comes not only to be glorified himself but to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe 2 Thes 1.10 therefore it is stiled The glorius Appearing of the great God even of our Saviour Jesus Christ Titus 2.13 Christ at his coming will be clothed with such glory that will put it out of doubt that he is the Son of God that he is the Son of Man the true Messiah that was promised and exhibited to the World It is said Then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man Matt. 24.30 Ferus takes this Sign of the Son of Man to be the Sign of the Cross but the Note of Calvin on the Text is more solid and judicious He takes that eminent and transcendent Glory that Christ will appear in to be the Sign of the Son of Man Those that were not convinced and perswaded by all the Signs and Miracles that Christ wrought that he was the Messiah shall by his glorious Appearing by his Illustrious Majesty as a demonstrative and convincing Sign be assured fully that he is the Son of Man the Promised Messiah None shall doubt none shall be left at uncertainties about it no Unbeliever shall remain Tho' the Scribes and Pharisees would not regard Christ's Miracles or be induced by them to believe yet he tells them of an invincible convincing evidence that should one day be afforded to them but too late He insists on and minds them of this very sign of the Son of Man Matt. 6.64 Hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of Heaven You that now condemn me for saying that I am the Messiah and the Son of God shall one day see me as a Judge coming to Arraign Sentence and Condemn you 4. The coming of Christ will be very open and evident to the whole World When he first appeared he shewed himself to few but to the Jewish Nation After his Resurrection we read of none of the unbelieving World that beheld him He appeared only to and was seen by none but by his Disciples who were to inform the World of this truth that he was raised The unbelieving Jews and Gentiles were not to see Christ's raised and glorified Body but to believe his Resurrection but Christ will so openly at last appear that every eye shall see him Rev. 1.7 They also that pierced him shall behold him Jews and Gentiles Heathens and Mahumetans Loose and Prophane Christians shall see him Believers and Saints shall then point him out with joy Lo this is our God we have waited for him Is 25.9 And he hath not deceived our Faith or frustrated our Hope and Expectation They that would not believe what they did not see shall now see but to their terror They that were averse from the Life of Faith and wholly devoted to the Life of Sense shall now have Seeing enough they shall behold what will affright dismay and overwhelm them God doth now require and call for a high and noble Exercise of Faith in relation to invisible things at which the Heathen of Old scoffed yet he doth and will condescend to give evidence and satisfaction as at Christ's first appearing he was visible to the eye of the Body Is 40.9 O Zion that bringest glad tidings lift up thy voice and be not afraid say unto the Cities of Judah Behold your God This was a strange and wonderful truth and Zion might be afraid to publish it yet she is twice bid to lift up her voice and that with strength not to be afraid aloud to sound out and proclaim this amazing and astonishing truth Say to the Cities of Judah Behold your God behold God is come down to you in a Humane Nature God is walking among you in a Body of Flesh preaching working Miracles familiarly conversing with you The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory John 1.14 So at his second coming Christ will be evident to the eye and as it were pointed out by the Finger of Men Behold he cometh in the clouds and every eye shall see him Rev. 1.7 Saints shall say to those that have upbraided them with the invisible object of their Faith Lo this is our God we have waited for him Is 25.9 Tho' the unbelieving World did Reproach Christians and say Where is your God yet Saints one day consute all their Calumnies and silence all their Insultings and Upbraidings they shall point out Christ coming in all his Majesty and Glory and say Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us and we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation Is 25.9 5. This Revelation of Christ will cause Mourning to the greatest part of the World it will be a black bitter terrible day to most Matt. 24.30 All the Tribes of the Earth shall mourn all the Kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of him Rev. 1.7 when they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory They shall mourn when it is too late to repent they shall wail when their sorrow will not prevent but begin their Punishment and Hell Now they shall to their cost know how great a Person they have refused and how high an Happiness they have rejected that they have turned from a Saviour and so forfeited true Blessedness and rebelled against the great God and so have incurred the worst and severest penalties These three things shall be reviewed and reflected on 1. What they have done 2. What they have lost 3. What they must suffer and endure to Eternity when they shall bleed by the edge of God's Sword and smart under the Chastisement of the Scorpions of Revenging Justice 1. Sinners that consider what they have done that they have turned away from him that spake out of the bosom of his Fathers love and from the Throne of his own glory Ps 81.11 That they would have none of him who is the true God and eternal Life that they stopped their Ears and hardned their Hearts against the wooings of the best Bridegroom against the call of the great Shepherd and of the Captain of Salvation against the intreaties of a Saviour and Redeemer They will now reflect on the frequent denials they gave to and the many affronts they put upon the Lord of Glory how they hated and abhorred his Yoke despised and loathed his Feast did not submit to and come into his Righteousness but rebelled resisted vexed and quenched the holy Spirit of God 2. They shall know now what they have lost that the Treasury of Grace will now be locked the Fountain of Life sealed the bowels of Christ will be for ever shut against them notwithstanding their extream poverty and misery The door of God's House will be shut never to be opened again How woful will this be to be excluded out of God's Palace and to be thrust out of his Kingdom
he was received up into glory 2. To answer the hopes and expectation of his People they wait for a Saviour from Heaven Psal 3.20 and look for God's Son Jesus from Heaven 1 Thes 1.10 3. Christ will be Revealed from Heaven to shew the Spiritual Nature of his Kingdom that it is a heavenly Kingdom That he hath had his Throne in Heaven and from thence his Kingdom hath ruled over all He hath observed all the rage and actings of his enemies and all the love and obedience of his friends He hath inspected all the concerns of his Members and transacted all the affairs of his Kingdom This hath been honorable and glorious to Christ that he hath had a rest Is 1.10 in Heaven and yet neglected none of his work in repressing the rage of his enemies and in reviving the fainting spirits of his friends and steering all the affairs of his Church to a safe and happy Port. He hath supplied his poor and supported his weak Members 4. Jesus Christ will be Revealed from Heaven for the greater confusion and terror of his Enemies How will this affright and amaze them that he who they thought slept under the clods of the Earth should appear riding on the clouds of Heaven Rev. 1.7 that he who the Jews thought was suffering in Hell for deluding and deceiving the World should come to Judge the World and to Condemn Men to Hell for not believing on him Mark 6.16 Joseph was thought by his Brethren to be lost or dead but how were they confounded and troubled when they found him alive Gen. 45.3 heard him speaking to them saw him under Pharaoh Ruling over all the Land of Egypt So how will it dismay and overwhelm the unbelieving World when Christ that was thought to remain dead shall be presented to their eyes as alive When he that was ill treated by Men in the form of a Servant shall appear in the glory of a Lord to judge both the Quick and the Dead and shall be manifested as having all Power in Heaven and Earth committed to him and can justifie and crown those that have believed on him and condemn and punish those that have rebelled against him who neither have believed his Doctrine or obeyed his Commands USE of Examination Examine your selves under what Notion Christ will be Revealed and come to you at last Whether he will appear as your Friend or as your Enemy To your joy or sorrow As a loving Bridegroom to receive you to himself John 14.3 Or as an incensed Judge to Sentence and Cast you from himself saying Go ye cursed into everlasting fire Matt. 25.41 Will Christ come to give you any thing Will he bestow a Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. 4.18 A Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 Will he call you to inherit an everlasting Kingdom Matt. 25.34 Or will Christ come upon you as a Thief in the Night to impoverish spoil deprive you of all the good things you now possess and enjoy Will not your Cisterns then be broken your Candles and Lamps be put out Will not your whole Paradise of sensual and sinful delights be lighted and blasted Will not Creatures be withdrawn from you and God himself also depart The floor and the Wine-press shall not feed you and God himself will leave and forsake you Hos 9.2 12. Will you not at once be turned out of your Stewardship and also be cut off from all hope of the heavenly Inheritance Will not Christ's coming be your utter undoing Will you not sustain a damage and loss never to be repaired For your wooing and buying time will be over the Spiritual Market will be at an end Will it not be sad when others are rich Heirs for you to be poor Bankrupts emptied and stript of all valuable and desirable good for ever Inquire therefore seriously and diligently how it stands with you in relation to Christ's coming Is Jesus Christ Revealed in you and to you and is his new Nature formed in you It is not Flesh and Blood but our Father that is in heaven that must reveal Christ to us Matt. 16.17 he that hath heard and learned of the Father comes to the Son Hath the spirit ever glorified Christ in your eyes Is he most precious to you If Christ be not Revealed to you while you are on Earth he cannot be Revealed from Heaven to your joy and comfort Have you an understanding to know the worth excellency and preciousness of Christ so that you give your selves to him and are in him If Christ do dwell in your hearts below you may be assured that you shall dwell in his House above Are you related to Christ Are you really his Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh They that are Christs shall be made alive at his coming 1 Cor. 15.23 Is the Match made up between Christ and you by a mutual Spiritual kiss Doth Christ kiss you expressing his servent love towards you and speaking powerfully and effectually to you the Doctrine of Grace the Word of Reconciliation The Gospel of Salvation is your own Interest in Christ's precious Promises sealed and delivered to you 2. Do you kiss Christ the Son of God Ps 2.12 Cant. 8.1 When Ishould find thee without I would kiss thee And Abraham Isaac and Jacob are said to salute kiss or embrace the Promises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the mouth of Faith doth meet with the mouth of Christ speaking the Word of Life and the promises of Spiritual Benefits is perswaded of them doth embrace them then the Soul kisses Christ There is also a kiss of Homage as Samuel kissed Saul acknowledging him as the Lord 's Anointed When we receive the Law from Christ's mouth and profess our subjection to his Scepter and obedience to his Laws then we kiss Christ 3. Are you willing that Christ should come Do you desire long for and love Christ's appearing The Church saith Make haste my beloved Cant. 8.14 When Christ said I come quickly she adds her Amen Even so come Lord Jesus Rev. 22.20 Christians are said not only to look for but to hasten the coming of the day of God 2 Pet. 3.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by their wishings longings earnest desires Do you fervently love the appearing of Christ as that which will be exceeding honorable to him comfortable and beneficial to you Do you love Christ's appearing as that which will be exceeding glorious to him For by his voice he shall quicken raise call forth all that are in their Graves John 5.28 That Christ knows all that ever lived can distinguish their dust from the dust of one another and from the dust of the Earth That he knows all their thoughts words and actions remembers them and will call them to an account for them 1 Pet. 4.5 Then Christ will sit on the Throne of his glory and all Nations shall be gathered before him to be judged by by him This is the perfection of Christ's Kingdom and his
I shall abundantly utter the memory of that Goodness Two things are here to be observed 1. That the Creatures are such Preachers as never do keep silence day unto day uttereth speech It offers new Matter of Contemplation and Admiration and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge Every succeeding Night instructs the preceding Night and makes some farther and new Discoveries of God that should more enlighten the Minds and affect the Hearts of Men towards God 2. The Creatures preach God in a Speech and Language that all Nations may understand though their Languages are so confounded and are not understood by other People and Nations there is no Speech or Language where their voice is not heard The most ignorant and brutish Barbarians may understand the Speech and Language that the Creatures do preach in The confusion of Babel doth not hinder the Creatures from being understood in what they publish and declare of God 3. There is a great Book in which Men may read God Psal 19.4 Their Line is gone forth into all the Earth and their Words to the end of the Earth The Pages of this great Book are the Sea the Heavens and the Earth And this Book still lieth open and the most ignorant illiterate and unskilful may read in this Book and understand somewhat of its Contents This is a long Line that reacheth to the ends of the Earth and it is written in such great and Capital Letters that all may read it 4. Men are in the World as in a great Room all hung round with Glasses he that is in such a Room may clearly and plainly see the Attributes and Excellencies of God The invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen Rom. 1.20 They are evidenced and demonstrated to Sense yet so that the Understanding doth help the Senses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are understood by the Mind that contemplates the things that are made and so Sense by the assistance of the Mind doth clearly see invisible things 5. There are Garments with which God is Clothed and in which he may be seen Psal 104.2 David saith to God Who coverest thy self with Light as with a Garment The Psalmist plainly refers to God's Creation of Light Gen. 1.3 God said let there be Light and there was Light God did then put on this bright and glorious Creature as a Garment As the Greatness Majesty and Glory of Kings is seen in their Clothing so God is known how Powerful how Good how Wise he is by his Works Scultetus saith on Psal 104. Vestis Dei Contemplanda si Deum Contemplari volueris You must view God's Garment if you will Contemplate God himself for God himself otherwise is invisible We cannot come to the naked Divine Essence but we must see the first Cause clothed with Effects in the Works of Creation and Providence As when God comes forth to execute Justice he is said to Clothe himself with the Garments of Vengeance Isa 59.17 He puts on the Garments of Vengeance for Clothing and was clad with Zeal as a Cloak Hath God Clothed himself with so many and such glorious Garments Are his Attributes so visible in his Creatures And are not Men inexcusable that know not God who daily comes forth to us Clothed in his Works of Creation and Providence and thereby renders himself visible to us Quest But what do these Witnesses Preachers Books Glasses Garments of God discover and make known Answ The Being the Eternity Wisdom Power and Goodness of God 1. The Being of a God the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead or his Divine Being Where there are Effects there must be a Cause where there are Streams there must be a Fountain If you will trace follow and persue the smallest stream it will at last bring you to the Ocean so follow the smallest Rivulet of Creature-Beings and it will bring you to God the infinite Sea of Being Where there is so great a House raised with so much Art and Skill there must needs be a Builder None ever saw a House built by Chance or Accident and what Folly and Madness is it to think that this great House of the World was built by a Casual yet Lucky meeting of Stones together The Creatures are not of themselves and therefore cannot be from Eternity That only that is Infinite Omnipotent All wise can be from Eternity Creatures are not so and therefore cannot be from Eternity Ask any Man living did you make your self none can be so impudent to affirm that he made himself And there is the same Reason against his Father or any other Man that he did not make himself therefore Men must necessarily come to a First Man and to a God that made him Thus the Creatures do demonstrate the Being of a God 2. The Creatures declare the Eternity of God He that made all things must necessarily be before them Col. 1.17 He is before all things and by him all things were made and consist Col. 1.16 17. From everlasting to everlasting he is God Psal 90.2 If God were not from Eternity the World could not have had a beginning or any Creature have been formed 3. The Creatures proclaim the power of God Rom. 1.20 his eternal power Men speak words but God speaks things by his word he calls things that are not Rom. 4.17 And their answer is to rise spring up and exist that which is nothing yet hears and obeys God God said let their be Light let the Earth bring forth Trees Plants Herbs and Flowers and it was so and yet the Earth had no Seed of these things in it self Gen. 1.11 12. And as God speaks Creatures so he breaths the Soul Gen. 2.7 God breathed into mans nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul And God writes in the Minds and Wills of Men none but he can reach or come at these Tables and write in them And God doth not as Men write Syllables and Words but he writes new Principles Habits Dispositions and Inclinations he writes Light in the Mind and Love in the Will Consider of these three glorious Effects of the power of God That he speaks Creatures breathes Souls writes new Principles and Inclinations in the Soul The power of God gloriously shines in the Work of Creation 1. That he made all things out of nothing Heb. 11.3 Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear That is They were made out of nothing There did not appear any eternal First Matter out of which God made all things Other Artists do not make their Matter but they must have it made to their Hands but God made all things out of nothing 2. God made all things By the Word of his Power Psal 33.6 were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth Psal 33.9 He spake
and it was done he commanded and it stood fast 2. God made all things without any Assistant or Heiper Isa 44.24 I am the Lord that maketh all things that stretcheth forth the Heaven alone that spreadeth abroad the Earth by my self 3. There was none that invented a Pattern or drew a Scheme or Draught to direct God to Work by 4. None gave God Counsel or Instructed him what he should do or how he should Work Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord or being his counsellor hath taught him With whom took he counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and shewed to him the way of understanding Isa 40.13 14. 5. God hangs the earth on nothing Job 26.7 This amazed Aristotle de Mundo That if you did throw up a clod of Earth into the Air it would not hang there and that yet the whole Globe of the Earth and Water should hang in the Air and all things be born up by the Word of God's power Heb. 1.2 It is said of God in Psal 95.4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth God's Hand carries the whole Globe of the Earth its Foundation is laid in his Hand and is supported by him 6. There is a daily strong confirmation of the History of the Creation and such an evident demonstration of the power of God it plainly appears that it is true That all things came from nothing at first because they daily spring and rise from such small contemptible beginnings as are next kin to nothing As that from an Acron should grow an Oak of above twenty four Tun of Timber In the New Forest it is said there was cut an Oak that Top Lop Root and Body was eight and twenty Tun of Timber That from a small Grain of Mustard-Seed such a Tree should grow as Christ speaks of Matt. 13.31 32. 4. The Creatures declare the Wisdom of God That out of a Chaos without Form Beauty or Order God should draw forth and raise so beautiful a World Athenagoras in his Legat. for the Christians tells us That Plato called the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Art of God The Apostle Paul uses a Word much to the same Sense 1 Cor. 1.21 The World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Wisdom of God that is in the Frame of Heaven and Earth in which the Wisdom of God doth so eminently shine by their Natural Wisdom or Understanding did not know God The Wisdom of God appears in the making of the World 1. In making such various sorts of Creatures Sixteen hundred sorts of Herbs are said to grow in England and four thousand distinct Vegetables Plants and Trees are reported to be and grow in the Physick Garden at Oxford None but an Infinite Understanding could form the different Ideas of so many thousands of sorts of Flowers Trees Birds Beasts and Fishes 2. That Objects should be so exactly fitted to the Senses of Men Colours to the Eyes fragrant Smells to the Nose sweet and grateful Relishes to the Taste Sounds to the Ear this could not be a Work of Chance but of Infinite Wisdom 3. That God should form several Creatures one higher than another and subordinate to another God is said to build his Stories in the Heaven Amos 9.6 There is the lowest the middle the highest Heavens as several Stories in a great and high Building so God buildeth up Stories of Creatures on the Earth There are Plants that are the lowest Story Beasts that are a higher Story and Man that is the highest Story in this lower World and these are subservient to each other The Plants and Grass seed the Beasts and Beasts do nourish Men and they should devote themselves to the Service and Worship of God 4. That God should put such Shapes and Signatures on Herbs to shew something what they were made and are good for Eye-bright hath the figure and shape of an Eye and is an excellent Herb to cure the Maladies of the Eye Pimpernel hath something like the Plague-spots under its Leaves and is of excellent Virtue against the Plague 5. That Herbs proper to cure Diseases do naturally grow in the Country where the Disease reigns As Scurvy-grass in England and in other Northern Countries doth spring up Naturally And yet an Experiment hath been made and much Art used and Care taken to Plant and Cultivate Scurvy-Grass in some parts of France where the Disease is not known and it would not grow 6. Some Herbs do Figure the Part that they are good to Heal As Adders-Tongue Hearts-Tongue Rib-wort Wood-Sorrel that hath the shape of a Heart is accounted a good Cordial Herb. 7. How doth God's Wisdom appear in placing the Sun Psal 19.4 In the Heaven God is said to have made a Tabernacle or Dwelling-place for the Sun That part of the Heavens that is between the two Tropicks of Cancer and Capricorn in which the Sun still moves or is may be stiled the Tabernacle of the Sun This is wonderful Wisdom that the Sun should be so situated in the midst of the Heavens to communicate Light and Heat to the whole World successively That the Sun never goes beyond the Tropicks but doth in so orderly a way return to us again and observe such an exact Course in the lengthning or shortning of the days the Sun doth not Rise or Set two days in the same place God puts this Question to Job Job 38.12 Hast thou commanded the morning Hast thou caused the day-spring to know its place And Psal 104.19 The Sun knoweth his going down The Sun doth Rise and Set in different places every day yet it is said to know the place of its Rising and Setting as if it had a Principle of Reason and Understanding that the Days and Heat should increase and decrease in such a stated course That we do not pass from the extremity of Cold into the scorching Heat of Summer but through a Spring that doth partake of Gold and Heat mixed And that we do not pass out of the heat of the Summer into the extremity of Winter cold but through an Autumn that hath a mixture of some heat and cold This is wonderful Wisdom that God hath clothed and beautified the Sun with such a glorious Garment of Light Psal 19.5 6. Which is as a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber that God hath given him so swift a motion that he rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race His going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it O how wonderful is God's Wisdom and Power to make a Sun that should run round the World every day with so swift a motion That God should furnish the Sun with so great a heat that it is said there is nothing hid from the heat of it It pierces even to the Roots of Plants and Trees and reaches into the bowels of the Earth This also is wonderful That the Sun rising
take pleasure and delight in Will you make light of this dreadful Curse Will you pluck it and continue it on your selves Will you do nothing to please and glorifie God Use 1. This may reprove many formal and titular Christians that do neglect this excellent Command and do slight and omit this necessary Duty and Work of breaking up their fallow Ground Instead of wounding and breaking their Hearts they live in Pleasure are wanton and nourish their Hearts as in a day of slaughter that is as in a great Feast-day when there is a slaughter of the Creatures made to feast the Body Jam. 5.5 they please their Flesh they gratifie and indulge their sensual Affections they cannot bear or endure such hard and grievous Work as this to draw God's Plow and with its Shear to cut deep Furrows and sorely wound their own Hearts they think it very unreasonable to banish carnal Joy out of their Souls to cloud their Souls with Sorrows to load their Spirits with a sensible feeling of the Evils that they have done and with the fear of the Punishment they have deserv'd how few do take God's part do side with him do plead his Cause against themselves and their Lusts Who do charge their Sins home on themselves and set forth their heinous and horrid Aggravations before God Do not Men deal gently and tenderly with themselves Do they not lessen and extenuate rather than heighten their Guilt in Filth and careless of their Transgressions If the Word doth perhaps touch or wound them doth not Self-love as that natural Balsam Chyrurgeons and Physicians say is in the Body quickly heal it again Doth not Self flattery soon chear them again and so cheat them Their plowing is rather scratching the Earth than striking a deep Furrow they know not the meaning or they have no Experience of a broken Heart of a contrite Spirit This is indeed a great thing for the Spirit of a Man to be bruised and as it were ground to powder under the weight of Sin committed and the sense of Punishment deserved It is said Hos 5.2 The Revolters were profound to make slaughter but alas where are the Men and Women that are profound in wounding their Souls for Sin and in making a slaughter of their Lusts How is it to be lamented that the Sword of God's Word doth not pass through the Heart of the Old Man that the Arrows of God do not cleave the Reins of Sinners and pour out their very Gall how few do outlaw their corrupt and vile Affections and put them out of their protection that they may be kill'd when or wheresoever they find meet with them or see them But do not Men act quite contrary to this When God shoots his Arrows casts his Darts at them do they not take the Shield of Unbelief and guard their base Lusts Do they not quench the fiery Darts that God casts at them Is there not a great deal of Art and Labour used to enervate to blunt to dispirit keen and cutting Truths that they may not enter deep that come too home and close to their Hearts They cannot endure that Conscience should be enlighten'd and awak'd that its Tongue should be loosed this they think is intolerable to raise a Storm within their own Breasts to disturb their Peace to destroy their Hopes to let in Terrors to arrest and overwhelm their Souls They think they shall never recover Peace and Comfort or have their Wounds heal'd again if God's Plough should cut them to the very Heart Doth not a shallow Furrow produce a slight Religion and a superficial Christianity in the World Instead of putting convincing Truths instead of keeping awakening Thoughts and Meditations on their Hearts they rather keep them off at a distance and shut them out of their Souls O where shall we find an humbled Sinner crying out thus I am the man that hath risen up against God I have broken his Yoke and made his Laws void I have burst his Bonds and cast away his Cords from me I that am but a Worm have dared to walk contrary to God and have enter'd the Lists with the Almighty I that am but a Potter's Vessel have challeng'd a Rod of Iron I that am but Chaff Briars and Thorns have contended with devouring Fire with eternal burnings I have exalted my Folly against Infinite Wisdom and set up my perverse wicked rebellious Will in opposition to the holy Law the righteous Will of God though God bears up the frame of Heaven and Earth by the Word of his Power and doth not faint under this great weight yet I have laid a heavier burden on him and caused him to complain that He is wearied by my Sins Isa 43.24 and is pressed under my Iniquities as a Cart is pressed under the Sheaves Amos 2.13 How few Ephraim are there found thus bemoaning or impeaching themselves Men do indeed like to tread out the Corn and eat the Fruits of Mercy but will not follow the Plough to convince and humble themselves for Iniquity How strange is it that Persons will nourish in themselves hopes of a comfortable and plentiful Harvest hereafter yet will not now plow and break up their fallow Ground Is it not an unreasonable Presumption to look for a Harvest when there hath been no Ground plow'd or Seed sown Use 2. Examine your selves Is your fallow Ground broken up have you inclin'd your Hearts and set your Hands to God's Plough Though the Earth doth not feel the Plough-shear doth not know when the Husbandman doth till the Land yet a Soul cannot be both a Plow-man and a plowed Ground but it must needs be sensible of what is done on and wrought within it self Have you ever been pricked in Heart Acts 2.37 Have God's Words been as Goads to prick you as Nails to pierce you Have the Truths of God been as a sharp Plow-shear cutting and wounding your Souls 1. Did you ever come to your selves and so make a right judgment concerning your selves and your own Estate with respect to God and Eternity Luke 15.17 that you are poor empty naked Creatures that you are but a dry Ground and barren Wilderness like the Vineyard of the sloathful Man all overgrown with Thorns and Nettles Prov. 24.30 31 It would be bad for a Man to rent a great Farm and yet not to have one Acre of Corn sow'd on it but is it not worse for us that hold our Souls and Bodies of God our great Landlord to whom we owe a great Rent of universal Obedience to his Laws and yet not to have one Faculty of our Souls sow'd with precious Seed For our Minds and Wills not to be Tables with the Law of God for our Vessels to be empty and destitute of spiritual Oyl for our Meal not to be leavened by the Gospel and the Houses of our Souls to be empty and not inhabited by the Spirit of God Have we discern'd our selves to be empty Vines barren Fig trees unprofitable
Christ to tell him his Citizens the Jews would not admit him as their King to Reign over them and the Prophane and Atheistical World do ridicule mock and scorn at the Promise of his coming 2 Pet. 3.3 They that walk after their own Lusts and place their Happiness in satisfying of them would not have Christ come to interrupt their Life of Sensuality or to punish them for it They would never have Christ come and hope he will not appear and therefore with insulting Belief say Where is the Promise of his coming In the Prosecution of this Subject I shall insist on these three Things 1. I shall demonstrate that the Lord Jesus will be Revealed 2. What the Scripture asserts about his coming 3. When the Lord Jesus will be Revealed Tho' we cannot point out the particular Time yet there are some general Intimations given us in Scripture when he will come 1. That the Lord Jesus will come 1. God the Father will send him Acts 3.20 Peter saith That God would send Jesus who before was preached to them And Paul speaking of the appearing of Christ he affirms that in his Times he shall shew this Appearance who is the blessed and only Potentate The Father will exhibit Christ again to the World this will be the most wonderful glorious shew that ever was presented to Mankind He that did stand as a Criminal before the Tribunal of Pilate Matt. 27.11 he that did hang on a Cross of Ignominy shall now sit on a Throne of Glory Matt. 25.31 He will Arraign Men for all the Acts of Time and adjudge them to the Penalties and Rewards of Eternity All Nations shall be gathered before him shall receive their Sentence from him and be disposed of either to a Blessed or Miserable Eternity by him 2. Jesus Christ himself hath told us of his Return he compares himself to a Noble Man Travelling into a far Country to receive a Kingdom and return As the Spirits of Men do return to God to be judged Eccl. 12.7.3 so Christ will return again to judge the World 3. The Saints live in expectation of Christs return they wait for Jesus Christ from Heaven 1 Thes 1.10 They look for him from Heaven Phil. 3.20 They look for the blessed Hope and the glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.14 Tho' the most of Men live as if they had no Concern in Christ's Appearing as if it would be no Marriage-Day Feast-Day or Harvest-Day to them as if they did not think or expect to reap any Harvest of Blessedness or to receive any Reward of Happiness at Christ's coming yet it would be a great disappointment to the People of God if he should not return They look for him as a Bridegroom as a Saviour as a Redeemer and he will appear a second time unto Salvation to those that look for him Heb. 9.28 4. The Angels have testified to this Truth that Jesus Christ should come from Heaven as the Apostles saw him go to Heaven Acts 1.11 And the Angels cannot be false Witnesses and Deceivers 5. Jesus Christ hath work to do at his second coming He hath a Harvest to reap Matt. 13.30 A Floor to Purge Matt. 3.12 A Wife to Marry Rev. 7.25 Servants to reckon with Matt. 19.21 30. The Diligent and Faithful he will commend and call to enter into his own joy and the Idle and Slothful he will adjudge to be cast into outer Darkness The great Shepherd will gather his Flock to him and lead them to sweet and delicious Pastures in the Heavenly Paradise 2. Let us observe what the Scripture asserts concerning his coming 1. Jesus Christ testifies that he comes quickly Rev. 22.20 Behold I come quickly Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.37 It is but a little time to the day of Christ's Appearing compared with the time that is run out since the beginning of the World it will be quickly considering how near our end is and that Death is at hand Death is the end of the World to us we pass into a fixed unchangeable Eternal Estate as those do who live to the end of the World Time is folded up to us and the Door of Eternity is opened to us Christ's coming to call us out of the World and to Summon us to his Judgment Seat may quickly be it may be within a few Years yea within a few Months yea within a few Days That which is future will come and be present and our Souls should be affected now as if we saw the Judge appearing the Throne set the Books opened and our selves Presented before the Judgment-Seat of Christ 2. This Revelation of Jesus Christ will be sudden surprizing and very amazing to the greatest part of the World as the Old World was drowned in Sensual Pleasures Earthly Business Carnal Security They were poysoned with and hardened in unbelief they did not look for the Flood they knew not till it came and took them all away Matt. 24.39 They did not believe God's threatning or regard Noah's preaching and warnings or consider what the building of the Ark did mean they would not know things by Believing but only by Seeing and Feeling They did not know till the Rain did fall the Fountains of the great Deep were broken up and the Waters did rise to swallow them up so shall the coming of the Son of Man be Rev. 16.15 The World will not believe or prepare for it till they see Christ coming in the Clouds he will as to most come as a Thief in the Night that is not thought of or looked for Rev. 3.3 The World is as loose as careless as secure as if they had heard nothing of Christ's coming as if they had not been informed of his appearing or been exhorted to look and wait for it and been warned to prepare for it the evil Servant faith no more but my Lord delayeth his coming Matt. 24.48 Tho' yet he acts and carries it as if he would never come at all Christ's Appearing will come as a Snare on them that dwell on the Earth Luke 21.35 Tho' they have often been taught and told that Jesus Christ will come yet they will be as stupid and senseless and foolish as the Birds and Beasts they will take no warning but will fall into the Snare as a Bird doth and be utterly ruined and destroyed by Christ's second coming Tho' Christ doth bring Grace and Glory to others yet he will totally take away all Good all that is sweet and comfortable from impenitent Sinners Men are wofully degenerate that they will not know things by Faith or the Testimony of the Word of God but only by Sense and so will not discern dreadful Evils till they fall upon them 3. Jesus Christ will be Revealed in great Glory and sit upon the Throne of his Glory Matt. 25.31 He will also cause his Redeemed to appear in glory Col. 3.4 Our Saviour
in peace and your Faith may be found to Honor and Glory at the Appearing of Christ It is the Blood of Christ that must quench the Fire of God's wrath and it is the Spirit of Christ as mortifying as sanctifying that must pull away the Fuel of this Fire There is a sweet and gracious Promise Is 1.25 I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away thy Dross and take away all thy Tin How full how rich and comprehensive is this Promise that the Dross of Prophaness and the Tin of Hipocrisie shall be purely purged away If open Sin and secret Hipocrisie be removed the Euel of this Eternal Fire will be put away We must be put into Christ's Refining Fire that we may not be exposed to God's Consuming Fire If Christ now appear for you in Heaven Heb. 9.23 24. he will not appear against you in the great Day Those he has made Righteousuess and Sanctification to he cannot Condemn he will not destroy at his Appearing 5. For what end will Christ be Revealed in Flaming Fire It is thus expressed He comes in a Flame of Fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving Vengeance 1. He that is a merciful and gracious God yet will have no other gift to bestow on impenitent Unbelievers Tho' Mercy belongeth to God which he will Exercise towards his People tho' Forgiveness belong to him which he will bestow on penitent Believers yet only Vengeance belongs to God to be executed on hardened Transgressors Heb. 10.30 Ps 94.1 2. He hath no other Attributes but Justice and Power Rom. 9.22 to be glorified in them 2. This is an Impoverishing Gift when Christ gives Vengeance the one Talent shall be taken away Matt. 25.28 All that the Souls of Sinners do Lust after shall depart all the things that are dainty and goodly shall depart and they shall find them no more at all Rev. 18.14 3. This is a Formenting Gift it is a Cup of trembling a Cup of fury If 51.21 22. it is a Cup of red Wine and full of mixture all bitter all fatal deadly Ingredients are squeezed into joined and are rempered in this Cup yet it is without mixture not one drop of Mercy or Kindness in it but it is pure Wrath and Severity as if all the strongest most griping tormenting Poysons did meet in one Cup Rev. 14.10 and there was nothing to antidote or allay their deadly force and operation 4. This is a Gift they must receive they cannot decline avoid or refuse Jer. 25.15 28. Take the Wine-cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the Nations to whom I send thee to drink it If they refuse to take the cup and to drink then shalt thou say unto them Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ye shall certainly drink I may allude to this Text Tho' Condemned Sinners do loath the bitter and dreadful Cup that God giveth to them tho' they may recoil start from it and refuse it yet they shall certainly drink it 5. This is a Gift that is Debt and Wages Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death So God is said to repay fury to repay recompence Is 59.18 and to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of Fire We are commanded to render to all their dues Rom. 13.7 Misery and punishment is due to Sinners if Christ should not pay it he would not be true to his Word or just to himself Tribulation and anguish belongs to every Soul that sins Rom. 2.9 We are bid to owe nothing to any man but love Rom. 13.8 And this is a Debt that must be always paying and yet can never be fully discharged so God owes Sinners enmity and vengeance and this Debt will be paying and yet never be wholly paid off or discharged to Eternity What Presents do Sinners make to or what Gifts do they bestow on God What Fruit did God's Vineyard yield to him Were they not sowre and wild grapes grapes of gall and bitter clusters Wine that is the poyson of Dragons the cruel venom of Asps Deut. 32.32 33. What crop or harvest doth barren and bad ground yield to the Husbandman but briers and thorns Heb. 6.8 How Righteous is it then that Christ should give vengeance to them Deal out blows stripes and wounds to them and that for ever Christ offered them Mercy once and they would not receive it but he will give them Punishment he will shew Severity to them and they shall not be able to decline refuse or reject it Sinners would not do Christ right would not give him their hearts Prov. 23.26 They would not give him glory Jer. 13.16 Christ must therefore inflict punishment on them and give vengeance to them If Men will not give God and Christ glory Christ will get honour on them whether they will or no. Compare those two Scriptures Jer. 13.16 Give glory to the Lord your God And that in Exod. 14.17 I will get me honour on Pharaoh and all his Host Those that will not give Christ glory by repenting and believing Christ will get Honour by pouring out his fury and executing vengeance on them Ezek. 28.22 O Zidon in thee I will be glorified they shall know I am the Lord when I shall have executed judgments in her The day of vengeance is in Gods heart Is 63.4 And the strokes of Justice shall shortly be dealt out by Christ's hands The whirlwind of the Lord will go forth in fury it shall fall grievously on the head of the wicked Jer. 23.19 6. But on whom will Christ take vengeance This Text informs us it is on all that know not and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ As it is life eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 so this causeth death eternal to be ignorant of the true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Those that hear the Gospel and do not listen to it and receive it are guilty of a wilful and affected Ignorance of God and Christ The light shineth but they come not to it yea they shut their eyes against it Matt. 13.15 and so concur with Satan to promote their own destruction The Devil blinds their minds 2 Cor. 4.4 lest they should believe and they close their own eyes lest they should see with their Eyes hear with their Ears understand with their Hearts and so should be converted and God should heal them How guilty are Men before God who imprison and shut in Natural Light Rom. 1.18 and exclude shut out Supernatural Lights The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit for they are foolishness to him 1 Cor. 2.14 The blindness folly and vanity of their minds is as a dark Lanthorn about the Candle of Natural Light to hinder it from shining out in their Words and Actions They detain and hold it under unrighteously Their Lusts are too hard for their Light and do Rebel against it And Men come not to that Supernatural
works Col. 1.21 The mind is either inventing of evil things and finding out new sins Rom. 1.30 or projecting and contriving how to justifie the flesh and to fulfil the lusts of it Rom. 13. ult Or the mind is taken up in cloaking and covering of sin it finds out excuses it sews the Fig-leaves of Pretenses together to hide the filthiness and deformity of sin from the Eye of Conscience and so to blind and deceive their own Souls How should this afflict and wound our Souls that we have been enemies to him that is the chief good to a glorious infinite eternal Being who spake the World out of nothing and could as easily speak us and all things else into their First Nothing again But because men are ready to deny this Charge and plead not Guilty to it Paul proves mens enmity against God by their opposition to and rebellion against the Law of God The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 6. Men are Children and Captives of the Devil 1. They are Children of the Devil But Men will start and deny such an Accusation The Jews affirmed That God was their Father John 8.41 but Christ asserted that which was very different from and contrary to this John 8.44 Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do Was not Christ's Testimony to be credited rather than theirs Tho' Men as to their natural Life proceed and descend from their Parents yet as to their corrupt Life they issue from Satan The enmity and malignity of their Souls against God his People and his Laws this is the very image and likeness of Satan The Jews hated the Truth that Christ preached abhorred him and were inclined to murder him and these were the very Lusts of Satan Whoredom Gluttony and Drunkenness are gross and brutish Lusts but the most Spiritual sins as Pride Envy Hatred are properly the Lusts of Satan In these Men do most resemble him these are the very Lineaments of his Face It is said of wicked men Psal 58.4 That their poyson is like the poyson of a serpent This seems to be a plain allusion to the first sin When the Devil under and by a Serpent tempted our First Parents then he did distil his Venom and drop his Poison into them when his word was believed and his suggestions embraced He misrepresented God as envious of their Good of their higher Knowledge and of their sweetest Pleasures and Delights He did set forth the Fruit of a Tree as the best and most desirable Good and to be preferred before the favour of God and as if God's threatning was but a vain and false word This Poison of the Serpent we may discern and find in our own Souls and therefore while unregenerate may be justly charged to the Satans Children yea the Souls of Sinners are the House that Satan dwells and the Shop that he works in they have Members Col. 3.5 that God never made they have Lusts that he never kindled 1 John 2.15 16. and are under a Law Rom 7.21 23. that God never enacted but these Members Lusts and Law came from Satan 2. Unregenerate Men are the Devils Vassals Slaves and Captives Satan did but present Job's Cattle as a desirable Booty and Prey and blow up the Fire of their Lusts and the Chaldeans and Sabeans quickly make an Inroad Invade Job's Possession and take away his Cattle Job 1.15 17. Satan carries Men on in the Chanel of their own corrupt Nature and on the violent stream and torrent of their own Lusts Men are said to walk according to Satan Ephes 2.2 but how is this The Apostle tells us in the next Verse Eph. 2.2 3. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind They think they have nothing to do with Satan when they obey him in serving of their Lusts The Devil takes men captive at his will 2 Tim. 2. last yet he leads men captive by their own Wills The very liberty of their Wills is inslaved Sinners yield and give up their own corrupt Wills and carnal Affections as so many Cords for Satan to lead them by to Hell Satan finds Lusts in us as Chains to bind us as Snares to hold us shall not this consideration deeply wound the Souls of Men that they side and join with Satan to seduce and destroy themselves Men close their eyes Matt. 13.15 And Satan blinds their minds 2 Cor. 4.4 5. and so they put the greatest cheat on their own Souls They see not the Good that Satan deprives them of and the Misery and Destruction he brings on them 7. Unregenerate Men are Prisoners Is 42.7 Is 49.9 they sit in darkness and are bound with chains Is 61.1 and dwell in the Prison House They are under a sentence of condemnation John 3.18 He that believes not is condemned already And they are under a fear of a day of Execution Heb. 2.15 Through the fear of death they are all their life time subject to bondage How much are Sinners and Hipocrites affrighted What dreadful Exclamations do they make Who among us shall dwell with devouring Fire Who among us shall dwell with everlasting Burnings O what bitter cries of destruction Is 35.5 will Sinners lift up when they shall see the whetted Sword of Justice hanging over their Heads and their Feet at the brink of the bottomless Pit When their eyes shall see their destruction and they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath Job 21.20 30. 8. O let this wound your Souls that you go so far from God Jer. 2.5 and fly so fast Hos 7.13 Woe unto them 1. For they have fled from me as if they could not go too far or hasten too fast from the Father of Mercies from the Fountain of Life And Sinners are very unwilling to return they hold fast deceit they refuse to return Jer. 8.5 They stop their ears and make their hearts like an adamant-stone lest they should hear the words of the law of the Lord of hosts Zech. 7.11 12. They have an Iron Sinew a Brow of Brass and a Heart of Stone that will not melt or relent Is 48.4 when God draws near to them with beams of Light commands of Obedience and offers of Grace Job 21.14 They bid him depart as if they had no need of God owed no homage obedience or subjection to him as if they could stand tho' he did not support them as if they could chuse their own way and order their steps tho' he did not direct them and they could be happy tho' they did not enjoy him They cast God himself and his Word too behind their backs Ezek. 23.35 When Men bid God depart is not this to pluck away his props and supports from their Building To banish Heaven from themselves and to execute a great part of Hell on themselves And to provoke God to bid them depart from him as cursed Creatures into everlasting Fire Matt.