many such when they lye a dying how 't is with them whether there be any thing that troubles them or lyes heavy upon their Consciences And they will readily answer There is nothing that troubles them nothing that disturbs their peace Ask them if they be willing to die and whether they be not afraid of death Their answer is they are very willing to die and as for death they fear it not Now call you this a dying peaceably and comfortably when men of very bad or careless Lives go out of the World fast asleep in carnal security When they die without any sense of their Spiritual and Everlasting Estate O be not deceived 't is certainly a very sad and fearful thing when a careless or wicked Life without any evidence of after-repentance is shut up in a quiet and undisturbed death How much better grounds of comfortable hopes concerning the Everlasting Estate of such men were there if they died under many fears and troubles from a sound conviction and thorough sence of the sins of their Life 'T is very true you will say if they have been very wicked Men great and notorious Sinners But if the worst that can be said of them is that they have been careless and uncircumspect in their Lives the matter is not much A. Considering the corruption of our Nature our strong proneness to Evil the many Temptations we meet with and the malice and restlesness of Satan ever watching to take hold of all advantages against us to hurry us into Sin 't is impossible but that a man of a careless and uncircumspect Life should have led a very sinful Life and have contracted and heaped up a great deal of guilt and therefore if such a one without discovery of any After-repentance and Humiliation and without any trouble upon account of his Sins go quietly out of the World 't is a sad and uncomfortable thing and though we may not rashly and peremptorily pass our Judgment concerning the Eternal Estate of particular Persons yet have we just cause to fear and all things considered we cannot but greatly fear how it may be with such a one in the other World Sure we are without Repentance whereof there was no evidence or appearance he must everlastingly miscarry So from the Duty of walking circumspectly I come to the Argument by which it is enforced implied in the next words Not as fools but as wise 'T is every man's wisdom to walk circumspectly but his folly to be careless uncircumspect and heedless in the course of his Life Prov. 17.24 Wisdom is before him that hath understanding That is He that hath understanding the man that is truely wise his wisdom is before him to look right on to ponder the path of his feet as Solomon speaks Prov. 4.25 26. to spy out and consider his way to direct and govern his steps And so is this Proverb expounded by that other to the same purpose Prov. 14.8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way that 's the use which he makes of his wisdom he is as to that matter wise for himself in Solomon's Language still Prov. 9.12 But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth he exerciseth that little reason which he hath about remoter things about any thing else rather than what most nearly concerns him the observing and making choice of his way As if a Man should fix his Eyes on the Hills at a great distance where the Earth and the Heavens seem to meet and in the mean time neglect to heed his way to observe where he treads and what dangers he runs upon as the Philosopher who fell into a Pit whilst his Eyes were taken up with the Contemplation of the Celestial Bodies Thus we see 't is our wisdom to walk circumspectly and 't is so in several respects 1. We hereby shun and avoid the greatest Evils 1. The displeasure of God whose wrath is so terrible that it made the Prophet cry out Hab. 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger 2. The sting of an evil and guilty Conscience the Torment whereof is intolerable Prov. 18.14 A wounded spirit who can bear 3. The loss of a man's Soul which nothing can compensate or make up What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world Mat. 16 26 and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul He that walketh circumspectly avoideth these three great and formidable Evils greater than which none can be the displeasure of God the sting of a guilty Conscience and the loss of his Soul 2. On the contrary by walking circumspectly we secure to our selves the greatest the most desireable good things 1. The favour of God for while we are with God in a course of Obedience 2 Chron. 15.2 he is with us 'T is only sin that deprives us of God's favour Now the favour of God is better than life Psal 63.3 What is there in all the World that is comparable to it 2. It secures to us peace of Conscience Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them and upon the Israel of God And this also is a thing of invaluable worth Prov. 14.13 A good conscience is a continual feast The comfort of which is so great as none can tell what it is but he that hath had experience of it in himself It passeth knowledge Eph. 4.7 3. By walking Circumspectly we secure to our selves the Everlasting well-being of our Souls which even in Satans valuation of them are more worth than the whole World Mat. 4.9 Psa 50.23 To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God There being these singular advantages of walking circumspectly you need not be much troubled at the Censures of the World They who are strangers to the ways of God and were never acquainted with the Comforts of them may count them little better than Fools that run not with them to the same excess of Riot But this is more than enough to satisfie and quiet you that what they count foolishness the Holy Ghost honours with the Elogy of Wisdom So I have done with the great Duty of circumspect walking together with the reason by which it is enforced I come now to speak of the particular instance in which our circumspection should be exercised Redeeming the time To redeem properly is by laying down a price to purchase again or recover that which another hath gotten possession of So a Captive or a Slave is redeemed out of the hand of an Enemy So a Man redeems his Goods which have been pawned or sold to another Now in this very sence to redeem time that is gone is impossible For time is of that nature that it can never be recovered when once 't is lost All the Gold and Silver all the
to their masters according to the flesh faithfully and faithfully also to their Master in Heaven in singleness of heart as unto Christ and again Not with eye service as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart and yet once more with good-will doing service as to the Lord and not to men he encourageth them thereunto from the consideration of the reward of this their service which they may expect from God Knowing saith he that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free What tho he be not only a Servant but a Bondman wholly at the command and under the power of his Master and by him imployed in the meanest services and put to the basest drudgery and enforced to bestow all his time and lay out all his strength that way may this poor Bond-man this contemptible and miserable Slave expect any reward of these his Services from God Yes that he may and he shall be sure not to lose his reward if he do what he doth sincerely and faithfully if he obey his Master and serve him faithfully in obedience to God and do even his basest drudgery in singleness of heart as to Christ and as to the Lord and not to man Be he a freeman or a bond man be his services and imployments honourable or base all is one with God faithfulness is that which God looks after whatsoever is done faithfully and by whomsoever it shall be accepted and rewarded 3. Where this faithfulness is wanting there the better our Services are for substance the more notoriously and grosly do we play the Hypocrites For in such Services we do in special manner pretend to honour God and seek his Glory which when 't is only pretended and we really mind nothing less than what we make shew of how odious and abominable is this in the sight of God who is a Spirit and will be served in Spirit and in Truth Gal. 6.7 God is not mocked that is he is not deluded and put off with outward shews and appearances instead of realities as men may be who look upon the outward appearance but cannot look into the heart So I have done with the two former things propounded having shewed what it is to do every thing faithfully and why this is so great and so important a Duty I now come to make Application which was the third thing propounded VSE This presents just matter of Humiliation to us all even to the best amongst us in regard there is so little so very little of this faithfulness to be found in our Actions and Services We may be apt to think we have done a great deal of good several ways and so please our selves in the expectation of our reward but if things be well examined how little shall we be found to have done that will be approved of and further our account hereafter How much Pride Vain-glory and Hypocrisy how much seeking of our selves and our own things instead of seeking the Glory of God and the Things of Christ How many of the good things which we have done have been done by us upon other lower Considerations than the command of God from other Motives and to other Ends than that we might thereby honour and please him and be accepted with him Instances of our miscarriages this way might be endless almost if the time would permit and it were expedient to enlarge so much I shall touch at some few instances that by our fairings in them we may be the better able to understand our selves and know how we ought to judge of our selves in reference to the rest of our Life and the various passages thereof My first instance shall be that in which many here present are concerned and 't is that of mens Imployment in the way of their Trade and Commerce with others among whom their dealing is This is the main business of their Life and takes up the most considerable part of their time to which I may also add that 't is the business on which their parts and strength are mostly laid out Great pity therefore it were that little of what they do in this way should turn to their account hereafter as undoubtedly it will not unless it be done faithfully and sincerely as unto God and not to men And yet here how common a thing is it with most men in their Trading to look no further than their own outward Advantage and the procuring a competent or a fair and comfortable Livelihood and Subsistence for themselves and theirs Where almost is the Person to be found who doth everything in the way of that his Calling as unto God and not to men who sets God before his Eyes as much as may be all the day long who treats with every man he deals with or hath to do with throughout the day as in Gods sight who seeks and consults the good of others as well as his own in every Bargain be makes in every parcel of Ware he sells or buys in a word who dischargeth all the Duties of his particular Calling with a respect to God's command with an eye at pleasing him and being accepted of him Lay your hands upon your Breasts and ask your own hearts whether this be your daily practice and what experimental acquaintance you have with these things If you reflect upon your self impartially and search narrowly 't is to be feared that you will find too much cause to be humbled for your failings A second instance I shall give in those who are intrusted with the managing of other mens Businesses and Affairs in any kind in which their Industry Skill Ability and Faithfulness is required They are diligent and industrious in the ways of their Employment they have a care so to manage the Businesses put into their hands and committed to their trust as they may be able to give a good account of them and to approve themselves faithful to those by whom they are intrusted as it concerns them to be with respect to their Reputation and their worldly Advantage also for if they should be slack careless and unfaithful who would make use of them or imploy them Who would care to intrust them with any business of Concernment But in the mean time while for their own ends they are thus careful to approve themselves faithful to men where is their faithfulness to God Are they as careful and solicitous how they may approve themselves to him in every business they manage how they may please him and be accepted of him That some are so far be it from me to question but Oh how few are these men And how rarely to be found among many who scarce mind God at all and who is hardly in all their Thoughts A third instance may be in the poorer sort who are very painful and industrious in their way for such many of the poorer sort are though many
others of them eat the Bread of idleness and will do it for their hands refuse to labour and they will not have honest Imployment when they may but I say those before spoken of are diligent and industrious they rise betimes in the morning they follow their work closely all the day and go late to bed at night a very commendable thing in them and greatly to be encouraged but yet alas What 's their great end in all this What do they aim at Nothing else but that they may eat a piece of Bread that they may have wherewithal to keep themselves and their Relations alive if any they have Do they mind God in their Employment Are they diligent in their Calling because he commands them so to be And do they in that way of their Employment intend the serving of his Providence And do they seek his Glory in that their low condition of Life Do they humbly and contentedly submit to his Providence in thus disposing of things and in allotting them so slender a portion of the things of this Life and putting them to get their Livelihood in so painful and laborious a way And lastly as low as their condition is do they seek to honour God in it as much as they can If they do so then they do faithfully what they do in their mean condition and they may assure themselves that as their eye is on God so God's Eye is on them he takes notice of their faithfulness and will assuredly reward it But how few are they who look so high as to mind God at all or in the least study to approve themselves to him A fourth instance shall be in Servants Though there were never more complaints of the carelesness and unfaithfulness of Servants and perhaps never more cause for such complaints yet there are those who are diligent and faithful and cannot justly be charged with idleness or unfaithfulness or with any of those other usual faults for which Servants are blamed And yet even amongst these who are the best and most careful to please those whom they serve and who do all they can to give them content how few are there whose eyes are upon their Master in Heaven and whose greatest care it is so to discharge the Duty of their places as to please him Who according to the Apostles injunction before-mentioned do service with singleness of heart as to the Lord and not unto men Who do all the service which they owe to man as unto Christ studying to please him therein and expecting their Wages and Reward from him For the most part even the better sort of Servants look no further than their Masters here on Earth as for God their Master in Heaven 't is scarce in all their thoughts to please him and yet without a care and study to please him they are but men-pleasers Eph. 6.6 as the Apostle calls them and must never expect either reward or acceptance from God 5. Another instance may be in Parents and Children to put them together As for many Parents they are not without natural Love Affection and Tenderness for their Children in their younger years they are willing to take any pains with them they can cheerfully undergo much trouble for them and when they are grown up they are full of careful thoughts about them and so studious of their temporal welfare that they think they can never do enough to promote it And yet 't is possible that very little of all this may be done in obedience to God and with respect to his Authority and Command who as he hath furnished them with natural Affections to put them on to do for their Children so he hath by his command made it their Duty without regard of which command they do these things no otherwise than the brute Beasts feed tender and protect their young by natural Instinct and from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or inbred Affection which both strongly inclines them to do it and enables them to do it with delight and pleasure That many Parents are led to all that careful and solicitous travel and labour of Love which they undergo for Children by no higher Principles or Inducements is manifest because if the command of God did prevail with them it would also make them conscientiously Industrious in discharging their Duty to their Souls which God hath as strictly enjoined and which he looks after as much yea much more as the Soul is more worth and the everlasting miscarrying thereof of higher consequence than that of their temporal welfare But here how miserably do they neglect them and betray their Souls to Sin Satan and Hell While they neither bestow any pains upon them to instruct them in the Principles of Religion and their Duty to God nor use any effectual means for preventing and restraining Sin in them But neither is this the only evidence of their performing no part of their Duty to them in obedience to God for if they did then would the same command and authority of God also ingage them to reform their own Lives and frame their Conversations according to the Rule then would they not as many of them do allow themselves in sinful ways slighting God's Authority and casting his Word behind their back And what hath been spoken of Parents the same likewise may be said of Children I speak of Children grown up to years of some discretion and able to put a difference between good and evil They obey their Parents some of them I mean though many others are undutiful headstrong and rebellious I say the better sort of Children obey their Parents are unwilling to offend them or incur their displeasure but yet 't is not the command of God that sways them or prevails with them 'T is because they stand in some awe of their Parents but not because they stand in awe of God who hath threatned to punish stubborn and disobedient Children and hath promised to reward such of them as are dutiful tractable and obedient as is implied in the Motive annexed to the Fifth Commandment 'T is because of their dependance on them and in regard they live in expectation of further kindnesses from them but not with respect to God's command who hath said Honour thy father and thy mother and Children obey your parents for this is well-pleasing unto God Alas This consideration that 't is well-pleasing unto God hath not the least influence upon that obedience which many Children yield unto their Parents nor are they at all moved or stirred up to the performance of their Duty to them thereby And so I have shewed in these few instances unto which many more might be added that though men may do many good things yet very little of what they do may upon examination appear to have been done faithfully so far are they from being capable of the Testimony and Commendation given to Gaius to whom the Apostle saith Thou dost faithfully whatsoever thou dost both
Persons of higher Place shall make use of their Power to the wronging and trampling under their feet such as have no power to resist them and when they shall abuse their Abundance to Drunkenness Gluttony and Excess and to the accommodating and furnishing themselves with what may supply and feed their Pride and Vanity they take the ready Course to be despoiled and stripp'd of all those Blessings which they so horribly dishonour God by making them the Instruments of their Sin and turning them into Fewel for their Lusts And so I have done with that Observation In the next place Whereas Manasseh's hiding himself in the Thorns did him no service stood him in no stead at all whereas even in the Thorns where it was not likely that a Prince should have hid himself he was found out seized on bound with Fetters and thence carried to Babylon we may observe That when God will punish Men for their Sins no Means which they can make use of shall secure them from his Judgments This is a Truth that no Man can question who believes and acknowledgeth the Infinite Power and Wisdom of God and the Absolute Dominion and Soveraignty that he hath over all his Creatures 1. He being Infinite in Power can do whatsoever he pleaseth If he will work Isa 43.13 who can let him as he himself speaks Isa 46.10 My Counsel shall stand saith he and I will do all my Pleasure 2. He being Infinite in Wisdom as well as in Power knows how to contrive and order to dispose of and direct over-rule and govern all the Means conducing to their Punishment so as all the Wisdom of Men and Angels shall not be able to devise or contrive any thing that may counterwork his Counsels or hinder the Accomplishment of his Designs 3. He moreover having an Absolute Dominion and Soveraignty over all Creatures and they being all at his Command he can either imploy them as he pleaseth for punishing such as he will punish or forbid them to be helpful to them and restrain them from doing any thing whereby they may be rescued from Punishment Wherefore 1. When God will punish Men when he will have them suffer for their Sins he will sometimes disenable them to make use of any Means whereby they may help themselves When they should run away from Danger they have no Power to do it but stand still as Men confounded and astonished till their Fears overtake them and come upon them when they should act to secure themselves against the Evils which threaten them they cannot find their Hands as the Psalmist speaks Psal 76.5 When they should be casting about and contriving what may be for their Safety and Security they are at their Wits End and cannot make use of their Reason to relieve themselves in their Distresses Their Wisdom faileth them Eccl. 10.3 as Solomon speaks 2. Sometimes again when they contrive and consult for their Safety God blasteth their Counsels and turns them into Foolishness when they make use of Means God makes the very Means which they made use of for their Preservation an occasion of their Ruine As Sisera betaking himself to the House of Heber the Kenite to save his Life Judg. 4.15 16 17. lost it and met with that Destruction there which by running thither he sought to avoid while he flies from the Sword he meets with a Nail that pierced through his Temples If they escape one Judgment they are overtaken by another Thus Sennacherib having escaped the Peril of the Sword abroad 2 Chron. 32.21 is slain at home in the House of Nisroch his God by those that came out of his own Bowels Thus God threatning wicked Men saith it shall be with them Amos 5.19 as if a Man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the House and laid his Hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Much to the same Effect God threatning Moah saith Jer. 48.43 44. Fear and the Pit and the Snare shall be unto thee He that fleeth from the Fear shall fall into the Pit and he that getteth out of the Pit shall be taken in the Snare When once a Man hath by his Sins made himself obnoxious to the Justice of God whither can he flee from his revenging Hand Whithersoever he goes he is sure to meet with an incensed God Whithersoever he withdraws himself he cannot run away from him who is omnipresent Can any hide himself in secret Places saith the Lord Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Jer. 23.24 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whither shall I flee from thy Presence Psal 139.5 8 9 10. saith the Psalmist If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me If a Man be your Enemy and seeks to do you a Mischief you may possibly get you away from him and retire you to some Place or other where he shall not be able to find you or where he may not reach you Though Kings have long Arms as we say and can by themselves and by their Ministers and Instruments reach a great way yet they cannot reach so far but that sometimes such as have offended them makeâ— shift to get them out of their reach But if a Man shall have offended God if he shall by his Provocations have made God his Enemy whither can he betake himself where he may be without the reach of his Justice Surely he must go out of the World that would go away from God And if he should so do yet would he meet with God in the other World and even there would he fall under his Sin-revenging Justice Hence it is that God often speaks of himself as of one that hath such a powerful Arm and such irresistible Might that no created Power can rescue any out of his Hand when he hath determined to make them Instances of his Justice and of his fierce Indignation against Sin by inflicting exemplary Punishments on them Having threatned severely threatned to reckon with the wicked the obstinate and impenitent Sinner that in the height of his carnal Security thinks God to be altogether such an one as himself he at length concludes Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord that I am God Yea before the Day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my Hand Isa 43.12 13. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my Hand For I lift up my Hand to Heaven and say I live
before the coming of the Messiah Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations 2. We have a Prediction of his coming And the desire of all nations shall come 3. A Promise of the Glory of the second Temple together with an answer to an objection against it And I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine 4. An Amplification of that Promise concerning the glory of the second Temple The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former 5. An additional Promise of Peace as an Appendix to all other Mercies promised And in this place will I give peace 6. The Ratification or Confirmation of the whole in those last words saith the Lord of Hosts so often mentioned before and with which all that was before promised is at last shut up and sealed To begin with the first of these the Prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World before the coming of the Messiah It is yet a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations By these Metaphorical Expressions according to the usual Language and Style of the Prophets we are to understand great Troubles Commotions Changes and Alterations in the World in which high and low Persons of all Conditions Ranks and Qualities represented by the Heavens and the Earth should take their turns and have their share So God speaking of his terrible Judgments on the World saith Isa 13.13 I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of its place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the day of his fierce anger But now all the difficulty is what shakings should be here intended Some understand the words of the great things which the Evangelists report to have been done at and upon the Birth of Christ the Miracles wrought by him in his Life the strange and miraculous Providences at his Death and Resurrection and of the shaking of the World afterwards by the preaching of the Gospel whereby Idols were thrown down Heathenish Idolatry and Superstitions were abolished the Christian Religion and the Worship of the true God coming in place thereof These were great and wonderful things but how they should be here by the Prophet intended is not easie to conceive For he seems to speak of such concussions and shakings as should be antecedent to the coming of Christ and go before it not concur with it much less follow after it Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations and the Desire of all nations shall come that is after God should thus have shaken the World Christ should come And indeed very great and dreadful shakings there were between the time of this Prophecy and the coming of the Messiah in which shakings the people of God the Jewish Nation were not a little concern'd The Persian Empire under which they now were was not only shaken but shaken in pieces dissolved and ruined by the Grecians under the Conduct of Alexander the Great Then presently after Alexander's Death who died in the flower of his Age the Empire which he had but just then acquired and been possessed of was in effect once more rent in pieces and divided amongst his Chieftains and Principal Commanders While this state of things continued the Jews were miserably shaken oppressed and harassed by the Tyranny and Cruelty of Antiochus Epiphanes besides many other grievous pressures and sufferings which during the Government of the Seleucides they underwent After some time the Romans came upon them all and subdued all to themselves in which Revolution the distressed Jews fell under the power of the Romans and were at their Mercy After all these terrible shakings nearer the coming of Christ the Civil Wars under Augustus Caesar caused horrible shakings and convulsions in the Empire after which the Temple of Janus was shut up and a peaceable time ensued all Swords being sheathed and all Arms laid aside throughout the whole Empire and then was Christ the Prince of Peace born in the Forty first or as some will have it in the Forty second year of the Reign of Augustus Caesar Now whereas all these shakings were to go before the coming of Christ which was the greatest Mercy that ever was vouchsafed the World we may observe That great Troubles and Afflictions sometimes go before and make way for great and signal Mercies This is indeed the ordinary and usual method of God's most wise and gracious Providence Thus Joseph is sold to the Midianites carried into Egypt and there again sold to Potiphar falsly accused cast into Prison and laid in Irons that by this Series of long-continued Afflictions way might be made for his Advancement to the highest Honour in Pharaoh's Court and for his being made Ruler over all the Land of Egypt Thus seventy years Captivity and Bondage in Babylon goes before the joyful and triumphant Return of God's people into their own Land of which the Psalmist thus speaks Psal 126.1 2. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Which Psalm though placed among the Psalms of David yet is by Learned men upon good grounds supposed to have been penned by some other Person after the return from Babylon as also Psal 137. that is to say 460 years at least after that David had been gathered to his Fathers and perhaps much more for we know not how long after the return from Babylon it might be penned Thus the Ten most Cruel and Bloody Persecutions of the Christian Church in the first Ages thereof went before that quiet and tranquillity which the Church enjoyed under Constantine and the succeeding Christian Emperors when to use the expressions of the Prophet God made the peace of his Church as a river and the righteousness thereof as the waves of the sea Thus that wicked Usurpation and Tyranny of Antichrist making havock of the Church which hath been drawn out to so great a length already and yet we know not how much longer it may last goes before that happy estate of the Church and of the World when those joyful Acclamations shall be heard The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 And when they who shall have gotten the victory over the beast and over his image shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints Rev. 15.1 2. And to add but one instance more here at home thus
Dr. CONANT's SERMONS Preach'd on Several Occasions IMPRIMATUR Geo. Royse R. Rmo in Christo Patri ac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cant. à Sacris Domest Mart. 14. 1692 3. SERMONS Preach'd on Several Occasions By JOHN CONANT D. D. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell and Tho. Cockerill At the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard and at the Three Leggs in the Poultrey over-against Stocks-Market MDCXCIII TO THE INHABITANTS OF NORTHAMPTON AND More especially to those of the Parish of All-Saints there Christian Friends and Neighbours THough my great Age and the Infirmities attending it have lately constrained me to quit my relation to you yet I still account my self obliged to endeavour to promote your spiritual welfare what I may In order whereunto I here lay before you some few of those plain and practical Sermons which I formerly preached unto you hoping that they may take better effect than when you heard them from the Pulpit which that they may so do is the unfeigned desire and earnest Prayer of Your truly loving Friend and Servant JOHN CONANT THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER IT may be expected by those that knew the Reverend Author of these Sermons and the publick Station he was in for several years in the University of Oxford as Divinity Professor there that he should have gratified the World with another sort of Work I mean his Lectures which he there read and were composed with great Learning Accuracy and Judgment But that it seems is not so agreeable to his native modesty who chuses rather to live and die in a kind of obscurity than be set as a city upon an hill and values himself more upon the relation he had to a Parochial Cure and the Capacity he was in of doing good to the Souls of men than of being in one of the most publick Stations in the Church And in which since by the privation of his Sight and other Infirmities of Age he has been no longer able to serve he thought by publishing some Practical Discourses preach'd in that Auditory he might though he be in a sense dead yet speak and be useful among them The Discourses are such as he usually composed plain and practical and suited to the meanest Capacity And if there be any thing that is not of that nature as there is very little and which the Author had he had the last perusal would have revised the Error is to be imputed to the Publisher to whose care and choice they were committed The Discourses sometimes are large and comprehend several Sermons though under the title of one but it was not well to be prevented and which the Reader however may well dispence with The Two last Sermons are Occasional but the occasion such as will render them profitable to all John Williams THE CONTENTS SERMON I. JOHN III. 19 20. AND this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Pag. 1. PART II. Verse 20. Every one that doth evil hateth the light pag. 25. SERMON II. JER XIII 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil pag. 59. SERMON III. EPHES. V. 15 16. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the days are evil pag. 89. SERMON IV. 3 Ep. JOH Ver. 3. Beloved thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers pag. 183. SERMON V. PROV XXII 2. The rich and the poor meet together the Lord is the maker of them all pag. 219. SERMON VI. 2 CHRON. XXXIII 10 11 12 13. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people but they would not hearken Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humhled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers And prayed unto him and he was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God pag. 257. SERMON VII 2 CHRON. XXXIII 10 11 12 13. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and his people but they would not hearken c. pag. 337. SERMON VIII LAM III. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. pag. 403. SERMON IX LAM III. 40. Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. pag. 463. SERMON X. EZRA IX 13 14. After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such a deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandments and join in affinity with the people of these abominations Wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping SERMON XI HAG. II. 6 7 8 9. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts The First Sermon JOHN III. 19 20. And this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved I May take it for granted That by light here we are to understand the light of the Gospel And yet hereby Christ is not excluded who is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light in the seventh and eighth Verses of the first Chapter of this Evangelist and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true light v. 9. Both these lights may well go together Christ the Sun of ousness and the Gospel the Rayes which he sends forth to enlighten the dark World Besides as Christ conveyeth to us the Gospel so the Gospel conveyeth Christ unto us and offers him unto the World in both which respects it's called the Gospel of Christ Gal. 1.7 Gal. 1.7 he being as the Author so the principal subject of it Now both these Lights are come into the World Christ by his Incarnation and together with
And to the same effect is that of St. James To him that knoweth to do good Ch. 4.17 and doeth it not to him it is sin that is sin to the purpose sin of no ordinary complexion 2. What is done against light hath not only an inconformity to the Rule but some degree of contempt thereof Wherefore in such cases God looks upon himself as despised Why hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord said he to David when he had knowingly and deliberately sinned 2 Sam. 12.9 3. It argues Corruption to have gotten head and to have grown up to a great measure of strength and maturity it argues such a person to be set upon sin and wholly bent to gratify himself therein whatsoever shall come of it When the light it self shall stand in a man's way and flash in his face and yet he will go on he acts as one so resolved to sin as nothing shall take him off This in the language of the Scipture is to sin presumptuously by which a man under the Law was judged to have reproached the Lord in regard whereof no less punishment was appointed than the utter cutting him off from among his people Numb 15.30 31. And thus far I have only insisted on the consideration of light more generally 'T is light that is refused and contemned and therefore neither the sin nor the punishment of the person so offending can be small 2. 'T is not any kind of light but Gospel light that is so ill treated and this hath yet much more in it than all that hath been hitherto mentioned 1. The light of the Gospel is a clearer light All other light is but darkness to this The Heathens had the light of Nature for their guide but yet they were still in darkness till the Gospel enlightened them for the very Errand of the Gospel to them was to open their eyes Acts 26.18 and to turn them from darkness to light The Jews under the dispensations of the Law had much more light and yet were heavenly things in great part so vail'd and wrapt up in Types and Shadows as their condition to that of Gospel-times seems to have been but as the morning spread upon the Mountains to the noon day-light 2. 'T is a light that presents to our view the most excellent and most desirable things Pardon of sin Acts 10.43 Peace with God Rom. 5.1 Eternal life John 3.36 A kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 12.28 An inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1.4 Such things as neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor have entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 3. These excellent things which the light of the Gospel sets before us are such as were by infinite Wisdom and unspeakable Love designed and contrived for us before the foundations of the World were laid The most wise and gracious God did in nothing more discover the unsearchable Treasures of his Wisdom and the Riches of his Grace than in the Contrivance of our Salvation in such a way as in which Mercy and Justice so admirably meet together and Righteousness and Peace kiss each other We cannot therefore refuse or slight these excellent things without a manifest disparagement of the Wisdom and Love of God as if neither the one nor the other were considerable herein and as if after all that God hath done the things so wifely designed and graciously proffer'd were not worth our acceptance 4. The Gospel presseth the entertainment of these excellent things with the most cogent and forcible Arguments 'T is not laid before us as a matter of indifferency whether we will embrace what 's tendered or refuse it We are told and assured that as the acceptance of the things proffered will render us unspeakably blessed and happy to eternity so the refusal of them will certainly make us everlastingly and unconceivably miserable He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 5. Besides the external tender of these things in the Gospel the Spirit of God usually more or less accompanies the outward Ministration of the Gospel inwardly working together with it treating with us and solliciting the matters of our peace by Enlightnings and Convictions by stirring up good Motions and Affections Purposes and Resolutions which makes our refusal of mercy after all this much more worthy of the severest punishment 6. Add to all this the consideration of the greatness of the Person who at first published the Gospel and made tender of those excellent things to the World himself while here on Earth and also still continues to do it by his Servants The Lord of Life and Glory the Eternal Son of God who is over all God blessed for ever came in person from Heaven out of the Bosome of his Father on this very Errand that he might make reconciliation for sin Dan. 9. â—4 and bring in everlasting righteousness And offer the fruits and benefit of all to Mankind making this general Proclamation Whosoever believeth shall be saved If but an Earthly Prince should send his only Son to the remotest Parts of his Dominions on purpose to make tender of some great thing to one of his meanest Subjects what an indignity and how intolerable an affront would it be if that his tender should be slighted But here the King Eternal sends his only Son from Heaven to offer us Everlasting Life and we entertain him no otherwise than as if he came in a needless Embassy for so much our most unworthy carriage towards him imports if we do not accept of his Tenders This the Scripture insists on as a circumstance that carries in it no small aggravation of the sin of our unbelief If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken to us by the Lord Heb. 2.2 3. Heb. 12.25 And again If they escaped not who refused him who spake from earth much more shall not we escape if we refuse him who speaketh from heaven Now put all these things together and I see not how you can chuse but conclude That as there is no sin like that which is committed against the light of the Gospel so there is no punishment like unto that which will be inflicted for this sin or That this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light And so I proceed to the application of what hath been spoken VSE 1. First then To speak to the more dissolute Professors of the Christian Religion From the Premises we may infer That 't is a most vain and empty Plea which many loose Christians think to help themselves with at the day of their account to God They have had their birth and education where the light of the Gospel shines and under the
for ever If I whet my Sword and my Hand take hold on Judgment I will render Vengeance to mine Enemies and reward them that hate me I will make mine Arrows drunk with Blood and my Sword shall devour Flesh Deut. 32.39 40 41 42. Thus I have shewed that when God will punish Men for their Sins no Means they can make use of shall secure them against his Judgments Neither their high Quality in the World nor the Eminency of their Rank and Condition nor their Honours nor their Power nor their Policy nor their Riches nor their Interests nor their Friends nor any thing else that can be named shall do them any Good or stand them in any stead to interpose between them and the Wrath of God and skreen off his Judgments from them I come now to apply this Point briefly Vse 1. Let no Man therefore let no impenitent Sinner be incouraged to go on in his evil Ways by the vain Hopes of going unpunished and of escaping the Judgments of God A Man that shall thus flatter himself that makes account he shall be able to find Means to escape the Judgments of God whoever be punished such an one above all others shall be sure to be punished most severely Consider how dreadfully God hath threatned such hardned secure and fearless Sinners He that blesseth himself in his Heart saying Deut. 29.19 20. I shall have Peace though I walk in the Imagination of my Heart to add Drunkenness to Thirst The Lord will not spare him but the Anger of the Lord and his Jealousy shall smoke against that Man and all the Curses that are written in the Law shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven Such secure Sinners were those whom God threatned It shall come to pass that I will search Jerusalem with Candles Zeph. 1.12 and will punish them that are settled on their Lees and that say is their Hearts The Lord will not do Good neither will he do Evil. As if they had said The Lord is in Heaven and regards not what is done by us here below he will neither reward us if we do well nor punish us if we do ill Such obdurate and secure Sinners as these God would find out wheresoever they should be he would search Jerusalem with Candles for them that he might punish them Not one of them that upon the narrowest Search could be found out should escape his righteous Judgments So again God threatned that such as did put far away the evil Day Amos 6.3 4 5 7. did make account that the Day of Visitation when God would reckon with them for their Sins would never come or that it would be long enough before it would come and that thereupon caused the Seat of Violence to come near gave themselves to Rapine Oppression and Injustice and moreover glutted themselves with sinful Pleasures and Delights addicting themselves to all manner of Riot and Excess I say God threatned these secure Sinners that they should go captive with the first that should go captive So then none are more sure to be punished and to be punished severely and speedily than they who least fear it and who are most confident of their Safety and Security Vse 2. Let all impenitent Sinners therefore be perswaded and exhorted to labour to make their Peace with God and to do it speedily lest the Judgments of God overtake them and come upon them before they have done it Let them not be slack herein and put it off from Day to Day as if there were no Danger in delaying it They may perhaps think there is very little in those Threatnings and Denunciations of Judgments which they often hear and that such an evil Day as they have been frighted with shall never come or if it do come that they shall be able to make a shift to secure themselves well enough They have such and such Advantages above other Men and therefore whoever suffer they hope they may find Means to be exempted from suffering But let none deceive themselves these are but idle Dreams and vain Fancies When God comes to visit Mens Sins upon them he comes irresistibly All the Means in the World for keeping off God's Judgments all their Advantages for securing themselves will signify nothing Whatever they may seem to have to safe-guard and protect themselves against the Wrath of God their Sins have made them naked Exod. 32.25 as Moses said of the Israelites They lie as open and as much exposed to the Judgments of God as if they were perfectly stripp'd of whatever might promise them any Protection or Security in an evil Day 'T is true Mens Riches and Power and Policy and Interests may help them to withstand many a Shock and to weather out many a Storm But when the Day comes which God hath set and appointed for reckoning with them then all these things in which they trust shall afford them no Relief at all It may be instead of relieving and protecting them they may contribute to their Ruine So we know God often curseth Mens Policies Job 5.13 and causeth the Wise to be taken in their own Craftiness as Eliphaz speaks And their Riches do them no other Service than only to make them a more desirable Prey to the Enemy When the time comes that they are to be punished in vain shall they hope to escape whatever they have to protect and defend themselves withal and to ward off those Evils that are coming upon them The Prophet Jeremiah fore-telling and prophetically describing the Overthrow of Pharaoh's Army and all his hired Forces by the Army of Nebuchadnezzar and the sore Distress of Egypt attending that Overthrow saith Jer. 46.21 Her hired Men in the midst of her are like fatted Bullocks for they are turned back and are fled away together they did not stand because the Day of their Calamity was come upon them and the time of their Visitation When the time of Mens Calamity and the Day of Mens Visitation is come nothing shall help them or deliver them out of the Hands of God This Insignificancy and Unavailableness of all Means for affording of Relief God emphatically sets forth when speaking to Egypt Ver. 11. he saith Go up to Gilead and take Balm O Virgin the Daughter of Egypt in vain shalt thou use many Medicines for thou shalt not be healed I say therefore make your Peace with God and do it speedily before it be too late Isa 55.6 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near as the Prophet exhorts Seek him for the Pardon of your Sins seek him for the averting of those Judgments which by your Sins you have deserved and which are hanging over your Heads To the same Effect is that Exhortation of the Prophet Zephaniah Zeph. 2.1 2 3. Gather your selves together yea gather together O Nation not desired before the Decree bring forth
himself both Soul and Body In short Afflictions are a kind of spiritual Eye-salve whereby our Sight is cleared and we are enabled to see what we saw not before we were afflicted and to see those things more clearly and distinctly which before we saw darkly and confusedly Afflictions help us to see those Sins in our selves which before we discerned not or if we had some obscure and imperfect Sight of them if we had a dark and confused View of them before we were afflicted our Afflictions help us to see them and to discern the Evil and Danger of them more clearly 4. Afflictions put us upon the great and necessary Duties of Humiliation and Prayer Afflictions make us humble our selves for our Sins by which we have brought our Afflictions upon us and they make us earnest Suitors to God in Prayer for the Pardon of our Sins and for the Removal of those our Afflictions which have been the bitter Fruit of our Sins Afflictions have often taught Men to humble themselves and pray who were mere Strangers to those Duties before and never had any Acquaintance with them till God's afflicting Hand was upon them Even the Mariners a Generation of Men that for the most part do not much addict themselves to Devotion will pray and call upon God in a Tempest as we may see Psal 107. where both their Danger and their Carriage therein is thus described Psal 107.25 26 27 28. He commandeth and raiseth the stormy Winds which lift up the Waves they mount up to the Heavens they go down again to the deep their Soul is melted because of Trouble they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken Man and are at their Wits and Then they cry unto the Lord in their Trouble and he bringeth them out of their Distresses So Jonah 1.5 The Mariners being afraid by reason of a mighty Tempest cried every Man unto his God So the Prophet saith of the Jews Isa 26.16 Lord in Trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy Chastning was upon them And this is that which God aims at in afflicting his People I will go and return to my Place Hos 5.15 that is I will withdraw from them saith he till they acknowledg their Offence and seek my Face This here in my Text was the Effect which Affliction took upon Manasseh When he was in Affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers and prayed unto him This Course St. James directs the Afflicted unto Is any among you afflicted let him pray Jam. 5.13 To the like Purpose is the Exhortation of St. Peter to such as are cast down under the afflicting Hand of God 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty Hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 5. Afflictions make Men willing to forsake their Sins and induce them to take up Resolutions to forsake them and cast them off The beloved Sins of Men are sweet to them and they are most unwilling to leave them as long as they can enjoy them without Trouble or Molestation as long as they suffer nothing and as they smart not upon the account of their Sins But when they are chastned and afflicted for their Sins this makes Sin bitter to them and makes them resolve to part with it to cast it off and abandon it this makes them bind and oblige themselves by the most solemn and sacred Bonds never to return to it any more This is that which God's People were to do in the time of their Affliction they must resolve upon other Courses they must promise and vow to renounce and forsake those Sins by which they had drawn down the Judgments of God upon them they must return to the Lord and say unto him Asher shall not save us Hos 14.3 we will not ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the Works of our hands Ye are our Gods These Resolutions their Afflictions should produce and such Resolutions they would produce when their Sufferings being sanctified to them should effectually reduce them and bring them home to God And the like Resolutions did David's Afflictions produce in him as we may gather from the frequent mention there is of the Vows which he then made unto God Thy Vows are upon me O God I will render Praise unto thee Psal 56.12 Thou O God hast heard my Vows Psal 61.5 Prepare Mercy and Truth which may preserve me So will I sing Praise unto thee for ever that I may daily perform my Vows ver 7 8. I will pay thee my Vows which my Lips have uttered and my Mouth hath spoken when I was in Trouble Psal 66.13 14. Now by these his Vows no doubt but he obliged himself to testify his Thankfulness unto God when he should deliver him out of his Troubles not only by offering Sacrifices which were the usual Testifications of Thankfulness in those times but also by a more careful Endeavour to forsake all Sin and to give up himself to God more intirely in a way of constant and universal Obedience without which all their Sacrifices and Oblations had in God's Account signified little The Sum of all that hath been spoken is this Afflictions will work upon Men and prevail with them to return to God from whom they have gone astray when all other Means are ineffectual That 't is not from any natural Property or inherent Virtue in Afflictions themselves that they produce this Effect but from the Grace of God and the Operation of his Spirit accompanying Afflictions and sanctifying them to us That Afflictions sanctified Afflictions contribute towards the reclaiming of Sinners 1. By making them more serious and by causing them to reflect upon themselves and consider 2. By bringing them to the sight of their Sins which they do several ways 3. By acquainting them with the great Evil and Hainousness of Sin and with the Danger thereof 4. By putting the Sinner upon Humiliation and Prayer 5. By making him willing to forsake his Sins and by causing him to take up Resolutions to forsake his Sins and never to return to them any more Now I come to apply what hath been spoken Vse 1. If Afflictions will work upon Men and prevail with them to return to God when all other-Means are ineffectual this may inform us how entremely bad we are what sinful Natures we have how disingenuous we are how much our Hearts are set upon Sin and how fondly in love with it we are 'T is a very bad Child that will be wrought upon and be made better by nothing but the Rod if no Perswasions no wholsom Counsels no Admonitions no Promises no Threatnings will do him any good if he must be beaten and smart soundly or he will miscarry and undo himself This is our natural Temper this is the very Case of us all by Nature nothing but Blows and the Smart of the Rod will
and desperate Condition than which nothing could easily be more sad and rueful but notwithstanding all this God wonderfully appeared for him and rescued him out of his Misery And hence we may observe That there is no Condition so sad so disconsolate and so dismal but that God can afford a Man Relief therein and will do it if he be duly sought unto Jonah upon Prayer was delivered out of the Belly of Hell as he calls it Jonah 〈…〉 dark Prison or rather a Dungeon When the Israelites should by their Sins have so far provoked God as to be made the Objects of his fiercest Indignation and to be punished seven times and seven times and seven times more for their Iniquities yet after all this God promised them Mercy upon their sound Humiliation Lev. 26.40 41 42. and sincere Repentance So again when all the Curses of the Law should have overtaken and seized on that sinful People and when for their monstrous Provocations God should have dispersed them and scattered them amongst the Nations and driven them even to the uttermost Parts of the Earth yet if after all this they should return to the Lord and obey his Voice Deut. 30.2 3 4. he promiseth to turn their Captivity and to gather them out of all Places whither he had scattered them He is graciously pleased to assure them that if any of theirs should be driven out to the uttermost Parts of Heaven from thence would the Lord their God gather them and from thence would he fetch them There are two Branches of this Point 1. He can afford Relief in the most deplorable and desperate Cases for he is all-sufficient Gen. 17.1 He wants neither Wisdom nor Power to compass and work out the Deliverance of his People how forlorn or deplorable soever their Condition may seem to be 1st As for Wisdom He is the only wise God 1 Tim. 1.17 His Vnderstanding is infinite Psal 147.5 He knows how to deliver the Godly 2 Pet. 2.9 2dly His Power is equal to his Wisdom Nothing is impossible with God Luke 1.37 Nothing is too hard for him Gen. 18.14 He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think Eph. 3.20 He is never at a Loss though we be 2. As he can so he will afford Relief in all Cases if he be duly sought unto at least so far as shall be most for his own Glory and our real Benefit and Advantage For 1st The more sad any Man's Condition is the more ready is he to relieve him Psal 103.13 and the greater Compassion hath he for him Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 2dly The more sad any Man's Condition is the more Glory will redound to God from relieving him Now to apply this in a Word The proper Use of this Point is to incourage us to look up to God and to be humble Petitioners to him for Relief in all our Distresses never despairing of obtaining Succour as long as we have such an one to have recourse unto But to go on with the Text which informs us that God was entreated of him and heard his Supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom He was entreated of him not only so as to release him out of Prison and to bring him back again into Jerusalem into his Kingdom but so as to pardon his great and hainous Provocations by which he had drawn that Misery upon himself for that Manasseh was a true Penitent we have all the reason to believe not only in regard that it is said of him that he humbled himself greatly but also that upon his Return to Jerusalem he took away the strange Gods and the Idol out of the House of the Lord and all the Altars that he had built and cast them out of the City and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel These were Fruits and Evidences of the Truth of his Repentance Now whereas such an one as Manasseh obtained the Pardon of his Sins we may observe That the greatest Sinners may find Mercy with God if they duly seek it This great Truth for such it will be deemed by all that are truly sensible of their Sins may be confirmed several ways 1. From Instances of such notorious Sinners as have upon their Repentance obtained the pardon of their Sins Instances whereof are 1. Manasseh here in the Text whose most hainous and abominable Provocations are at large described 2 Kings 21. 2 Chron. 33. 2. The Woman mentioned Luke 7.37 38. and so on to the end of the Chapter This Woman is there said to have been a Sinner that is a notorious and infamous Sinner one that was known to be a lewd and vitious Woman all the Town over insomuch that Simon the Pharisee who had invited Christ to his House took great offence at it that he should suffer a Woman of such ill Report to come near him as we may see ver 39. and yet this lewd and vicious Woman upon her sincere Repentance obtained the forgiveness of her Sins whereof our Saviour assures her ver 48. saying unto her Thy Sins are forgiven thee 3. The Thief on the Cross is another Instance of Mercy obtained at the Hands of God by a great Sinner upon his sound Humiliation and unfeigned Repentance Luke 23.40 41 42 43. 4. Another Instance hereof may be in those who are said to have used curious Arts Act. 19.19 that is who addicted themselves unto Magick and Judicial Astrology Many of these are said to have brought their Books together that is their Books of Magick and Judicial Astrology and to have burned them before all Men thereby testifying the truth of their Repentance upon which without all question they obtained the pardon of those their great and horrible Offences 5. Another Instance may be in those notorious Sinners a black Catalogue whereof we have 1 Cor. 6.9 10. namely Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners Concerning which monstrous and prodigious Offenders the Apostle adds v. 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God The Sum of all is That as bad as they were and as notoriously wicked as they had been they obtained converting pardoning and sanctifying Grace 6. S. Paul may be another Instance hereof who though according to his own acknowledgment he had been a Blasphemer a Persecuter 1 Tim. 1.13 15. an injurious Person and the chief of Sinners yet upon his Repentance he obtained Mercy 7. Another Instance may be in those wicked Jews that crucified the Lord of Life three thousand whereof being converted by St. Peter's Sermon Acts 2.36 41. obtained the forgiveness of that horrid Sin 2. That great Sinners may upon sound and sincere Repentance obtain the pardon and
of his Judgments If such impudent and daring Sinners should be still found amongst us it were enough to set the Town on a light flame once more Let such persons tremble to think what awaits them if nothing will reform them Lastly Be you all in general persuaded to lay aside your mutual Animosities and Contentions which have been and still are the great reproach of this place Be kindly affectionate one towards another with brotherly love as the Apostle exhorts Be all of one mind study peace and the things that make for peace Live in peace and the God of peace and love shall be with you The Eleventh Sermon HAG. II. 6 7 8 9. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of Hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of Hosts WHen God turned the Captivity of his People The First Sermon Preached in the New Church at Northampton Rebuilt after the Fire brought them out of Babylon and once more settled them in the Promised Land they for a time wholly minded their own private Interests and Concernments but the publick Worship of God as if that had been no man's concern was no man's care The settling of their own Affairs and the building and beautifying of their own Houses so took them up that the building of the House of God was little regarded It was long before this work was begun and after it was begun and some progress had been made therein it met with several difficulties and interruptions and went on very slowly as for the most part Church-work doth Two great obstructions there were that did not a little retard and set back this work the one from without the other from within 1. The Enemies from without omitted no endeavours left no Stone unturned whereby they might hinder the building of the Temple And what by their own Power what by their Interest in the Persian Court they so far prevailed as to put divers stops to the work 2. The obstruction from within was their lukewarmness and indifferency their want of Zeal and forwardness for promoting and carrying on the work Now as well for their encouragement against the Enemy as for rousing them up and exciting them to more Zeal and Activity in promoting a work in which the honour of God and the happiness of that people were so much concerned God was pleased to raise up and imploy two extraordinary Persons the Prophet Haggai and the Prophet Zechary The Prophet Haggai having reproved them for their slackness and negligence for their minding their own private Interests and Affairs with the neglect of what referred to the honour and publick worship of God and having laid before them the several Judgments which for this their Sin God had inflicted on them doth assure them of God's gracious presence assistance and blessing in this weighty undertaking if they should in good earnest engage therein and pursue it with that Zeal Vigour and Industry which in the managing and carrying on of so important an Affair was requisite Now to the end that all objections against it might be answered and whatsoever was or could be matter of discouragement might be removed the Prophet in the words that I have read doth meet with the principal things which carnal Reason might pitch upon and make use of for the cooling of their Zeal the rebating of their Industry and the slackning of their Endeavours Were the Adversaries and Opposers of this work numerous and potent How many and how potent soever they were the Lord of Hosts would be with his People and stand by them He would exert and put forth his Almighty Power in the behalf of them he would shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land He would make all things give way to yield and stoop to his design and rather than any thing should hinder the accomplishment of what he had undertaken to do for his People he would turn the World upside down Now upon their late return from Seventy years Captivity in Babylon was their outward condition strait poor and low Were they altogether unfurnished with those rich supplies which were necessary for carrying on so costly a work That this might not trouble or dishearten them God tells them the Silver is his and the Gold is his He had all the Riches of the World at command and could plentifully furnish and supply them if he saw good Now that the platform of the House was drawn out and the Foundations of it were laid did the meanness of it discourage rhem Did it seem a poor and contemptible thing in comparison of Solomon's Temple How mean and despicable soever it might be in the eyes of any of them and how far short soever it was likely to be of the Splendor and Magnificence of Solomon's Temple yet God promiseth to fill that House with Glory and that the Glory of that latter House should be greater than the Glory of the former Were the frequent commotions and changes of the World and the inconstant and variable state of things in those parts of the World such as promised them little quiet and satisfaction in the enjoyment of God's publick worship when the Temple should be finished For allaying of these their fears as the close of all that God had promised he tells them that he would give peace in that place And in regard that these were great things and such as an oppressed people that had been long under hatches and had but of late begun to put up their Heads could not easily belive God ingageth his Omnipotency and Faithfulness for the performance of them within the compass of four verses five times repeating that solemn form of words Thus saith the Lord of Hosts So I have given you the main Intendment and Scope of these words In the handling of them I must take them in order as they lye And because there are many things contained in them which might take up some Hours if they were treated of at large I must with all convenient brevity speak to Particulars and pass on from one thing to another as lightly and speedily as I can But as I go on where the matter will admit of it and as far as it shall be capable thereof I shall endeavour to bring it as near the present occasion as I may Though the words will scarce admit of any genuine proper and convenient division yet such a division as they are capable of you may thus take 1. We have a prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World
John in a Vision as giving glory to Christ I beheld saith he and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palms in their hands and cryed with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb Rev. 7.9 10. Now if you ask in what respects and upon what account Christ is the desire of all Nations I answer this is a subject which would take up much time if I should enlarge on it Briefly therefore he is the desire of all Nations because he is the promised seed in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed Gen. 22.18 Because he is the Saviour of all Nations the saviour of the w rld John 4.42 The propitiation for the sins of the whole world 1 John 2.2 There being no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 In short he it is that satisfieth the Justice of God for Sinners and delivers them from the wrath to come that purchaseth for them pardon of sin peace with God Grace here and Glory hereafter In a word this is he who is of God made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Now let us all reflect upon our selves and consider whether he who is the desire of all Nations be the desire of our Souls and whether he be in our esteem the chiefest among ten thousand Do we count all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Do we intirely love him Do we earnestly long after him Are our Affections towards him such as we can never be satisfied until we can say that he is ours and we are his Could we be content to purchase him at any rate And is there nothing in all the World so dear unto us but that we could freely part with it for his sake O let us never be at rest until we find that our Hearts stand thus affected towards him What say you to this all ye that have the Name of Christ frequently in your Mouths and by an external Profession own him as your Saviour but say of him in your Hearts We will not have this man to reign over us Ye that give him good words but refuse to take his Yoke upon you and submit to his Government who profess you know him love him desire him and give him the chief room in your Hearts but in your works deny him being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Deceive not your selves Christ will never own such as you are Without timely and sincere Repentance the sentence which you must expect from him is Depart from me ye that work iniquity I never knew you Mat. 7.23 Hitherto of the Character of Christ Now as to the Promise of his coming all that I shall therein take notice of is the circumstance of time when he was to come namely while the second Temple should be yet standing for he was by his presence to fill that House with Glory and to make the Glory of the latter House greater than that of the former as we shall presently see And this circumstance of his coming is that which also the Prophet Malachy who prophesied immediately before his coming foretold Behold saith the Messiah himself I send my messenger that is John the Baptist the forerunner of Christ and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek namely the Lord Christ shall suddenly come to his temple Mal. 3.1 even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in This as it confutes the unbelieving and blasphemous Jews and argues the wilful blindness of their minds and the miserable obstinacy and hardness of their hearts in denying the Messiah to be come and still fixing new periods of time for his coming as they find still that he comes not at the times by them assigned him for his coming so it greatly confirms our Faith in Christ as the true Messiah For as all other things prophesied and foretold concerning the Messiah exactly agree to him and none else so doth this remarkable circumstance of the time of his coming Wherefore the Apostle saith When the fulness of time was come God sent his Son into the world made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law Gal. 4.4 5. When the fulness of time was come that is when the time which God had predetermined and foretold was fully come This is that which Jacob prophesied of Gen. 49.10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come Though the Jews had now ever since the Conquest of Judea by Pompey been under the Power of the Romans and by them been deprived of all power to judge determine and punish in Capital Matters yet in other matters they had still a power allowed them so as all Government was not wholly wrested away from them and taken out of their hands But now the time was drawing near when their City and Temple were to be utterly destroyed their Polity Civil State and Commonwealth to be abolished the remainders of them after the fatal slaughters of that miserable people at the destruction of Jerusalem to be dispersed and scattered into several Countreys and not as much as the face or shadow of any Government to be left among them At this signal and critical time when the day of these their Calamities hastened was Christ born The sum of all is this The Messiah was to come while the second Temple was yet standing and while the Scepter was not yet wholly departed from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet while at least somewhat of Civil Power and Government still remain'd among them and so accordingly he came But 't is now above sixteen hundred years since the Temple was destroyed and all Civil Government among them into what quarters of the World soever scattered perfectly abolished In vain therefore do the Jews expect any other Messiah and as for us Christians we have all imaginable evidence that Jesus the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Christ the promised Messiah To him therefore let us betake our selves for the pardon of our Sins and the salvation of our Souls on him let us rest to him let us securely commit the Everlasting Concernments of our Souls Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.1 If an angel from heaven preach any other gospel take upon him to hold forth any other Messiah or to declare any other way of salvation let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 3. Now follows the third Particular A Promise of the glory of the second Temple together with the answer of an objection against it I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine I will fill this house