Christ there came a voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased God never proclaims himself well-pleased in that heart which makes not him his pleasure A heart and a heart hath none of Gods heart Divine Power works not gloriously where the heart works basely An hypocrite hath least of Heaven of any man and most of Hell 4. As men draw near to God so they see him near to him in Quality and near to him in Duty Sirs We see Heaven best upon out knees At the Throne of grace we find grace Heaven at Gods feet When most in his Presence most in Heaven A man must live in Heaven to have Heaven live in him much going to Heaven brings Heaven at last down along with one Vse last Then Oh ye Saints bless the Lord Admire the Lord that hath revealed his Mysteries to you not to others that ye know those things which others do not Oh! fall admiring God and Free-grace The fourth and last Doctrine Doct. 4. That where there are beginnings of true grace though never so weak God makes rich Additions of more grace Whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance Now to evince this I will give you the Testimony of Scripture And 1. In Phil. 1. 6 Paul cheers up their hearts by telling them that he was confident i. e. assured That God who Phil. 1. 6. had begun a good work in them would perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ The Apostle writing to the Thessalonians praiseth God for them Because saith he your faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth 2 Thes 1. 3. Where God plants he makes to grow and where he sows he watereth into an increase 2dly John 10. 10 I came saith Christ that they might have John 10. 10. life and that they might have it more abundantly or that they might have abundance So Musculus reads it Et abundantiam habeant For it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Abundantius but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Abundantiam copiam affluentiam i. e. Qui vivere dedit dabit reliqua ad vitam hanc caelestem necessaria Nec dabit parce sed liberaliter opulente Musculus in Johan Quid dat formam dat consequentia formam He that gives life will give all things necessary to this Divine life to maintain it richly an abundance and affluence of spiritual and heavenly Additions to the least grace 3dly Isa 42. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break and the Isa 42. 3. smoaking flax shall he not quench The Negative here implieth an Affirmative A bruised reed shall he not break i. e. he shall strengthen it and the smoaking flax shall he not quench i. e. he shall be so far from quenching that he shall make it flame and blow it up into a blaze He shall bring forth judgment unto truth which Matthew following the Septuagint Matth. 12. 20. saith He shall bring forth judgment unto victory And this is the meaning of that Text Of his fulness have John 1. 16. we all received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
he is not weary or remiss in any of his Acts. He takes more pleasure in giving than thou canst in receiving such is his Noble and Princely spirit To give is as it were an Act connatural to him an eternal Act he gave his Essence to his Son from all eternity and John 5. 26. John 3. 16. Rom. 8. 32. in time gave his Son to lost Sinners see he loves to give and with his Son will give us all things Reas 3. To him that hath grace God gives more because he knows there he shall not bestow his grace in vain he shall have fruit from his Plantation the grace he sows there will return him a crop Oh how happy a thing is it to have a soul seasoned with true grace The person gains and God himself is a gainer by such an one the poor soul gains by it for he that hath true grace shall have more and God gains by it for the more grace God gives such an one the more fruit shall God have from such an one and that 's the Lords delight it is the vine-dressers delight to see his Vines which he plants and prunes deckt with grapes It is the Husbandmans delight to walk and see his Field which he tilled cloathed with stately Corn Now God is an Husbandman as Christ saith I am John 15. 1. 1 Cor. 3. 9. the true vine and my Father is the husbandman And ye are Gods husbandry Saints it doth delight God to see his Vines full of grapes and to see his Field clad with fruit ye are his Field ye are his Vines ye must be always bearing because he is always watering The gardener delights to Water those herbs that will grow and yield him profit he bestows no drops upon the Flowers that are dead and wither'd 'T is so with God Every branch that beareth fruit saith John 15. 2. Christ he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit here 's the reason of it he that hath grace and bears some fruit God will give him more grace that so God may have more fruit Reas 4. Because it is his design to perfect his Saints and the work of grace in his Saints he means to make every one of them as Holy as Adam was in Paradise God doth not mean that we should come short in Christ of what we were in Adam Christ Jesus came in place to repair us up all that we lost in Adam and more than that all only Adam was made perfect at once and we are perfected by degrees but this is no disadvantage to us for Adam was made perfect at once but he lost it as soon he lost it at once and we are not made perfect at once but by degrees but we shall never lose it As a Limner that intends a curious picture at first makes but a rude Draught and lays his dark Colours but then by degrees he comes over with his beauteous and bright Colours and draws out the perfect proportion of a curious piece So God that glorious Artist in repairing man intends some stately piece he hath in his thoughts the Idaea of some glorious piece Indeed 't is Jesus Christ that stands by him after whom he means to draw man's picture As a Limner that seeth a beauteus person draws his picture whilst he is in the room with him and takes it wondrous lively because he hath him before him So God the Father hath Jesus Christ the beauty of Heaven and Earth before him and looking upon Christ draws every Saints picture and will make his Saints exactly like to Christ every Saint shall be Christs perfect picture And therefoe he that hath grace be it never so small shall have more nay shall have all because God intends to make his Saints perfect in Christ Jesus We shall now make some Improvement of this Point And in the first place Vse 1. This shines with excellent comfort upon the weak Saints upon you that complain you are but weak Christians and you cannot match others in performances you cannot do as others can and if we do believe we believe but little and if we do love Jesus Christ we love him but little To you to you I say if you have the least drop of true grace God will give you more and you shall have abundance Do you believe but a little Be of good comfort you shall believe a great deal Do you repent but a little you shall have given you a greater store of repentance Canst thou pray but a little canst thou but scarce pray It shall be given thee to pray mightily to pray down mountains and strong sins I pray you consider these things 1. Though thou hast but little grace yet thy little may be true grace Thou art suspicious of thy self and art wont to say Surely if my grace were true it would be more than it is it is so little that I cannot think it is true grace But I say unto thee though thou hast but little yet thy little may be true grace as a little piece of gold is true gold Object 1. Oh! But I enjoy rich means of grace I lye down in the fatting pastures of the Gospel which would in a short time plump up the weakest grace if it were true I sit daily under the nourishing showres of the Word and yet my grace is but little and therefore I fear me is not true Answ The Disciples sate under the most powerful Ministry that ever was under the droppings and the honey-dews that fell from Christs lips Never man spake as the spake He was the Prince of Preachers that had the tongue of the learned To be with him was to be in Heaven upon Earth They saw his wondrous miracles every day and conversed with Christ himself his lips did drop the choicest fatness and yet under all these golden shrowres they had but a little Faith For the Lord Christ upon an occasion saith unto them Why are Matth. 8. 26. ye fearful oh ye of little faith Object 2. But I cannot trust God for the smallest matters Food and Raiment are the smallest matters and he that cannot trust God in the least matters I fear me hath a faith less than nothing Answ The Disciples of Jesus Christ had many experiences of God Providence and Provision for them they went about with Christ from place to place and though they had no victuals yet they found victuals every where they saw so many thousands sed with so few loaves and yet they were Mat. 6. 30 31. troubled What shall we eat what shall we drink and wherewith shall we be cloathed Thus thou seest thy little grace may be true grace 2. God will own thy little grace thy grace though it be never so little yet he will own it As you may see in Rev. 3. 8 where writing to the Church of Philadelphia saith Christ Thou hast a little strength and hast ept my word She had but a little strength and Christ takes
habit A man may free himself from his acquired Corruptions he may by care and industry of his own mortifie his acquired depravations of Nature As we read of many Socrates and Plato who by their Wisdom and Industry freed themselves from the slavery of many sensual appetites and passions which their corrupt nature and evil company had led them into and yet the natural corruption remained still Thou thinkest thou art converted because thou hast overcome thy drunkenness but drunkenness is but an acquired corruption thou didst get it by custom and mayst break it by custom and yet nature remain still unchanged 5. The change of the heart chiefly appears in the change of the ultimate or utmost end As the Pollution of the whole man and all his Actions Moral Civil and Religious consists chiefly and appears in seeking self or making our selves our utmost end so our sanctification lyeth in this and appears chiefly in making God the ultimate end of all we do A man before he is sanctified desires God and Christ only to keep his sores from aking for so I look upon all men made up of wants if the body ake with diseases and pains the stomack with hunger conscience for sin all their happiness lyeth in the easing thereof here lyeth their bliss They seek after God only as a Physitian to heal or cure them but not as the end of their cure The sick man sends for the Physitian but his health and recovery is his end so do men before their Conversion in their pangs of Conscience their afflictions their wants and necessities they seek to God and make use of God as an instrument but their ease and interests are their ends Jehu sought the Lord but his last end was himself But when the heart is sanctified then God is their end instead of their lusts and sins God is the only end in their eye instead of the riches or comforts of the World God is the Object in their eye Whom have I in heaven but thee and Psal 73. 25. there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee God was instead of all things to him 1. The soul seeth its own vileness and the Lord in his Glory This is the first Principle of seeking the Lord the soul seeth all his good laid up in the Lord more than in himself nay wholly in the Lord not at all in himself All my springs saith the soul are in thee All my treasures of Righteousness and Redemption all my riches of Wisdom and Sanctification they are all in thee and therefore the Saints when they see their own vileness and the Lord in his Glory are so far from seeking that they loath themselves 2. The soul slights the creatures as vessels of meer vanity Oh try your selves then by this touchstone A carnal heart may cross his own Will but not his own utmost end A man may seek the Lord with delight and follow the Zech. 7. 5 6. Isa 58. 4 5. Ordinances and fast and pray but himself is his end still How shall we know we make God our end 1. When you make him your happiness those that are throughly sanctified make the Lord their last end and happiness Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O Deut. 33. 29. Psal 144. 15. people Happy are those people whose God is the Lord. The full rest and peace of the soul is to be found only in the Presence of God in this Being of Beings his perfections are in himself he keeps a perpetual sabbath of rest in himself And in this rest only the gracious soul seeks his rest God is the journeys-end of all his Labours Life and Travels When Solomon had tyred out himself in his Travels through all the things of this World at last he returns empty and crying home and now when he sums up all his Glory he saith The words of the preacher the Son of David King in Jerusalem Eccl. 1. 1. He stiles himself 1. A man gathered to the Church to be as near God as he can 2. The Son of David to whom the promises were made And then thirdly King of Jerusalem the least and last of all Secondly When you do the Lords work purely for the Lord the Hypocrite will do the Lords work but 't is because his own Interests are bound up with it As a man that goes to the City he will do your business but he would not go unless he had affairs of his own to do there But the gracious heart will go for God and ride for God meerly upon the Lords occasions Thirdly When you carry all things down the stream toward God As a River running toward the Sea many springs fall and run into it but it carrieth them down all with it so the upright soul there are many occasions hinderances businesses but he carrieth them all down along with him they must all go with him they shall not divert him but he will over-master them and lead them his way nay the more he is hindred the more violent is his motion It is time for thee O Lord to work for they have made void thy Psal 119. 126. 127. law therefore love I thy Commandments above gold yea above fine gold Fourthly Therefore they that are sanctified love the Lord fully that is above all A man is highly endeared to that which he makes his end his end commands his affections to love the Lord and to be beloved of the Lord and behold his Glory is the main end of the upright heart Fifthly They that are sanctified dedicate themselves to the Will of God I mean to the whole Will of God Their will is emptied into his will Teach me to do thy will Psal 143. 10. Psal 40. 8. O God I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart The Hebrew word for an holy man is a consecrated man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man seperated from common to a Divine use The sanctified man is a man separated from his own will and set apart to do Gods Will he is gone out of his own Will and lives at a distance from it he is sorry that he hath served his own will so long and is weary of the service 1. They that are sanctified do Gods Will purely because it is his will because it pleaseth him there is a dear propensity in the Saints to do Gods Will because it pleaseth him Thus saith the Lord unto ths Eunuchs that keep my sabbaths Isa 56. 4. and chuse the things that please me This is their choice it is in their hearts to do it because it pleaseth the Lord I will Psal 69. 30. praise the name of God with a song and magnifie it with thanksgiving This also shall please the Lord better than an Ox or Vers 31. Bullock that hath Horns and Hoofs This is the Motive and loadstone of their Obedience in that it pleaseth him This is the joy
at If you mean to shine as Angels do the Work of God with Angels if you would be where Christ is be at the work that Christ was And let me tell you your time is but short and you have done but little work none at all to purpose and 't is not long till your Crown shall be put upon your head and will you not be ashamed then to wear so rich a Crown for so poor a Service To have God pay you so great wages for so little work done Certainly if ever it come to your share to be saved you will when the Crown is putting upon your head blush for shame to think of your cowardise and your laziness that you should wear a Crown that have done so little work Fifthly The Lord will do thy work do thou but his work and he will do thine The Lord will take the care and charge of thee to bring about thy ends for thee many of you are sparing in Christs work because of so many distractions of your own others of you wave Christs work out of love to your own I mean the World What will become of my Family Wife and Children Oh unbelieving wretches set your hearts to do Gods Work and he 'l take the care of your Families and Children upon himself set thy face to the Sun and these shadows will follow you The Lord is a sun and a shield the Psal 84. 11. Lord will give grace and glory the Lord will give grace i. e. honour and esteem among men the favour of men and glory too in the World No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Set thy face then toward this glorious Sun serve him and these shadows will follow thee Solomon you know askt for Wisdom that he might discern between good and bad and judg the people and God tells him because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked riohes and honours therefore I will give thee riches and honours Solomon his great care and work was to rule a State well and the Lord gave him all the rest he set his face to the Sun and the shadows followed him Oh then Sirs Act for God up and be doing do his work and he 'l do yours There are these three Things attend the man that gives himself to do work for God 1. There shall not any evil hurt thee The three children were in the fire and yet the fire did not could not hurt them In the fire and in the water saith God I will be with thee there shall not any evil hurt thee Whereas if thou dost not thy good things shall they shall hurt thee Thy riches and thine honours they shall lift thee up and there make thy head giddy upon the top of thy glory and then thou comest tumbling down like a drunken fool into shame and hell it self Tolluntur in altum ut lapsa graviore ruant 2. All creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve the man that serves his God The Whale shall serve Jonah to carry him to the shore Indeed the poor man at that time ran from Gods work yet because he was his Servant the fish shall swallow him that it might save him The Ravens shall feed Elijah I will hear the heavens saith God and they shall Hos 2. 21. 22 hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Thus all creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve that man that serves his God Whereas else they all groan under thee and above thee The Heavens above groan over the sinner and cry out How long Lord how long shall we bestow our influence upon this Enemy of thine The Earth groans under the unprofitable servant and crys out How long Lord how long shall I bear this useless burden Nay Christ himself is weary of this fruitless Tree how long shall we stand Cut it down why cumbers it the ground 3. Thou that art at thy Lords work the Angels shall come out of Heaven to guard thee thou art a greater man than the greatest General under the Sun thou hast the Angels to be thy Life-guard Are they not all ministring spirits Heb. 1. 14. sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And therefore let 's see who dare touch thee Take heed Matth. 18. 10. saith Christ that ye despise or hurt not one of these little ones For I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Jacob saw a ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven and Angels descending and ascending Vse 10. The last Vse shall shew you how God makes Additions to his Saints graces And herein his Methods are various if not unsearchable yet by fathoming we may sound some of them though not the bottom As grace it self is a Mystery so the increase of grace especially being carried on by such Mysteries And therefore the contrivement whereby God increaseth grace is excellent worth the knowing that we may know what he is doing with us in his Providences and may read the Mind of God in many of his proceedings In a word how shall we help on the work if we know not Gods Method in working 1. The Lord increaseth grace in his People by their Faith Faith is one of the Graces and therefore needs support her self but she is the mouth of all the rest that speaks for them to God in Prayer and sucks nutriment for them out of the Breasts of the Promises Sirs The case is this Faith lives upon Christ and all the Graces live upon Faith When there is a famine in the Land of the soul Faith goeth up to our Brother Joseph in Egypt and brngs home Corn Faith is the Mother-grace and as the old bird the Dam flyeth abroad and fetcheth in food to her young ones and distributes it to them all in the nest So Faith takes Wing when the graces sit hungry and in want at home I say then Faith takes Wing and flyeth to Christ in the promise she comes home with her mouth full and serves all the graces they are fed by her And therefore the Scripture saith That the just lives by faith Which expression the Apostle Paul makes use of in two of his Epistles First in Rom. 1. 17 The just shall live by faith that is in respect of forgiveness of sin and in respect of Righteousness or Justification before God But in Heb. 10. 38 where he useth this same phrase The just shall live by faith The Apostle speaks of the Saints perseverance and standing fast in all their troubles and temptations Now Faith is the prime grace that helps and succours all the rest Hope lives upon Faith for the hope of a Christian is but poor in fruition we can hope no longer than we believe He that hopes and expects the things promised must by Faith live upon the certainty of the promise
tree of knowledg was a standing object in our parents eye to try them every day It was there in their eye yet forbidden fruit they could not but see it yet they must not touch it So Sirs Gods Providence presents you with various objects it presents some with beauties with honours with a rich protion with a wedg of gold What should we do now in this case say here 's a temptation a trial from the Lord upon me and be sure we be jealous of our eye and affections Some it may be will think Providence lays this object in my way therefore I may be medling with it Oh no we must not make the Providence but the Precept of God our only Rule and know that God tempts us and tries us by objects and occasions 6. God tempts by delays Sinners tempt God by their delays of repentance and God tempts his people by his delay of answers they pray and he defers they press him to answer and he delays God as you heard promised Abraham a Son and by his delay as it were denieth performance for delay bears the image and semblance of denial and God makes him wait five and twenty years for performance Afflictions are heavy they are biting and cutting temptations A short affliction seems long but length of affliction adds weight unto it and puts many grains into it Oh! it is a sore temptation and yet thus God tempts and tries his people they call to day and he comes not then they cry and cry aloud and yet he hears not and this makes them cry How long how Psal 35. 17. long Lord Lord how long wilt thou look on Rescue my soul from their destructions my darling from the lyons How long Psal 79. 5. Lord wilt thou be angry for ever shall thy jealousie burn like fire These how longs are great temptations to our natures and this may be thy case poor soul and then you will find this how long a bitter temptation 7. God also tempts by way of Denial and in some things this is a sore trial for if delay be a great temptation Denial must needs be a very great one we sue to God for a thing that is desirable we long for it and God saith no to our suits We ask for the life of such a friend or relation and God replies with a negative vote we lift up our hands for deliverance out of the Cloud of such afflictions and the hand of God makes it thicker and darker on us we move God for great mercies and he gives us great Denials This is to put our submission to the trial to put our resignation to his Will and Wisdom to the trial our patience under his Soveraignty to the trial Vse 1. Did God tempt Abraham what Is God himself wont to tempt and try his people How should this make us walk before the Lord in fear and trembling Pray and tremble profess and tremble meditate and tremble Sirs It is no wonder to hear that Satan will tempt us or that the world will tempt us or to hear that our own flesh or corruption will tempt us all this is no wonder but to hear that the Great God himself will try and tempt us that God will be at this work with us and set upon us ah what a wonder and astonishment is it How should it fill our hearts with fear and reverence How should we entertain this truth with holy and humble trembling Surely this should extinguish onr frolicks and annihilate our pride and awaken our security God himself is resolved to be a tempter I mean to try his people and call their graces out to service Oh! then watch and pray and fear for the Devil to come and charge you with his Pistol is matter of fear enough but if God himself will come with his Pistol cock't and charg'd upon you oh this is formidable I say then watch and pray and fear Vse 2. Learn here to act faith you must act faith in the greatest and most gain-faying temptations Difficulties and Impossibilities are the true objects of faith you must believe when it seems a contradiction to believe Abraham was to believe that he should have an innumerous posterity in Isaac and yet he is commanded to kill Isaac Can these two stand together Isaac shall live to be the Father of many Nations and yet Isaac shall dye by the hand of his Father When Isaac is once gone where is my seed where is my blessing And yet Abraham believes and his faith triumphs over the difficulty his faith makes him an acute logician and solves the knot of contradiction Abraham knew that he had to do with a God he believed that God for his promise sake would raise up the same Isaac when he had kill'd him Sirs It is hard and mysterious to believe when Gods own Providences seem to cross his own promises Yet then we must believe I say believe in God when his own Providences seem to go against his own promises God will one time or other be as if he were killing you now Sirs to believe is a work indeed and you must now believe Quest How shall we in this ease at this dead-lift believe and act faith Answ 1. Fill the soul with Gods infiniteness Gods way is not your way saith faith nor his thoughts as your thoughts but as the Heavens are above the earth so are his thoughts beyond yours and his ways beyond yours Faith lodgeth this principle in the soul that God is infinite and having laid that principle there when difficulties and discouragements arise saying You see now in what distress you are brought now you see there is no hope at all of your deliverance true indeed saith the believer I see there 's no way in reason in any ones reason but God is infinite I see many difficulties but God is infinite the soul by faith being filled with the apprehensions of Gods Infiniteness is carried unto him through all difficulties and discouragements Now to him that is able to Eph. 3. 20 21. do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Vnto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen 2. Let thy faith lay up and lay hold on this principle that Gods love is immutable Soul whom God once loves he ever loves hath he loved thee then he can never unlove thee With him there 's no variableness nor shadow of turning Fix here then it is a strong electuary in a day of fainting afflicted Saint what 's the matter My stroaks are from God himself yet he loves thee But God hath hid his face from me yet he loves thee 3. Act faith in temptation that God will be with you he will be at thine elbow you know that blessed promise I will not fail thee nor forsake thee 4. In trials and temptations act your faith in this that God governs and moderates all
to profess and acknowledg their Ignorance Non Pudor est Nescire aliquid sed Discere Nolle Et Pudor Scelus est 4. The Saints are very desirous to know the Reason of Christs Actions Why speakest thou unto them in Parables 5. Beginnings of Grace and Knowledg are very earnest after more Good hearts are very Inquisitive and diligent to ask and understand the Mysteries of Heaven Dub. 1. And indeed it is a wonder that Christ who loved souls so dearly and thirsted after their Salvation who was sent into the world by his Father to Vnmask the way to Heaven and who had before Explained the Law and taken the Vizor off from the face of it and convinced the Proud and Preached so home to the heart that he Preacht with Authority He Preached plainly when he said Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand He preached plainly when he said Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven c. and now to cloathe his Sermons with such dark Parables it is a wonder Resp To this the Lord Jesus Answers That he therefore preached in Parables i. e. darkly and obscurely Because he preached in Judgment unto some that were present He preacht that they might not understand him Dub. 2. But why should his Disciples admire that he preached now in Parables seeing it was always his custom to do so And Parables do illustrate and clear things more to the understanding than plain phrases Resp Christ was wont to preach in Parables and therefore that is not the Disciples Query at least not the meaning of it why he did now use Parables for he did ordinarily use them but when he did use them he did Explain them Luk. 15. 4-7 and 16. 1-8 9. But now Christ did preach in Parables and not Explain them as he was wont to do And before we leave this Query of the Disciples Why speakest thou unto them in Parables Observe further First Their Charity Secondly Their Modesty 1. Their Charity and love to the souls of others Why speakest thou to them in Parables They understand thee not they first ask Christ why he spake to them in Parables before they ask him to Explain the Parables to them Obs Good hearts desire the Salvation of others as well as their own aeque though not aequaliter 2. Their Modesty towards Christ They do not question Christ's Doctrine or manner of Teaching in publick but ask him in private to Explain himself When he was alone Mar. 4. 10. and Mat. 13. 36. Obs People ought not to question and move doubts against their Ministers Doctrine in publick but in private lest they should by their importunity create stirs and tumult and give to others occasion of doing any thing unseasonably and out of due time Therefore his Disciples move questions in private We shall now descend to the words of our Text To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance To you The word to you hath Emphasis in it Vobis vestri similibus To you and such as you 1. To you Elect for Christ speaks of the Elect under the Apostles Persons To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Vobis amantibus videlicet Sicientibusque veritatem To you Guilliandi who love and thirst after Truth to you that are godly and gracious the Spirit gives to you not only to hear and see these things but to know them and believe and feel them in your hearts And therefore these are no mysteries to you but Salvation and truth Revealed 'T is given that is it comes to pass 1. Not Casu by chance 2. Nor Necessitate by necessity 3. Nor Natura by nature or natural industry That you know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven But 't is given He discovers the gift and Grace of God For O man What hast thou which thou hast not received Obs The knowledg of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven is a Supernatural gift a gift from above None can understand the mysteries of Heaven but they to whom it is given The gifts of God are two-fold 1. The gifts of Nature 2. The gifts of Grace It was given them by Nature that they could hear or see But it was given them by Grace that they should hear the Gospel and see the Miracles and Face of Jesus Christ but more Grace yet that they could Receive the Gospel and Believe in Christ and know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven It was outward Grace to have the Gospel given them to hear it and Christ given them to see him It was inward Grace to have knowledg to see into the Mysteries of the Gospel and to have Faith to distinguish and apprehend Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory There 's the Gospel of Grace and the Grace of the Gospel To have the Gospel of Grace preached to them and to have Grace to receive the Gospel is a double Grace The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Is a Periphrasis of the Gospel and of those things which lye hid in the Gospel Obs The Gospel is a mystery The Doctrines of the Gospel are mysteries Mysterium significat secretum aliquod quod remotum est ab oculis atque absconditum praecipuè vero in verbis ut cùm aliquid dicitur quod obscurum est intellectu difficile Solemus dicere hoc mysterium est Subest his verbis tectum aliquid abstrusum Mysterium sic enim consuevit appellare Scriptura quae praeter spem praeter humanam fiunt Opinionem Ecce mysterium vobis dico Omnes quidem c. Guilliandus in Loc. 1 Cor. 15. The mysteries of God therefore are Faith and the Gospel concerning Christ nay Christ himself is called a mystery because he is a Spiritual thing and remains hid and covered till the Spirit unvail him For whatever the Gospel preacheth they Mat. 11. 25. 1 Cor. 2. 6 7 8. are remote from sense and reason that the whole world cannot apprehend them till they are Revealed by the Spirit You shall see many preach and many hear that Christ was delivered for us to Redeem us but these words are only in ore in the mouth not in corde in the heart For 1. Neque ipsi suis verbis credunt neither do they themselves believe their own words 2. Neque gratiam hanc aliquatenus sentiunt neither do they feel the Grace of the Gospel But to them it is not given Luke hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark hath Luke 8. 10. Mark 4. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui for is sunt sive exteris To them that are without By which he understands not only them that are strangers all their time from the Kingdom of God as the Gentiles but also all those that have been for a time the children of the
he hath not received The meaning is not then whosoever hath the improvement of Nature to him shall be given true Grace but whosoever hath true Grace given to him to him still it shall be given and he shall have more abundance God will heap favours on them i. e. The beginning of Grace is a pawn of more Grace and every former Grace shall be a pledg of future First God gives Grace therefore we have it whosoever hath then he adds more to it to him it shall be given 1. The words are a Reason why Christ said to the Apostles Vnto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven For or because whosoever hath to him shall be given I pray mark it I say It is a Reason not why natural men should have Grace given them but why the Disciples should have Grace given them 2. Having or not having is to be understood of Saving Grace Therefore speak I in Parable to them because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand Ver. 13. Here Christ gives the Reason clearly which he toucht in Ver. 11 But to them it is not given why he spake to the Scribes and Pharisees in Parables because hearing Christ before preach plainly the Kingdom of Heaven they would not understand nor believe nor obey him Hearing they would not hear And seeing his Holiness and his Miracles they would not believe nor receive him for the Messia Thus seeing they would not see And therefore they deserved that Christ should now preach in obscure and cloudy Parables to them We see then the cause of Christ's preaching in Parables was the obstinacy of some who were present and they were not meer simple men unlearnd men but the Scribes and Pharisees and Priests who follow Christ only to carp at and catch him 2 To deride him and he was not to give holy things to Dogs From these the mysteries of Heaven were justly vailed because in seeing and hearing they did not and would not see nor hear and understand Observe hence Obs Such minds as hearers bring to Christ such Sermons doth he preach to them Because they would not understand they shall not When they will not understand those things that are clear and manifest Christ involves his speeches in darkness because the Disciples do plainly and honestly receive what is given they are worthy i. e. counted worthy to whom more secret mysteries should be Communicated Obs As it is the mercy and gift of God that some hear and understand what they hear so it is the dreadful judgment of God that some in hearing hear not nor understand Having travel'd thus far in the Explanation of our Text we now arrive at the several Theses or Doctrines contained in it upon which we will lay the Structure of the following Discourse 1. Doct. The matters of the Kingdom of Heaven are Mysteries 2. It is a matchless aend blessed Priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 3. The Divine knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some not to others 4. Where there are beginnings of true Graece though never so weak God makes rich additions of more Of these we will treat in order as they lye before us 1. Doct. The matters of the Kingdom of Heaven are Mysteries 1. Jesus Christ is a great Mystery The Creator became a Creature He who made Man was made Man He was born of the Virgin-Mother and yet made his Mother He that was the Father of Eternity was born in time He never offended his Father and yet was the greatest offender in the world A sinner and no sinner For he knew no sin and yet was made sin for us He was David's Son and yet David called him Lord. Mat. 22. 42 43. 2. Justification by Jesus Christ is a great Mystery There is a Curse denounced against them that break the Law Gal. 3. 10. and yet the Saints are not cursed though they never kept the Law The Saints cannot be Justified by the Law and yet the Law Gal. 5. 23. cannot but Justifie them There 's nothing hinders Acceptance but Sin yet Sin doth 1 Tim. 1. 13. not hinder their Acceptance 3. Faith is a Mystery The Apostle saith Faith is the substance Heb. 11. 1. or subsistence of things hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen See and not see things not seen and yet Faith sees them Things to come and yet makes them present and gives them present Being It is a Mystery Christ was born some thousand years after Abraham and yet Abraham saw John 8. 56. his Day By Faith Moses saw him that is Invisible saith the Text Invisible and yet saw him It is a Mystery He saw him by Faith who could not be seen by Sense It is said of Abraham that against hope he believed in Rom. 4. 18. hope 4. Regeneration is a Mystery That a man should be born again and yet not enter into his Mothers Womb it is a Mystery How can a man be born when he is old saith Nicodemus John 3. 4. Can he enter the second time into his mothers Womb and be born So Conversion is a Mystery That a man should be the same and not the same the same man for soul and body and yet not the same in regard of supernatural Life and Being put into him It is a Mystery To see a mans Judgment and Affections turned backward He that was proud before now turned humble and he that was ambitious before now despise the vain World it is a strange Mystery The men of the World stand wondring at it as 1 Pet. 4. 4. the Israelites did at Saul Is Saul also among the Prophets And the Church admired at Paul Act. 9. 21. 5. Humility is a Mystery The Saints know themselves to be Kings and yet refuse not to be every mans Servant To lye lowest is the only way to rise highest Whosoever shall humble himself the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Matth. 18. 4. Matth 23. 12. August de Temp. heaven But whosoever doth exalt himself shall be abased Videte magreum miraculum c. saith Austin See here a great miracle God is on high and yet the higher thou liftest up thy self the further thou art from him and the lower thou humblest thy self the nearer thou art to him The Angels those great Courtiers and Princes of Heaven such is their humility they become Ministring spirits to the Saints surely the Angels humility is a Mystery Again That a man should use the World as if he did not 1 Cor. 7. 29. 30 31. use it weep as if he did not weep weep and not weep rejoyce as though he rejoyced not rejoyce and not rejoyce And they that buy as though they possessed not buy and not buy that they that have Wives he as though they had none married and yet unmarried it is a Mystery 6. Self-denial is a
Mystery For take a Saint there 's no man denieth himself so much as he and yet there 's no man 1 Cor. 9. 27. seeks himself so much as he 7. Affliction is a Mystery That God should kill his people and yet love them and put them in his bosom it is a Mystery Again Persecution for Jesus Christ is a Mystery That whosoever Matth. 16. 25 will save his life should lose it save and not save and whosoever will lose his life for my sake should find it lose and not lose it it is a Mystery That a man should hate himself and yet love himself nay love himself best when he hates himself most for God it is a Mystery 8. Patience in Affliction is a strange Mystery for a man to sit down cheerfully and be content with his Condition in all changes and varieties is a Mystery That a man should be tossed and moved up and down and yet be unmoveable it is a Mystery To be at home and yet to be a Stranger and a Pilgrim in his own House and among his own Children is a Mystery And therefore saith St. Paul I know both how to be abased Phil. 4. 12. and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instituor in sacris i. e. I am instructed in this Mystery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diodor. Siculus Instituo in sacris Pasor I am instructed in this Holy Mystery both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need 9. When God is destroying his Church he is multiplying his Church when he is pulling her down he is setting her up As when you see a man pulling down an old or deformed house you say surely he is building up a fairer when a Taylor is ripping the Cloath and cutting it into shreds and pieces he is making a comely Garment Again Sometimes when a Sinner is galloping in the high way of Sin and Hell he is in his way of pardon and salvation God meets him in the way and makes his way from Heaven his way to Heaven As Paul when he was going to Damascus Acts 9. went in his Intention to undo the Saints but went in Gods Intention to be made a Saint Doct. 2. It is a matchless and blessed priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven In my Discourse upon this subject I shall through Divine assistance shew you 1. What are the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Why it is such a Priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1. What are the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1. They are Latent and secret things they are hidden treasures and therefore are they called Mysteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some derive from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Claudo to shut up under secrecy For secret things are not spoken but lockt up in the heart But I rather think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose root is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hide or keep close And from the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came Saturnus who hid himself in Italy as the Poets Fable which was therefore called Latium Upon this account are the matters of the Kingdom of Heaven called Mysteries because they are unknown to Nature they are hidden till they are revealed Man could never have known them had God never revealed them And though they are revealed yet they are still Mysteries to carnal men who hear the Gospel and yet do not understand it 2. They are excellent and stately things because they are the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven They are high Mysteries for they are Mysteries of a Kingdom and of the highest Kingdom too for they are the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Never were there any such Mysteries of State as these and truly they that are acquainted with them are of Gods Privy-Council Thus you see why they are called Mysteries But what are they They are the Plot or Design of Gods wisdom which he hath contrived in order to Mans salvation the sacred Principles and Doctrines of Christian Religion the Plat-form and Draught of his Will according to which he will save Man For the Church is stiled a Kingdom and Jesus Christ is the King and the Laws of this Kingdom are Mysteries because it is a spiritual Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven they are Laws of an higher and more sublime nature than the Laws that any worldly Kingdom hath If the Common Law of England be a Mystery to silly Countrey-men what are the Imperial Laws of the Crown of Heaven More particularly 1. The Incarnation of Christ is called a Mystery Without controversie great is the Mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh This is a Mystery not only not known by Nature to humane 1 Tim. 3. 16. Reason but being known and revealed far transcends the conception thereof We do not so much believe it by our understanding as understand it by our belief This is the Mystery of all the Mysteries the Master-piece and flower of all the rest 2. The Vnion and conjunction of Christ and the Church Paul saith This is a great Mystery and I speak saith he concerning Christ and the Church that Christ and his Church should be Man and Wife that there should be a conjugal oneness between them that a person of such Majesty and Distance should marry so poor a Bride and make her his Queen 2. Why is it such a Priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Reas 1. Because Knowledg is wondrous desirable and satisfactory to the Nature of man for man is a rational creature and therefore desires to know all things that are knowable There 's a rational desire in man breathing after Knowledg Knowledg is as it were mans Element wherein he breathes and lives as sense is the Element of bruits and beasts they wallow in sense and walk within the circumference of sense higher they cannot go so Knowledg is the Element of man his native air as it were wherein he is born and bred and which he sucks in delightfully The air of Knowledg is wondrous pleasant to man and therefore he loves to take the air read Books and search after Knowledg Reas 2. The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is a Knowledg that will save thee It is Scientia scientiarum the science of sciences the Knowledg of all Knowledges it is a Knowledg that will save thee and do thee most good and stand thee in the greatest stead it is a Knowledg that will do thy soul good a Knowledg that will put thee into Heaven It is the Object that makes the Knowledg Knowledg derives its Excellency from its Object Therefore saith Paul I count all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the Knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord that I may be found in him The Knowledg
of natural things leaves thee but a natural man a well-polished Phil. 3. 8 9. natural man but the Knowledg of Christ makes thee a Saint the Knowledg of Jesus saves thee from thy sins the most exquisite Knowledg of all natural things leaves thee in thy sins but the Knowledg of Jesus Christ saves thee from thy sins And therefore saith Paul I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Because Paul knew that no Knowledg would save himself and no Knowledg 1 Cor. 2. 2. he made others know would save them but the Knowledg of Jesus Christ and him crucified If all the men in the World were wounded and lay at the point of Death and there were but one herb in all the World that would heal them How would they all send abroad to know that one Herb and to know the virtue of it and how to use it and apply it How happy would they count themselves in the Knowledg of it My Beloved All the Men and Women in the World are wounded they are wounded to death and lye gasping for life and there is but one Herb in all the World that can heal and save them and that is Jesus Christ whose Divine nature did grow out of the bosom of God the Father from all Eternity and whose humane Nature did grow out of the sanctified Womb of the Virgin Oh! how precious should be the Knowledg of Jesus Christ then unto you Surely it is the greatest priviledg to know him 3. Grace begins in Knowledg in the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven as the stream begins in the spring for Knowledg is the spring of Grace the Knowledg of God is the spring of our Love to God the Knowledg of the Power and Truth of God is the spring of our Trust in God They that know thy name will trust in thee Psal 9. 10. Knowledg that saves us is not a bare notion of God it knows his power and therefore fears him knows his justice and therefore serves him knows his mercy and therefore trusts him knows his goodness and therefore loves him Reas 4. Because it is a Knowledg above the reach of Nature to know the Mysteries of Heaven is beyond the sphear of Nature and Reason They are foolishness to the natural man 1 Cor. 2. 14. neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Natural men cannot know supernatural Mysteries Carnal reason cannot apprehend spiritual Objects Surely they are some rare and stately things that stand thus aloft above the reach of Reason For mans Reason is an Eagle and flieth high and therefore these Mysteries of Heaven must needs be some high and glorious things which mans reason soaring upon its loftiest wings cannot attain unto Reas 5. Because few do know them we count that a great Priviledg which is committed but to a few and that 's the signification of the word Privilegium Reas 6. Because they are Mysteries i. e. hidden and secret things Now to know not plain and common things but to know Mysteries we count it a great Priviledg How did the Philosophers study to know the Mysteries and secrets of Nature and in what Honour were they had because they knew them What a priviledg is it then to know the Mysteries of Heaven And because they are such deep and rare Mysteries the Angels themselves desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to peep into them Reas 7. Because they are Mysteries of God and is it not a 1 Pet. 1. 1◠superlative priviledg to know the Mystiries of God A man counts it an high priviledg to be of a Kings Privy-Council and to know his Royal secrets What a point of Honour is it then to know the Mind and Mysteries of the great God and have his Divine secrets communicated to them God can do no more unless he should make us God They that know the Kings secrets are next unto the King himself So doth God make them that know his secrets next unto himself First God makes all his secrets immediately known to Christ and Christ is next to God and Christ made known his secrets to the Apostles and they are next to Christ Reas 8. Because the Mysteries of Heaven are lovely things to see to they are bright beauties and exquisite rarities to look upon God is a lovely and beauteous thing therefore saith David Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord. His beauty is such that if we could but see some little of it it would enamour and ravish our hearts 't would wrap us into such an Extasie and Admiration of him that all other even the most excellent things would appear to be but base to him For First God is the only satisfactory Object of mans Knowledg The Knowledg of all other things could you behold them all with one intuitive Act is but an hungry beggarly Knowledg a sick Knowledg till thou know him The soul of Man her Appetite is never filled nor satisfied till she know God When I read some Authors and view their Ignorance of God I cannot but sit down and say Oh! what a Priviledg is it to know God! I will give you an Instance Pliny A man of vast parts who writes the History of Nature Lib. 2. Cap. 7. Quisquis est Deus si modo est Alius c. Irridendum verò agere curam rerum humanarum illud quiequid est summum Ibidem Annè tam tristi atque multiplici Ministerio non pollui credamus Dubitemusvè Ibidem Verùm in his Deos agere curam rerum humanarum credi ex usu vitae est Ibidem Verùm in his Deos agere curam rerum humanarum credi ex usu vitae est Paenasquè Maleficiis aliquandò seras occupato Deo in tanta mole nunquam autem irritas esse Ibid. and you would think he had fathom'd the very bottom of Nature yet when he comes to speak of God saith he God whosoever he be if haply there be any other but the World Again saith he That the chiefest Power whatsoever it is meaning God hath care of mankind or of mens affairs is a thing to be derided or scorn'd at What dreadful darkness is this How uncomfortable to us that we have no God to mind our Conditions or manage our Events And his Reason is this as poor as his Assertion Can we believe that he should not be polluted with so sordid or base and so trouble some a service As if the Sun cannot shine upon a dunghil but it must be defiled And yet afterwards he saith Howbeit to believe that the Gods have care of mens Estates is useful and expedient for this life Whether he speaks this being forced by Conviction or out of Pollicy to keep men within Bounds rather than of Faith
Mysteries of Heaven to you there may be a great deal of Riches wrapped up in a Treasury but this opens and unlocks the Treasury The Ministry of the Word is ordained to lay open the Treasure to Gods People that they may know what Riches they have by Jesus Christ There be rich Mines in the Scripture but they must be digged up The Ministry serves to dig up those Mines and lay them open above-ground that the Saints may see them and be in love with them 2. The Preaching of the Gospel casts the sweet savour of the Mysteries of Heaven abroad the World and renders them lovely As the Woman that brought her Box of Oyntment to anoint the Lord Jesus with it when she opened the Box the room was filled with the Odour of the Oyntment were not the Box opened the Oyntment would not smell so the preaching of the Word is the opening of the Box. The Gospel which is a rich compound made up of the Fragrant spices and Mysteries of Heaven I say the Gospel is a Box of sweet Oyntment and the Preaching of it is the opening of the Box if it be not opened it casts not its sweet savour abroad the World The publishing of the Word is the opening of the Box and the casting of the perfume of it abroad the World Hence saith the Apostle Now thanks be unto God 1 Cor. 2. 14. which always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the SAVOVR of his Knowledg by us in every place 3. The preaching of the Gospel applies the Mysteries of Heaven to mens Souls in particular It distributes the portion to every Child of God The Ministers of God are the Stewards of God to distribute the Mystery of comfort and the Mystery of pardon and peace to whom they belong Now where there is an equal and convenient distribution of the portion to every one this makes the Ordinance of God so beautiful and the Mysteries of Heaven so delicious this makes the people taste them taste the Mystery of comfort and the Mystery of peace and pardon when the Waters of Life are derived from the spring of the Scriptures to every mans particular use they taste them and relish them And 't is this that makes the Word in the Application of it so sweet a thing I say the Word in the Application of it is a sweet thing for good things the nearer they are brought home the more delightful they are as a Rose on the Tree is a sweet thing whether you smell it or smell it not 't is sweet but if it be brought home to you and put into your bosom then you smell it sweet So the Mystery of peace and pardon as it grows upon the Tree of the Promise is a sweet thing but if the Hand of Application bring it home to you and put in thy bosom there thou art sweetned with it Vse 2. England See thy priviledg God hath revealed to thee the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Ah London See thy priviledg Thy Fleece is wet with the dew of the Mysteries of Heaven Thou art Goshen when the greatest part of the Kingdom is Egypt dark Egypt And the rather oh England see and prize thy priviledg The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven lest God remove them lest God depart from us The Glory of God departed out of the Temple before the Destruction of Jerusalem so the Glory of God departs from a Church the Beauties and Excellencies of God remove when we esteem them not And if any thing in the World make God to leave a Church as he left the Jews and as he may leave any particular Church it is because there is not a prizing of the Heavenly Mysteries we have For however we esteem these things God sets an high price upon them and if we do not God will deprive us of them and of the Power and Beauty of them Vse 3. Oh the love of God that will communicate the Knowledg of himself unto us that is not content we should know any thing unless we know him 1. He knows himself to be our chiefest good and therefore knows that the Knowledg of all other things would do us no good without the Knowledg of himself All the Creatures are but his Servants the Sun Moon and Stars are but the Creatures and Servants of the High God and to know them and all their motions would not advantage us unless we know their Master As a man that is ambitious of Honour and high places he useth acquaintance with a Kings Servants but as an Introduction to acquaintance with their Lord and Master He knows that the Donation of Honours and Collation of places and offices is in the hand of the King and therefore to know his Servants will do him no good only the Knowledg of the King himself So God is the Fountain of Honour and Glory all the Creatures have but a Glory Derivative from God they can confer no Glory on their fellow-Creatures and they will part with none of their own There 's no Creature will part with its Glory or lose its Glory to confer it on thee The Sun will not lose its Light and Place in the Heavens to translate it to thee if they would it is not their own to dispose of Besides the Sun may shine upon thee but cannot shine Peace of Conscience into thee The earth may afford thee Wine and Oyl but cannot yield thee the grapes of saving joy and the Oyl of gladness to anoint thy soul with To know any thing the Knowledg of Jesus Christ would be of greatest worth unto thee and yet to know Christ would not advantage thee but as a means and door to let thee in to acquaintance with God himself The Knowledg of Christ would not save thee did not the Knowledg of him lead thee into the Knowledg of and acquaintance with God himself And therefore saith Christ I am the way not the end no man John 14. 6. comes unto the Father but by me Thou must not terminate the Knowledg of Christ in Christ himself but use it as a Medium and Way to bring thee to the Father Therefore saith the Text Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from 1 Pet. 1. 21. the dead and gave him Glory THAT YOVR FAITH AND HOPE MIGHT BE IN GOD. 2. It is a wondrous priviledg that any man affords us to let us know him and to be intimate with him What can he do more than to unvail himself to us and let us see his inside and let us peep into the Cabinet of his secrets and make us acquainted with all his Excellencies It is the greatest love that can be A man may invite us often to his Table and make us sit down with him and yet not let us know himself nay you may live with him all your days and converse with him and yet he not let you know his inward self nor what is in himself Hee
the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 En. 1. l. 6. unless it be Sun-like and hath the form and resemblance of the Sun drawn in it so neither can the soul of Man behold God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless it be God-like hath God formed in it and made partaker of the Divine Nature As in the natural body it is the heart that sends up good blood and warm spirits into the head whereby it is best enabled to its several Functions So in the spiritual fabrick 't is the heart that sublimates the head and stores it with pure influences the affections beget imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Iliad T. v. 44. As the Treasurers of an Army give out Corn and Provision to the Soldiers Some men have too bad hearts to have good heads they cannot be good at Theory who are so bad at the Practice Our Lord Christ hangs all true acquaintance with Divine Truths upon the doing of Gods will If any man will do his John 7. 17. will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God Such as set themselves to do the will of God shall know the Doctrines and Mysteries of God Corrupt passions and earthly affections are apt of their own nature to disturb all serene thoughts to precipitate our Judgments and warp our Understandings There is an inward sweetness and deliciousness in Divine Truth which no sensual mind can taste or relish And therefore the Platonists solicite so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A separation from the body in all those that would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purely understand truth The more our souls dive into our bodies the more will reason and sensuality run into one another and make up a most unsavoury and muddy kind of Knowledg And therefore wicked men let them imagine what they please have no true Knowledg of God Such as men themselves are such will God himself seem to be It is the Maxim of most wicked men that the Deity is some way or other like themselves their souls do more than whisper it though their lips speak it not That Idaea which men generally have of God is nothing else but the picture of their own complexion 6. Know things as God doth know them God to exercise the wisdom that he hath given to man hath planted a difference in the Creatures and hath given a faculty to man to know and make a right choice in those differences and then man doth know things aright when he knows them as God knows them and then man makes a right choice when he chuseth as God chuseth Now God knows that riches are but little things and that credit in the world is but a shadow and that honours in high places are but like leaves on the top of a tree And who would climb a tree to fetch a leaf But God knows that pardon of sin is a choice rarity 7. Know things and judg of them as they are in another world Whilst thou livest in the world and hast all things before thee know and judg of them as thou wilt when thou art going out of the world and hast all things behind thee ah my Beloved when thy last sand is run out thou wilt have a far different opinion of the World from what now thou hast Vse 7. As I desire you to know the Mysteries of Heaven so I would have you to know your selves that you have an Interest in these blessed Mysteries that they are yours Salvation is a Mysteries but if you know that salvation is yours and the way to salvation is a Mystery but if you know that you are in the way Ah! this is the soul and sweetness of the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaveb This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greece of Greece the wheel in the wheel the Heaven of that heavenly Knowledg It is to no purpose to know that these things are Mysteries unless we know they be for us and for our good that Christ is ours and that God is reconciled to us Vse 8. You Saints and Children of God who enjoy this great priviledg Oh! go you and bless God For unto you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Would it not have greatly ravisht your hearts had you been the persons present to whom Christ spake these words Surely it would But though Christ be in Heaven yet he hath left this Text behind him to speak to you and to tell you It is given unto you to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given Observe here two things 1. It is a gift To know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven saith Christ it is given to you Dear souls Flesh and Hath 16. 17. blood hath not revealed these things unto you but your Father which is in heaven Now gifts are received with thankfulness even small gifts are taken thankfully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom Odys Plutarch de Artaxcrxe Longimen It is said of Artaxerxes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was no gift so small which he received not kindly I say we take small gifts thankfully how much more spiritual gifts Such gifts as have Heaven and Salvation wrapt up in them Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Eph. 1. 3. Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ These gifts are blessings and for such blessings Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Being is a gift but grace added to it is a blessing to be born is a gift but the new birth put to it is a blessing otherwise It had been good for that man saith Christ if he had never been born To have Understanding and Knowledg is a great gift but to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven is a great blessing Blessed are the eyes which see the things that Luke 10. 23. ye see 2. They are Mysteries and will ye not bless God that he should make Mysteries known to you They are Mysteries of his bosom and is it nothing to be Gods bosom-friends They are the Mysteries of his secret wise and eternal Counsels And is it nothing to be Gods Privy-Counsellors They are the Mysteries of eternal life And is it nothing to know the Rolls and Records of eternity Saints God hath made ye his Cutodes Rotulorum is not eternal life a delicate flower to smell at Is it nothing to see within the vail Surely it is a great priviledg therefore you may rejoyce in it and bless God for it And this leads us to the third Doctrine which is this Doct. 3. The Divine Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some not to others In this Doctrine there are three things clear and obvious 1. The Knowledg of Divine Mysteries is a gift To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven What is given is a gift Divine Knowledg is a
that you may understand I lay down these two Propositions 1. God hath instituted means for the obtaining of supernatural grace 2. Where God gives grace in the use of means he gives it freely to whom God gives not grace he denies it justly 1. God hath instituted means for the obtaining of supernatural grace For faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God The Lord hath set the stamp of Institution upon means wherein he will be found as hearing the word And when they heard this they were pricked at the heart Reading the Word Prayer and Meditation 2. Where God gives grace in the use of means he doth it freely and to whom God gives not grace he denieth it justly 1. Where God gives grace in the use of means he gives it freely Whether it be in the outward means or the inward preparatory work for he is not tyed by the means to us Some say Facienti quod in se est Deus dabit Gratiam ulteriorem To him that doth what he can do more shall be given him but though God should sometimes or always answer man in this kind where do we find that he hath bound himself by Promise to do so Now I must shew you That where God gives not grace he doth it justly Under the Gospel where God denieth grace he never doth it but justly God observes a distributive Justice in it For the Saints through grace use the means to gain more grace and Sinners they refuse all grace For 1. In the Church salvation according to Gods Promise is offered to all 2. In the Church the administration of grace is so high as that it is sufficient to convince all 3. Sinners perish and go without grace through their own fault For 1. They neglect the means of the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven 2. They despise the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven And this reason Christ renders of it at the 13th verse Therefore spake I to them in parables because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand As if he had said such Minds as they bring to hear such Sermons do I bring to them cloath'd with parables and obscurities They that will not understand things that are manifest to them I wrap up my Sermons in clouds and darkness They have eyes to see my manifest signs and miracles yet being blinded with envy they will not see what they see They have ears and hear the truth that is irresutable and yet in hearing they will not hear i. e. they will not receive it neither do they understand that is it is so clear that they may but they will not understand To speak more particularly 1. Some will hear the Word but not mind it so as to understand it their punishment is That as they will go no further with God so God will go no further with them but denieth unto them the spirit of Illumination leaves them blind as he found Math 13. 19. them and suffers Satan to take the word from them 2. Some receive the word so far as to understand it but are not willing to do it they cannot digest the holiness of it their lusts and its purity cannot stand together their punishment is That God will not make it further effectual to promote their spiritual happiness though they may receive the spirit of Illumination yet not of Conversion 3. Some receive the word so far into their hearts as to delight in it and to do something commanded and obey it in some degree They proceed to Profession and several measures thereof but advance not to sincerity and perfection their punishment is That the spirit of Sanctification and Adoption is denied unto them and for fear of Adversity or love of the World they deny the truth in a day of tryal Thus when we say The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some and not given to others to those to whom it is given it is given freely to those to whom it is not given it is denied justly For this denial is a punishment and therefore just sinners deserve it that it should be so The elect can speak of underserved-grace and the reprobate of deserved punishment God is so just that he doth not condemn any but for sin so gracious that he doth not condemn all that do sin Though God will save miserable men without their merits because he is good yet he will not damn any without their demerits because he is just But to give you a clearer Prospect of this Truth that the Divine Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some not to others Observe First Sometimes God makes choice of an Alien an Heathen before his own people in Covenant with him As you may see in Jeremiah 38. 7 8. verses He gives an Ethiopian Jerem. 38. 7 8. grace which he gave not to many a Jew Ebedmelech was an Ethiopian yet a Saint a black Ethiopian but a white Saint V None speaks for the Prophet but he an Ethiopian saves the Prophet whom the Jews did persecute Where observe 1. How God picks one out of a whole Nation God makes choice of Ebedmelech above all the Nation of the Ethiopians The whole Nation of his Countrey-men lay under the black Vail of darkness and ignorance while he knew the Mysteries of Heaven 2. The wonder of Gods Providence how it brings about the Salvation of a person whom he means to save God brings Ebedmelech out of his own Countrey to make him a Saint how he came thither to live in the King of Judah's Court there 's no mention of it but this we know that he was brought thither upon the Wing of Providence to know God and to be saved 3. God gives grace to Ebedmelech and makes choice of him before many of his own people in Covenant with him Secondly He prefers the Servant before the Master All the Phil. 4. 22. saints salute you chiefly they that are of Caesars houshold This Caesar was Nero in whose palace Saint Paul's bonds were made Phil. 1. 13. manifest So that some of his Servants were made Christians who afterwards proved Martyrs namely Evellius and Torpetes if we may believe the Roman Martyrology here the Vassal receives the Gospel which the Emperor doth not The servants are made lambs while their Lord and Master remains a Lyon for so is he stiled in 2 Tim. 4. 17. Thirdly God prefers the poor before the rich a poor Lazarus before a rich Dives he drops his golden showres of grace upon a low shrub and over-looks the tall Cedar The truth of it is Dives was poor Lazarus was rich Lazarus had more gold in his Soul than Dives had in his Purse Hath not God chosen the poor in this world rich in faith Jam. 2. 5. i. e. to be rich in Faith and heirs of the Kingdom As we Jam. 2. 5. read it Hath not God chosen the poor in this world
can create a soul in the Womb but the Lord Who can form the shape and structure of a man in the Womb but the Lord So though thou labour and travel in birth of Service for the Lord though thy Service for God may cost thee many a pang yet count it a gift As Jesus Christ did The works which the Father hath Joh. 5. 36. John 17. 4. GIVEN me And I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Lo Our Saviour counts his work a gift so should we take it for a favour that he employs us that we may do him any service or have any office about him Nay to suffer for Christ and lose all for Christ count it a gift As Paul tells the Philippians Vnto you it is given in Phil. 1. 29. the behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake To suffer for Christ was given them as a great favour sufferings are a gift as well as Faith As Latimer said The greatest promotion that God gives in this world is to be such Philippians to whom it is given not only to believe but also to suffer And Ignatius professed he had rather be a Martyr than a Monarch And the Apostles rejoyced that they were graced Acts 5. 41. so as to be disgraced for Jesus Christ Vse 4. Make sure of Heaven then since the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is a gift to some not to all How should we make our calling and election sure since many are called and but few chosen Give diligence to make thy calling sure seeing he gives grace but to some not to all since he sends pardons but to some not to all We need not doubt the attaining of that which none at all miss nor any are ever put by it But when a thing of price and worth is given only to some not to all there we should make sure work You that hope for Heaven make sure of Heaven for hopes disappointed will break the heart If hope deferred makes the heart sick surely hopes disappointed will make the heart break Oh do not hang upon rotten hopes as a man that hangs over a deep River by a Rope or Cord there he hangs and hopes and hopes and hangs but if his Cord break and snap asunder there he falls and never riseth more so many hang over Hell by the Cord of hope and if thy Cord of hope breaks as it will if it be but rotten thou art gone Man thou art gone if thou hadst a thousand souls And therefore do not hang upon a weak Cord of uncertain hope but upon the golden Cord of Faith and Assurance If you say How may we attain Assurance I answer you First God gives assurance in Gods way if God gives assurance certainly he will give it in God's way Therefore Sirs never expect it in a way of sin for sin is not God's way I am told by a most learned man That Assurance by our Divines Mr. Woolbridge of Hustification Pag. 292. is wont to be made a part of Sanctification and may very well be included in the sanctification of the spirit 1 Thes 5. 23. as distinct-from Soul and Body Secondly Seek not assurance in the way of the World the World is a stranger to assurance this is such a flower as grows not in the Worlds garden the world and assurance are Antipodes And therefore if ever you would meet with assurance do not as the world doth For do ye not know That narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it And therefore you run from assurance if you follow the world Oh tremble then to go in the way of the world If thou wilt follow the most I tell thee the most will be damned Assurance lyeth East and the world goeth West if thou follow the world the Sun of assurance will set upon thee The Apostle saith That the Devil is the God of the world who 2 Cor. 4. 4. hath blinded their minds And he tells you That the Saints are chastened of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 32. that they may not be CONDEMNED with the world Where then can the world or her Children meet with assurance They may be assured of Hell but not of Heaven Our Lord Christ saith I pray not for the world but for John 17. 9. them which thou hast given me for they are thine The Lord Jesus doth not spend one breath to pray for the world and where then is the assurance of the world Thirdly It is but a few special ones that wear the golden chain of assurance about their necks and therefore you must be choice Christians if you would have this white stone and the new name written in it It is not every measure of true grace that affords assurance ordinary Saints have it not and therefore advance Sirs you must advance higher you must be peculiar ones if you would enjoy assurance All the Children know not their Fathers secrets but the choicest of them Fourthly Assurance is a work of the greatest diligence And therefore saith Peter Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure Lazy souls will never arrive at it he that would have it must be familiar and intimate with God Enoch who was translated was one that walked with God and you that would be translated into the Heaven of assurance must be persons walking with God You must take many a turn with him you must dwell in his Presence you must pray hard and lay fast hold upon him As it is said of Thetys that when she came to ask a request of Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Iliad A. v. 512. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She laid fast hold upon his knees and held him as if she had been ingrafted into him and would not leave him So vigorously must you pursue God in Prayer that would have assurance you must wrestle with him and lay hold on him as if you were incorporated into him Vse 5. Tremble at the severity of God in his spiritual administrations His judicial punishments upon the souls of men are very dreadful To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven here is exceeding mercy But to others it is not given here is exceeding severity The Lord knows how to meet with sinners in their own way to shape his judgments to their deservings Ignorance is their sin and Ignorance shall be their punishment He will speak in parables to them and he will act in parables to them his Word shall be parables and his Works shall be parables to them They shall understand nothing that he saith and nothing that he doth he will walk every step in the dark towards them all his paths shall be covered with Clouds in all his teachings and in all his walkings there shall be a mist before their eyes though he saith This is the way to heaven walk in it yet they shall
not see the way they would not and now they shall not Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes They did hide their eyes from their peace and now their peace is hid from their eyes Consider What are the things whose Knowledg is not given you The Mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven What Sirs Is it the matters of Heaven that are kept from you A curtain drawn between you and heaven Now God's angry indeed A cloud set up to darken salvation and eternal life from you Lord here is thy greatest severity Nay he infatuates the wise and takes the understanding from the prudent He is a severe God to those that act against the light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Odys Ψ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath made thee mad who can make the wisest man a fool and strip him of his Intellectuals Do we not see men whom we call wise damn themselves understandingly God draws an horrid Eclipse upon their minds and their See Isa 29. 10 11 12 13 14 verses Sun of Wisdom sets upon them they run madly upon their ruine and most skilfully plot their own destruction God struck Nebuchadnezzar mad and he was driven from Dan. 4. 33. men and did eat grass as Oxen his hairs were grown like eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws he was turned into a beast by the Judgment of God And therefore Sinners are called in Scripture Lyons and Bears and Wolves and Dogs God bereaves them of their understanding they bark against Religion like Dogs and bite the Saints like Dogs they run about snarling and snapping at Gods ways and his People like mad Dogs Thus God is severe in his spiritual Judgments he infatuates the wise and makes them fools they carry on most artificially their own damnation Vse 6. Sinners see your spiritual misery and my God open your eyes that you may see it 1. You have seen many things and if you see not your own misery you see nothing It may be you have seen miserable Objects but if you see not your soul-misery you have seen nothing You have seen War in the Land you have seen garments rolled in blood you have seen your own or other mens estates plundred you have heard the noise of the Trumpet and the beating of the Drum in your streets But now if in a day of peace you see not God at War with your selves if you see not the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven denied to you if you see not your selves plundred of Heaven and stript of light and life if you see not your spiritual estate wallowing in its blood if you hear not the Trumpet of the Gospel calling you to Repentance if you hear not the Drum of Conscience beating against sin in your own bosoms whatever you have heard or seen you have seen and heard nothing 2. Much communicable and nothing had is not this miserable Heaven drops and it drops fatness and yet your souls so lean is not this a Mystery So much to be had and so little enjoyed makes me wonder and grieve Light communicable and yet men have no light Grace communicable and yet men without grace Heaven communicable and yet men drop every day to Hell This is an aggravation of Misery Ah sinners in your Fathers house is bread enough feasting banquetting glorious dishes in Wisdoms house how is it that you have nothing 3. Your sins are aggravated and so will your condemnation be you seeing see not and hearing you hear not you hear and see and yet understand not Doth not this aggravate your sins and make them exceeding sinful You are called and yet you have refused God hath stretched out his hands and yet you have not regarded you shut your eyes and stop your ears lest you should be converted and doth not this greaten your sins and make them odious Glorious power works in the world and yet men lye in their sins Power works gloriously but you feel none you are under the power of sin as if there were no Power of God at all working in the World Sinners this leaves you wholly without excuse there is power enough working to subdue the strongest lust what can you plead How great is that sin which is committed under the neglect of glorious power within the reach of a glorious arm As there is a glorious power so there be glorious sins splendida peccata scarlet crimson sins and these are such as are committed against glorious means glorious light grace and aid Men sin and lay it upon their weakness and so rest and rub on Ah Lord what a life is this God will judg you and lay it upon your wickedness and wilfulness for is not glorious Power present to raise you up Weakness becomes wickedness when it is rested in and pleaded for A soul given to shifting hath no mind to leave his sin there is no damning temper like this you say you have no power to come out of sin 't is not fo there is the Power of God in the Gospel present and ready for you to lift you up And therefore there must be no pleading for sin no not for any sin though never so great and strong The remedy the power is so gloriously All-sufficient Dub. But I pray you Sir tell us How shall we know that the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is not given unto us Answ 1. You that sleep in your lost estate to you the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is not given The Mysteries of Hell and Damnation are made known to you and yet you awake not What soul is there that doth awake 2. When a man can love a sin in the very face of Divine Mysteries in the very face of Mercy and the face of Glory 3. When the more God forbids a sin the more you bid for it When the more the Commandment comes sin becomes the more sinful and the heart the more stubborn when the more the spirit strives the more sin thrives the more the spirit strives against thy lust the more thou strivest to hold fast thy lust From this man is the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven shut up let him look to himself be-times Vse 7. Sinners go not on to provoke God to deny you the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven I told you in the Explication of this Point that God in denying to some the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven observes a Method of Justice that is Sinners deserve it and procure it at the Hands of God I say Sinners deserve blindness and obduration First sensu Negativo in a Negative sense because they deserve not softness of heart that God should mollifie them they deserve not this special mercy Secondly They deserve blindness and hardness of heart in an Affirmative sense because by their Additional sins and daily resistings they deserve a further Hardness and Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
greatnotice of her little strength Christ makes much of a little grace As the Father dandles his little child so Jesus Christ dandles a little grace upon the lap of his Commendation Though thy grace be but low yet he hath an high esteem of it 3. God's giving some grace engages him to give more Hath God given thee a little grace His giving thee that little puts an engagement upon him to give thee more one of his gifts bind him to give another When God went about to destroy Sodom saith God Shall I Gen. 18. 17 18. Hide from Abraham that thing which I do seeing I mean to make him a great and mighty nation As though one kindness did bind him to give another with God the bestowing of one favour binds him to add another If God begin to give thee grace he is engaged to go on and give thee more grace not for thy sake but because 't is his own work and therefore if he should not carry it on he should lose what he had begun If God hath pardon'd thee some sins and should not pardon thee all the rest all his former Pardons would be thrown away like precious water spilt upon the ground If God hath begun to give thee some grace he is engaged to give thee more for the sake of the former I say he is engaged to give thee more for the sake of the former and to give thee more yet nay more yet for the sake of that grace that went before As man that ploughs a piece of Land counts himself engaged to sow it and if he sow it he counts himself engaged to fence it and make it thrive because one work is for another the former for the latter plowing is for sowing and sowing is for growing and growing is for reaping and therefore one labour calls for the help of another So when God puts a little grace into thee it is for another to bring on another and that the former grace may not be in vain one gift calls for the help of another 4. A little grace is a pledg of more I say the little grace thou hast is a sure pledg of more as a little piece of money is an earnest of the whole sum God speaking of the effusion of his gifts and graces saith I will pour out my spirit God gives his spirit as freely as he gives rain now you know first it rains small drops and after greater and the small are the signs of the great 5. Jesus Christ makes intercession for a little grace Peter saith Christ I have pray'd that thy faith fail not thou hast but a little faith and I have prayed for thy little faith for thy weak faith that it fail not if any man sin we have an 1 John 2. 2. advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Vse 2. What saith this Principle to Sinners that are without grace Surely Sirs it should much deject you and make you smite upon your hearts When Christ saith It is given to you to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others it is not given should it not make those tremble that have not the gift that have not this special gift To know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven When our Lord saith To him that hath shall be given should it not shake the heart of the man that hath not so much as the first gift of grace yet bestowed upon him Sinner thou hast not so much as the Foundation the first stone of the building yet laid in thee Lord what a sad case am I in whilst thou art promising the addition of grace to others thou hast not planted so much as the beginnings of grace in me 1. While the saving-work in others is going on it is not yet begun in thee While others are upon their growth thou art not yet born I say not born again Sinner thou hast not yet so much as the first preparation of Heaven in thee while others are upon their Progress thou art not as yet in the Race while others are running to the Gole thou lyest dead while others are raised and enlivened thou hast not yet set out toward Heaven while others are a great way upon their Journey to Glory thou art left sleeping in Sodom till the sparks of fire and brimstone fall down from Heaven and fly about thine ears while the Lots are carried out by the Angel of the Lord Oh Sirs see your misery 2. Sinners you are ugly and mis-shapen Creatures without grace you want the Image of God upon you Holiness is our comeliness and Grace is the only handsom garment What are thy sins but thy deformities and thy lusts but thy leprosies Thou carest not what thou art in the eye of the godly but carest thou not what thou art in the eye of God Thou feest no unhandsomness in sin thou seest not thy self ugly but art thou therefore the less ugly A Toad or a Snake hath no odious apprehensions of it self it is above their reach to apprehend what they are so Sinners cannot discern their own deformities their Judgments follow their Natures and Dispositions 3. If Jesus Christ doth not conquer you he 'l slay you In Rev. 6. 2 there saith John I saw and behold a white horse Rev. 6. 2. and he that sate on him had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went forth conquering and to conquer 1. Here John saw an horse which is mystically the Gospel because of its swiftness The Apostles and Apostolical Preachers of the Primitive times were Horses for their nimble and swift Preaching of the Gospel through the World 2. This is a white horse to signifie 1. The Purity of the Gospel or Divinity of its Doctrine 2. to signifie the joy and peace it offers to the Sons of Men it is called glad tidings and the Gospel of peace A white Flag is an Ensign of Peace 3. To signifie the Glory of Christ white robes are Emblems of Glory Princes and Nobles did go in white 4. To signifie the Triumph of Christ white horse in sign of victory and Triumph The Romans when they rid in Triumph had white Horses to ride on or to draw their Chariots The Lord Christ will get the day he will triumph over souls either in their submission or destruction And therefore it is said 3. That he that sate on the white horse had a bow given him This Horse-man or Prince the Lord Christ had a bow in his hand and a Bow presupposeth arrows that is terrors and threatnings against his Enemies that will not submit to his mercy he hath his Arrow prepared upon the string and will shoot at the rebellious Sinner It may be thou hast some of Christ's Arrows sticking in the ribs of thy Conscience and art wounded for some sins thy very heart is galled with the threatnings that fly like Arrows out of the Bow of the Ministry but thou frettest instead of being converted
be given to them that have grace be it never so small Then Saints see what your work is What 's that to receive How may we receive more grace First Open thy soul to receive grace For to receive a thing is sometimes a motion of the subject or faculty opening it self to receive it As the hand doth open it self to receive a gift and a vessel must be opened to receive oyl or cordial pour'd into it The earht opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah And Numb 16. 32. Gen. 4 11. the earth as God said to Cain opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand Now the opening of the soul to receive Grace consists in these three Things 1. In believing the Promise when the soul believes its door stands open to receive the golden Treasures of Grace that are brought into it out of the store-house of the Promise And therefore saith the Text They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto Acts 14. 27. the gentiles 2. In love to grace promised for love is an opening grace When a man loves a friend dearly he opens his Arms to embrace and receive him so when a man loves grace he opens his heart to welcom grace into it And therefore ye shall find this passage between Christ and his Spouse saith Christ Open to me my love And saith the Spouse I rose up to open to Cant. 5. 2. Vers 5. my beloved He that loves Christ will open the two-leav'd gates of his soul to let in Christ with all his train 3. In desire after grace promised for the desire of grace is an opening of the soul to receive grace As the Lord saith Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide i. e. ask freely open thy mouth in Prayer as wide as thou wilt And I will fill it 2dly Lye low The valleys that receive all the showres and floods into their bosom lye low under all the high hills and proud mountains so the humble Saints that lye in the bottom of self-abhorrence under all the rest receive the showres of grace the floods stay upon them and they drink them in they are overflown like your low grounds with abundance of grace 3dly Accept of grace to receive grace is to accept of grace As Jacob said to his brother Esau Nay I pray thee if now I Gen 33. 10. have found grace in thy sight then receive my present at my hand i. e. accept of my present at my hand Vse 5. What shall I do that have no grace To him that hath shall be given But what shall I do that have not Consider grace is a gift and therefore 1. God can give grace where it is not he gives grace where is none he doth good to them that are not good A gift is bestowed where it is not See Isa 44. 3 I will pour water upon Isa 44. 3. him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring i. e. as I pour Water and Floods upon the dry and thirsty ground that hath none so will I pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Where observe God gives showres of grace where there 's not a drop before 2. He can give grace to whom he will he can love whom he will and he can give grace to whom he will this is the Prerogative of Gods Love he can love any one Man being a narrow creature cannot love any one one that is fowl and ugly and crooked but God can love any one he can love unhandsom and deformed Creatures and marry them and make them lovely Naaman the Syrian was a Leper and therefore wondrous ugly he was a Leper in Body and Mind too The beauty of the mind presents a crooked person comely to us but Naaman had beauty in neither part he was a Leper in body and an Idolater in mind and yet God loved him and by a poor maid in his house sent him to the Prophet of Israel and healed his outside and healed his inside made his Body comely and made his Soul comely 3. He makes notorious sinners noteable Saints he makes Persecutors Preachers As he did Paul and all the Church admired it But they had heard only that he who persecuted us Gal. 1. 23. in times past now PREACHETH the faith which once he DESTROYED See the Work and Free-grace of God! Would God shew mercy to him that destroyed the Faith Yes he gave Faith to him that destroyed the Faith Paul if he could would have kil'd Christ and yet God gives him Christ The Gentiles were the greatest Sinners in the World and they were at the height of sin when the Gospel began to be Preached to them they were counted unclean the unclean Act 10. 14 15. beasts swine and other Beasts which the Jews under the Law might not eat did signifie the Gentiles and the Jews not eating the unclean beasts did signifie that they should have no communion with the unclean Gentiles yet on the GENTILES Vers 45. Acts 11. 17. also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost And forasmuch as God gave them i. e. the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto us 4. Sometimes God makes his greatest Act of Love to pass upon the greatest sinner Paul you know was a Saul indeed chief of sinners he saith it of himself and yet notwithstanding Acts 9. 3 4. Christ Preached from Heaven to him he sent men to Preach to others as Philip to the Eunuch but Jesus Chrrist doth himself Preach to Paul Jesus Christ when he was on Earth in the form of a servant called the other Apostles as Matthew at the receipt of custom and Peter when he was fishing follow me but when he was on his Throne in Majesty he Preacht from Heaven to Paul Wondrous love to a wondrous sinner 5. He bids thee pray and he 'l give Ask and it shall be Matth. 7. 7. Luk. 11. 13. given you But you 'l say he saith this to Saints Sol. See what our Lord Christ saith to the Woman of Samaria If thou knew'st the gift of God and who it is that saith John 4. 10. to thee Give me to drink thou would'st have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Dub. But I ask and yet 't is not given Resp Questionless he that bids us ask means to give As we bid our Children say I pray you father give me such a thing we do it not but when we mean to give it them Object But I cannot pray I cannot pray for grace Answ 1. He that will give thee grace when thou prayest will give thee grace that thou mayest pray As God first formed Adams body and it lay dead before him on the ground without breath or life or soul in it and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
ever doubt of I say Satan tempts before Conversion namely to hinder us from entring the ways of grace and to keep us out of Christ For if we be once in Christ we are gone from him he can hurt us no more than he can Christ and you may see how far his malice can reach The seed of the woman shall break the serpents head that is his power The seed of the serpent shall bruise his heel that is his humanity When thou art once in Christ he can bruise but thy heel he may stir up affliction bring thee to thy grave but shall never bring thy soul to Hell At the best pain can but restrain your lusts it cannot heal them A disease can but abate the acts of sin it can never destroy the life of sin Death it self cannot kill sin the sins of wicked men live when they are dead The grave cannot consume them nor the fire of hell waste their strength the sins of unbelievers shall remain not only in their guilt but in their power to all eternity Quest But how does Satan hinder our conversion Answ By kindling a stronger love in us to sin There is in all men by nature a love to sin and Satan comes and blows that fire into a flame and so our love becomes predominant and afterwards it becomes a great work to un-love that sin 2. Satan tempts the unconverted these two ways 1. By inspiring his false Prophets and Ministers Thus he 1 King 22. 22. 1 King 22. 4 5. devised Ahabs destruction I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets And again Ahab King of Israel asked Jehosaphat King of Judah who came to see him whether he would go with him to Battel to Ramoth Gilead Well the King of Judah promised the King of Israel and told him saying I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses Afterwards Jehosaphat said nnto the King of Israel enquire I pray thee at the word of the Lord to day Then the King of Israel gathered the prophets that is Vers 6. the false prophets inspired by Satan together about four hundred men and said unto them Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battel or shall I forbear and they said go up for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the King Consider it seriously They that admininister the Oracles of God are the greatest mercies or greatest curses When they drop from their lips nothing but Gods mind they are mercies if not they are curses 2. Satan tempts the unconverted by numbering more false prophets than true For when Satan cannot act for Truth on his side he will act by number He will weigh the balance by number when he cannot by truth he will disgrace truth by the greatness and multitude of number against it for he knows what will take among carnal and ignorant men they are carried with quantity more than quality What are you saith Satan that are but one or two wiser than so many Can truth sit upon the lips of so few If it were truth why should not others know it as well as you Why should so many be ignorant of it Thus he carried his device upon the wings of multitude against Ahab to hatch his design against 1 Reg. 22. 6. Ahab he did sit upon the spirits of four hundred prophets against one Micajah so there are many loose lives against one Christ though there be many now a days that teach men by their words and doings that men may live loosely yet Christ saith Broad is the way to destruction and narrow is the way to life So that the fewness of those that carry on the way to life is a Testimony of the truth of it 3. Satan tempts the unconverted by putting men out of conceit with the godly that they are proud and Hypocrites Secondly Satan tempts men in conversion He can play his part here also he is cunning everywhere to destroy if he cannot keep sinners from conversion he will hinder them in conversion Now Satan temps men in conversion 1. By putting hard thoughts of God himself into them and therefore no marvel if they have hard thoughts of godly men When such a soul is coming unto God he is by Satan way-laid with this namely that God will never pardon him he would repent but dares not he takes God for his Enemy Satan would fain make a poor soul that 's coming unto God think that God is his Enemy and will not save him it is one of his Master-pieces to bring the love and good-will of God into suspition Oh! saith he why should I repent I shall not be accepted and this is no small weapon And thus Satan deals with grown Saints and strong Christians and therefore surely the temptation is a strong Engine it hath more than ordinary strength in it He practised thus against Job 1. 16. Job The fire of God saith the messenger is fallen from heaven and hath burnt up the sheep Mark ye why did Satan consume Jobs sheep with fire He stirred up the Sabeans Vers 14 15. to take away his Oxen and Asses and why not the sheep why to provoke Job if he could to be passionate against God and for that was his great design to curse and blaspheme God to beget an opinion in Job that God was now his Enemy as well as Man The fire of God is fallen upon the sheep thou canst not put this off as thou mightst do the other and say this is but the malice or covetousness of the Sabeans that rob me of my goods no thou shalt see now that God himself is angry heaven frowns upon thee the fire of God consumes thee Turn over the Records of all antiquity and see whether ever God dealt thus with any but those cursed Sodomites upon whom God rained fire from heaven Was God their enemy in that punishment Behold he sends such an one upon thee though God hates nothing so much as sin yea nothing but sin yet he would fain save the sinner Now then bring your souls to this either I will be a natural man still or else I will get into Jesus Christ Sirs If you live in sin you will lose your souls if you throw away sin you shall be received into the bosom of Christs love 2. In conversion one device by which Satan tempts is when poor creatures are coming home to God to fright them with fearful blasphemies As for example he will first tempt or suggest to thee that there is no God and this temptation springs immediately from Satans hatred of God he would annihilate God But now to oppose Satan in this his device how shall I encounter him Thou must arm thy self against this temptation thus Answ 1. Tell him Satan thou knowest there is a God thou wouldst have me believe there is no God and yet thou knowest that there is a God The Devils also believe
those years any servant of the Hebrews might go from his master and be set free if he would accept of it which did teach and typifie that any person whosoever that is by nature a servant unto Sin and Satan might go out be set free by Christ under the Gospel if he would accept of it for the years of freedom and of Jubilee typified the year of grace by Christ as you may see in Luk. 4. 19 where Christ is said to preach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ainsworth the acceptable year of the Lord that is the Jubilee for he dying Lev. 25. 10. in the last Jubilee that ever the land had set all free for ever that would receive him So the brazen serpent was a figure Numb 21. 8 9. of Christ Now the law of the brazen serpent was this That if a Serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived Every one saith God that is bitten when he looks upon it shall live What 's the meaning of this That whosoever believes in Christ mark ye whosoever any Joh 3. 14 15. one every one that will look upon him and believe in him should not perish but have eternal life as himself expounds it The brazen serpent was free for any Israelite that was stung any one might go and look on 't and be healed so Christ is free for any sinner that would be healed as he explains it God so loved the world that is the Gentiles as well as Jews that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting Vers 16. John 12. 32. Mark 16. 15. Vers 16. life And in another place And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men to me And therefore Christ appoints his Disciples to preach the Gospel to every creature that is to every man and woman ye meet with to any Gentile as well as to any Jew and then adds He that believes shall be saved Christ then and salvation by Christ is free for any person if he will believe Indeed where the Gospel is not preached the people are not commanded to believe and so obedience cannot be exacted from them nor they punish't for the want of it yet the commission of mercy and pardon given out is no way limited in regard of persons but tenders mercy and pardon without restriction of persons upon believing and therefore where-ever it comes it offers Christ and Salvation free for every person of them whatsoever to be obtained by believing In a word this was typified by the Proclamation of Cyrus ye know their coming out of Babylon was a figure of our coming 2 Chr. 36. 23. out of our spiritual captivity Now the Proclamation of Cyrus ran thus Who is there among you of all his people The Rev. 22. 17. Lord his God be with you and let him go up Like that in the Revelations Whosoever will let him drink of the water of life freely Any Jew might have liberty and freedom from captivity upon the terms of accepting it for it was granted to all whosoever to depart that would depart Now though it is true all did not take it and so were not delivered yet freedom was free for every one that would accept it And therefore sinners I do here invite ye all to come to Christ not only for pardon but for grace and for conversion and repentance It is true he will never give you pardon without conversion but he will give you conversion for pardon Do not keep off from Christ till ye are converted but go to Christ for conversion he will receive you all if you will all go to him I am a most loathsom creature a most loathsom wretch and Object will God look on me will he love me if I go to him May such a vile loathsom sinner as I go to so a Holy God will God put me into his bosom And therefore when a poor soul is enlightned to see his sin he is at a stand he dares not go and converse with God for a pardon Arm thy self against this Temptation in these following things I shall give you 1. Therefore if thou art loathsom thou hast the more need Answ to go to God that thou mayst be cleansed because thou art loathsom thou hast the more need to fly to him Thy foulness and loathsomness should not stave thee off from Christ but drive thee unto Christ because men have filthy diseases therefore they go unto the Bath because Naaman had a leprosie therefore he went and washed in Jordan so because thou hast dirt on thy soul go to the blood of Christ to wash thee 2. Though God be holy yet he will receive loathsom sinners when they come to him that they may be purged As when Isaiah cryed out Wo unto me I am undone because I am a man Isa 6. 5. of unclean lips Thou thinkest thy self undone because thou art unclean if thou goest to God and Isaiah thought himself undone because he was unclean in that God came to him But what then what was the issue Then flew one of the Seraphims Vers 6 7. to me having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the Altar and he laid it upon my mouth and said Lo this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged Isaiah crys out I am undone because I have seen the Lord and am unclean But the Angel saith Be of good cheer thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged Soul thou sayst thou art unclean but wouldst thou be purged I dare not go to God because I am unclean but wouldst thou be purged Then thou shalt have a live cole from his altar a holy cole dropt down from heaven He will baptize thee with the holy ghost and with fire 3. If loathsomness of sin should keep us off from going to God then none should ever be saved because loathsomness and uncleanness is the state of every man But we see God hath entertained loathsom sinners say they why not me 4. Thou art loathsom and filthy by sin well thou canst never cleanse thy self thou art not able to put beauty on thine own soul thou canst not thy self wash one drop of dirt off thy nature and therefore surely thou mayst and must go to Christ that he may cleanse thee else it will never be done As the Apostle tells us The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 1 John 1. 7. all sin Object God saith in one place He desires not the death of a sinner and yet he hath appointed men to damnation How can God be just in this God hath appointed all things from eternity If he hath appointed me to salvation I shall be saved and if God hath appointed me to damnation I shall be damned whatever I do Answ Thou art not to look to Gods Appointments but to Gods Commandments God doth not
yet Heb. 4. 15. without sin But in our infirmity of the flesh we are seldom tempted by afflictions without sin Although affliction doth not quite vanquish and overcome us yet always almost at the very first on-set it doth like a great blow dizzy the brain and makes us give back If we be not thrown down yet we reel and stagger and sometimes it lays us flat and our faith lyes sprawling upon the ground In affliction there are two things 1. Sensation And 2. Temptation 1. In affliction there is Sensation doloris sensus the sense of pain and grief and this Christ felt as well as we we cannot and he could not taste affliction without pain as we are affected with Dolour when evils lye upon us so was Christ he felt sharp and keen pain and thus Christ was tempted in all things and in the same manner as we are as to sense of pain and grief yet without sin But 2. In affliction there is also temptation to sin and because it is so true that great temptations arise out of afflictions therefore are afflictions Antonomastice called temptations they tempt sadly to murmuring and impatience to wrangling and expostulation with God to unbelief and doubting of his love nay to cast off God Doth God himself tempt me thus and afflict me thus and shall I serve such a Master Ah! look how ye are under your daily afflictions Vse 8. Doth God tempt Abraham Abraham his friend Then you may be the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord God tempts and tries his dear ones all 's in love 1. He tempts his dear ones he tempts those whom he loves dearly Abraham was high in Gods Books one of his intimate and bosom-acquaintance and yet God tempts Abraham Nay to give you a greater instance than Abraham Jesus Christ was tempted I say Jesus Christ was Heb. 4. 15. in all points tempted like as we are and yet the beloved of the Lord he was the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord he was tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently superlatively more than us all and yet he was beloved of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently and superlatively above us all So that ye may be the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord nay Jesus Christ was tempted of God himself he was not only tempted by the tempter but by his dear Father God himself My God my God why hast thou forsaken me 2. All is in love he tempts in love he not only tempts his beloved but he tempts them in love that he may love them the more and they in the Issue love him the better How much more did God love Abraham when he saw him forget himself to be a Father and his own child to be his Son for his sake By my self have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou Gen. 22. 16 17. hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the Sea-shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies And did not this message from heaven think you kindle a greater flame of love in Abrahams bosom toward God without doubt it did God loves Abraham more Abraham loves God more than ever he did When Abraham saw Gods design and had his Son delivered safe to him again How was his heart filled with a spiritual torrent of joy He gained the experience of Gods love to him and of his love to God and would not have unwished the temptation again upon any terms 3. God tempts and all is in wisdom God tempts his Beloved in wisdom he corrects his Children as well as his Enemies but when he corrects them it is in much prudence and wisdom Quest But how shall I know that God tempts me for my good How shall I know that God afflicts me and tempts me in love 1. Why first because he loves thee whom he loves he tempts and proves them in love you imagine he loves you but you do not feel that he loves you the sense of Gods love would put all these out of doubt 2. You may know he tempts you in love if ye be faithful unto him in temptations if you depart not from God in the day of temptation God is trying and tempting his people at this day and it may be it will be a sad day and a dark day of temptation it may be it will be a strong day of temptation and of long temptation and you would know whether he tempts you at this day in love then make choice of suffering rather than sin of affliction rather than defection The Heb. 10. 38. just shall live by faith saith the Apostle that is shall hold out by faith in the day of temptation But if any man draw back my soul saith God shall have no pleasure in him Would ye know whether God proves you at this day and tries you in love then put on the whole armour of God that ye Eph. 6. 11 14. may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth c. Watch ye 1 Cor. 16. 13. stand fast in the faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quit your selves like men be strong Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ Gal. 5. 1. hath made us free and be not intangled again with the yoke of bondage Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together Phil. 1. 27 28. for the faith of the Gospel And in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God So stand fast in the Phil. 4. 1. Lord my dearly beloved 3. Cleanse your hearts from hypocrisie see that your souls are right before the Lord and then Gods Temptations are all in love all goeth right with upright hearts The upright Prov. 11. 20. in their way are his delight 4. You may know whether God tempts you in love by the issue and fruits of your temptations Abraham sin'd in temptation and Saints may sin in temptation In a temptation you would know whether you shall hold out I will not prophesie but I will give you a sign have you held out through former temptations thou mayst hold out through others Vse 9. You beloved of the Lord bear Gods Temptations with willingness and patience The Apostle stirs up the Hebrews to learn practically this lesson Despise not thou the chastening Heb. 12. 5 9. of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Furthermore saith he we have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live Gods Temptations are your gain not your loss but your Gods Temptations are your gain