for himself every Principle is for Operation The eye for seeing and the ear for hearing so grace is for work Now I say Christ hath begun a good work in you be you then at his work daily and finish it As it was with Christ the Head so should it be with all his members I have finished the work which thou gavest me Joh. 17. 4. to do The Apostle speaking to the Saints that had grace begun in them saith he As you have yielded your members servants Rom. 6. 19. to uncleanness and to iniquity Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness Peter writing to them saith The time past of our life may 1 Pet. 4. 3. suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles Sirs before you had grace you served sin and having grace will you not stir up your selves to serve Jesus Christ Your so long service to sin should set a keen edg upon you to serve Jesus Christ You live in Times and Places wherein men have so much work of their own to do that Christ is neglected and few men walk with God or act for God Some take mens Examples for patterns and copies and content themselves to do as others do Others are apt to put off Christ with desires but serve Satan indeed Others are catching at comforts and promises but neglect Precepts the Commands of God are tedious and burthensom to them Surely then you in whom the work of grace is begun it stands you upon to be at work for God whilst others shut up shop and are Bankrupts you should drive on a Trade for him 1. For he hath set you up again he hath underlaid and stockt you with Principles of Action he hath put you into a way of doing and given you wheels to move upon he hath made you Wings to fly Object Many excuse their negligence by pretending inability How often do Saints put a fine dress upon their laziness Alas I am nothing of my self except God give me an heart and strength what can I do Without me saith Christ ye can John 15. 5. do nothing Answ Do not deceive your selves God will not be mocked 1. The words of Christ have this meaning without me that is separate from me ye can do nothing that is till you are planted in me Now you say you are planted in Christ and therefore your excuse is but a lye This expression of Christ speaks no more but this that till you be knit to Christ you are but dead and barren Branches as Christ explains himself As the branch cannot bring forth fruit of it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in Vers 4. me Now you say you are knit and united to Christ and therefore away with these couzening vizors and palliations If you are not yet in Christ then confess it if you say you are in Christ then say not you can do nothing 2. The regenerate have a power to Act for God and to do work for Christ First Else there is no specifical difference between a man regenerate and unregenerate if both were without strength Secondly We should not have as much benefit by the second Adam as we had by the first Adam The first would have communicated his Power to do good and being corrupted doth communicate Power to do evil Therefore much more by Christ have we a Power to act for God in our measure Thirdly If you are in Christ you are living Branches vital Members and all life is a Power to act Fourthly What is grace but a repairing of that Holiness and Image of God which we lost in Adam But that was a Power to do what God required therefore so far as that Image is renewed so far there is a Power And therefore Saints Act for Jesus Christ I say you have wings and therefore fly upon action soar up a lost in Service for Jesus Christ God hath given you feet and therefore run the way of his Commandments God hath said to you as Peter did to the man that was Act 3. lame from his mothers Womb In the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk and your feet and ancle-bones received strength And therefore God expects that you should be upon employment for him If you say It is true we have habitual grace a new frame of heart but we must have assisting grace and influence else we can do nothing the work is hard and we cannot act without new breathings I say Let the duty be to nature impossible yet the Lord is at hand to help even when there is no strength He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he Isa 40. 29. increaseth strength You know how the Israelites pleaded impossibilities and then the Lords anger rose when they were ready to enter Canaan If you had no Christ no Spirit no Promise to assure you to help you might then let fall Duties and cease to action and say 't is impossible I should ever overcome such sins or attain such a measure of grace or bear the Cross or do any thing But when Promises to assure you and Christ and Spirit to breathe upon you are at hand now to plead impossibility is to reproach the Lord If you were under the Law you might plead this but under Grace 't is horrible to make this excuse Remember therefore Gideon and Sampson and David who went out in the Name and Spirit of the Lord and they were helped 3. Know this that the more difficult any work or duty is the more sweetness shall you find in it if you break through it He that overcomes shall eat of the hidden Manna Have you not found your selves dead to Prayer yet you fell to it and then would not but have took the season for a world The husbandman that hath laboured eats afterward of his 2 Tim. 2. 6. fruit You plead the difficulty of a Christian life and therefore taste not the sweetness of it If you can do no more than what is easie and pleaseth self the Lord will never let you taste the sweetness of pleasing him 4. What do you mean to be Like whom Christ teacheth you to breathe out this Prayer Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Do you look for Heaven and will you not act as they do in Heaven whom do you make your patterns If you are not like Heaven you are Bastards not Sons I am sure Angels are content to come out of Heaven to do the work of God nay the Lord Christ himself came down from Heaven and was made lower than the Angels to do the Work of God and shall your hands shrink at it or will you think your selves too good to do it You have here the noblest patterns and most unparallel'd Copies to write after Like whom then do you mean to be Will you draw back from Angels work from the work the Son of God was
Divine gift The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is a gift from Heaven To know God it is from God Christ is the gift of God and to know Christ is another gift And therefore the Apostle saith That faith is the gift of God Eph. 2. 8. Psal 119. 125. And therefore saith David Give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies To understand the Divine Testimonies is a gift God must not only give us the Objects of Knowledg but also the Knowledg of those Objects Man lost his Knowledg and therefore must be created again and renewed in Knowledg after the image of him that Col. 3. 10. created him God must set him up again with a new stock of Knowledg else Man can know nothing The Mysteries of Heaven in themselves are intelligible they are glorious and radiant Objects they sparkle with splendour in our eyes but blind men cannot see light without a light we are dark within while the Mysteries of Heaven shine like the light round about us And therefore God must give the opening of the eye to see the out-breaking of the light upon us 2. The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven I know saith Job that my Redeemer liveth Job 19. 25. Vers 26. and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Job knew the Mystery of Redemption and in that glass he saw the Mystery of the Resurrection He knew one Mystery in another In that he knew he was redeemed he knew he should rise again Our redemption implieth our resurrection Job though he lived in dark times yet he knew these Mysteires because to him it was given to know them I know Psal 119. 5. O Lord saith David that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me He knew First The judgments and dispensations of Divine Providence Secondly And he knew that those Judgments were right Thirdly And he knew the mystery and meaning of them That God in faithfulness had afflicted him Christ saith That his sheep know his voice I am the good John 10 14. shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine They are gifted with discerning that they know the voice or Doctrine of Christ they are so well acquainted with the Mysteries of Heaven that they know what is the Doctrine and what is not the Doctrine of Jesus Christ When it pleased God saith Paul to reveal his Son in me Gal. 1. 15 16. There was a time when the Mysteries of Heaven were vailed from Paul and afterward were revealed to Paul God in his time gave him to know what he did not know before Thus you see the second point That the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some 3. The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is not given to others Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in Deut. 29. 2. the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants and to all his land The great temptations which thine eyes have Vers 3. Vers 4. seen the signs and those great miracles yet the Lord hath not GIVEN you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day They saw much and yet they saw little They saw great things and yet they saw nothing nothing to purpose they had not a spiritual apprehension and use of the great works they did see In Psal 82. 5 They know not neither will they understand Psal 82. 5. they walk on in darkness all the foundations of the earth are out of course The Psalmist speaks of such as were great men the Judges of the earth they knew not how to administer Justice uprightly and impartially In Isa 1. 3 The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his masters Isa 1. 3. crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider They are more brutish than the brutes Asses indeed more sottish than the Ass they eat and drink and seed upon Gods Provisions and yet know not God who provides all for them The Papists in their Legends abuse this place and coyn a Fable that an Ox and Ass being in the stable where Christ was born took notice of him and did cherish him with their warm breath as he lay in the manger The story is meer Fiction but Sinners are so brutish that they do not what the others fained the Ox and Ass to do The Lord Christ is come into the world but they take no notice of him he is laid in the Manger of the Gospel but they know him not Did Christ lye in a Manger for you and shall he not lye in your bosoms Ah Sinners more brutish than the Ox and more silly than the Ass In Acts 14. 1 2 There 't is said that Paul and Barnabas Acts 14. 1 2. so spake that a great multitude of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles Here to some was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others 't was not given In the 17th of the Acts at the 32 34 verses When they Acts 17. 32. heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked but others 34. clave to Paul and believed Here to some was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others 't was not given In Acts 28. 24 'T is said That some believed the things Acts 28. 24. which were spoken and some believed not Here to some was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others it was not given The Heathens could observe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Hliad That God doth not give all things to all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To one man God gives Martial skill for War to another the Art of dancing to another that of singing and of musick but to another he gives a wise and prudent mind In this dispensation of God wherein to some he gives the Knowledge of Divine Mysteries to others he doth not I say in this dispensation there is both Soveraignty and Justice First In that he gives not to some the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven there appears Soveraignty For in another Text the Lord Christ saith Father thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Mat. 11 25 26. Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Here Jesus Christ gives no other reason why the Mysteries of Heaven were hid from the wise and revealed to babes but only his Fathers good will and pleasure Secondly In this dispensation of God wherein the Knowledg of Divine Mysteries is not given to some the Justice of God appears Which
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a Reprobate mind Vse 8. Try your graces Gifts will not save you see that you have not the gift of Knowledg but the grace of Knowledg not the gift of Prayer but the grace of Prayer See that you have not good parts but parts in Christ as our Lord said Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken Luk. 10. 42. from her No man hath good parts till he hath part in Christ Would you try your graces know then 1. Grace acts inwardly It works upon the heart upon the vitals it works upon the subject it is in as physick works upon Nature so doth grace it works upon the very nature and constitution 2. It acts Divinely it doth all for God and for Divine ends He that hath the gift of Prayer prays for himself that he may shew himself as David said to King Achish Thou shalt 1 Sam. 28. 2. know what thy servant can do But he that hath the grace of Prayer prayeth for God he doth not only pray to God but for God that he may have more of God and less of himself more communion with God less communion with himself he that hath the grace of Prayer prays for grace He that hath the grace of patience suffers Divinely because God will have him suffer as David said concerning Shimei Let him alone saith he for God hath bid him curse David 2 Sam. 16. 10. He that hath the Grace of Obedience obeys Divinely he acts with Divine raptures of love to God and zeal for his Glory 3. It acts universally As the Sun being in the Heavens runs its course over all the World so the soul that is fixed in an Heaven of grace runs its course and motion through all the Commandments As the Apostles being universal pastors were not fixed to any place but went Preaching the Gospel all the world over so those that are universal Saints limit and fix themselves to no Commandment but travel over all the world of Gospel-precepts Vse 9. This speaks admirable comfort to many sorts of men who start up doubts and scruples against themselves and follow the scent of them too far so as to hinder them in the way of believing Dub. 1. Saith a doubting soul I am a poor man and despised in the world and will the Lord reveal his Mysteries of Heaven to me Will the Lord look upon me Sol. And why not upon thee Though the Lord be high yet he looks low He humbleth himself to behold the children of men 1. The Lord will not despise thee in that thou art poor because 't is the condition himself hath put thee in Now the Lord doth never despise his own work he despiseth Satans work and Mans work which is sin but he doth never despise his own work he that made thee poor will not despise thy poverty Thou canst not be worse than a beggar a blind beggar we count a beggar to be in a low condition but a blind beggar that cannot see to work for his living we count him very low and yet Christ gives grace to such Mark 10. 47 He was blind and yet he saw Christ by Faith for as soon as ever he heard it was Jesus He cryed out Jesus thou Son of David i. e. the Messiah have mercy on me Christ Jesus before he came at him sent his spirit to teach him to say Jesus thou Son of David Christ Jesus came by that way on set-purpose to reveal himself to the poor beggar 2. Thy Saviour was poor and therefore no marvel if the poor be saved He that made Christ poor will make the poor Christians 3. To chuse God will reveal his Mysteries to the poor rather than to the rich not that he doth despise riches but because the rich despise him they are proud of their riches and think that God is engaged to save them above others because they are great above others They that are rich in estate are rich in conceit Dub. 2. But I have but an ordinary Trade and will the Lord give grace to me Sol. Why not to thee The Lord had as leif Trade with thee as with any other The Apostles many of them were but Fishermen and yet the Lord Christ caught them in his Net his spirit mov'd upon their Waters and took them out of the depths of sin and revealed the glories of Heaven to them so as to none ever before or after them A Fisherman is as ordinary a Trade as any in the World and yet Christ preferred them above all the World and made them the greatest men in Heaven and Earth for himself sits next the Father and the Apostles next him Dub. 3. But I am a Servant an Apprentice I am an Handmaid whose work is the meanest drudgery in the house and will the Lord reveal to me the Mysteries of Heaven Sol. And why not to thee especially if thou art humble If thy Master trust thee with his Estate and Cash will not God trust thee with his Jewels and Graces God is an humble God and will sit with the servant at the lower end of the Table as well as with the Master at the upper end of the Table Nay with God all are round Tables there 's no upper end he respects not the Master more than the Servant in matters Eph. 6. 9. of grace Thou sayest I am but a servant I sit not down with my Master at Table I wait So doth Free-grace it waits too Thy condition is not so low but Free grace goeth lower God waits to be gracious Isa 30. 18. Dogs are lower than Servants and yet Christ gives grace to Dogs to the Woman of Canaan whom he called a Dog Oh woman great is thy Faith The Children of Israel were but Servants and Bondmen in Egypt and yet God appeared to them not to Pharaoh Thou dost the basest service in the house and they made Brick and yet God appeared to them not to Pharaoh Joseph was but a servant and yet how familiar was God with him It is worth your noting Joseph was a Servant all along A servant to his Brethren they sold him as his Masters into Egypt He was a servant in Potiphar's house and yet God reveals his Presence to him there When his Mistris tempted him saith he How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God A man may be a servant to men and yet not a servant to his lusts and then God appears to thee Joseph when he was cast in the Prison was worse than a servant and yet God was with him there God keeps company with Joseph from service to prison and gives him favour in the Jaylours eyes and he trusts him with all his Prisoners When men have command over their lusts God gives them command over men Dub. 4. But yet saith a soul I am a foolish man an unlearned man and will the Lord reveal his Mysteries to me Sol. And why not to thee The Lord loves to be
is to you is laid down as an Argument to believe as a Motive to believe and therefore did belong to them before they did believe for the Cause is before the Effect Yes you will say to them to the Jews but not to us mark the next words And to all that are afar of even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Object But God gives not Grace to all and that 's the thing that fears me Answ What is that to thee As Christ said unto Peter Peter asked Christ such a question Lord what shall this man do Joh. 21. 21 22. saith Christ to him What is that to thee follow thou me So God gives not grace to all What is that to thee follow thou me believe thou in me saith Christ Object Oh! but I am a great sinner and will he pardon me and give grace to me Answ 1. The Covenant of grace is a free Covenant from the Lord 's free favour without any respect to any thing in thee it looks at nothing in thee no worth in thee can procure it The Covenant is not only a Covenant to grace but a Covenant of grace not only a Covenant to grace to give more grace where it is but a Covenant of grace to give grace where is none 2. The greatness of thy sinfulness will manifest and set out the greatness of his mercy For his names sake he pardons iniquity Isa 43. Now the greater and the more thy sins have been the greater will be the name of his mercy Quest But how may we attain the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Answ 1. Let not sin stand between you and the glorious light of the Mysteries of Heaven Cease love to sin if you would have an Heaven upon Earth a glorious Presence of God in you Render your spirits free to God let them not be ensnared with any lust such entanglement spoils your Glory pure hearts shall see the face of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God You poor souls who are purging your selves will you believe your Saviour then you shall see God Purity makes capacity of Heaven The holyest men ever had the most glorious visions as Daniel and John A man may see Hell in his sin but shall never see Heaven 2. Would you have the Knowledg of these Mysteries Then get upon some hill the air of the lower region is thick and misty I mean live above abstract your selves as much as may be from the world God chuseth his place to make Heaven he makes Heaven above in Jerusalem that is above in souls that are above above the vanities of this World he makes an Heaven and there the Mysteries of the Kingdom like so many stars shine Moses is led up to a mount to see Canaan Christ upon a mount had his glorious Transfiguration he had his Heaven upon a mount Love must mount above all these low things ere the soul can see Heaven enjoy glorious Presence It falls out unhappily still with man when he goes about to make an Heaven here when he sets love at work to take her fortune to make her Glory and Felicity here below as she can This checks the working of a glorious light in any heart it sets a Divine Power a working another way to whip the man with vexation of spirit for seeking Heaven in Earth in glorious vanities No man shall have two Heavens or but very few 3. Let thy heart be Crystal The Mysteries of Heaven shining upon such an heart reflect gloriously I mean an heart that is a pure glass clear from all hypocrisie God descended like a Dove upon a Dove sweetly and gloriously upon him In whose mouth there was no guile It was upon Jesus Christ there came a voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased God never proclaims himself well-pleased in that heart which makes not him his pleasure A heart and a heart hath none of Gods heart Divine Power works not gloriously where the heart works basely An hypocrite hath least of Heaven of any man and most of Hell 4. As men draw near to God so they see him near to him in Quality and near to him in Duty Sirs We see Heaven best upon out knees At the Throne of grace we find grace Heaven at Gods feet When most in his Presence most in Heaven A man must live in Heaven to have Heaven live in him much going to Heaven brings Heaven at last down along with one Vse last Then Oh ye Saints bless the Lord Admire the Lord that hath revealed his Mysteries to you not to others that ye know those things which others do not Oh! fall admiring God and Free-grace The fourth and last Doctrine Doct. 4. That where there are beginnings of true grace though never so weak God makes rich Additions of more grace Whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance Now to evince this I will give you the Testimony of Scripture And 1. In Phil. 1. 6 Paul cheers up their hearts by telling them that he was confident i. e. assured That God who Phil. 1. 6. had begun a good work in them would perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ The Apostle writing to the Thessalonians praiseth God for them Because saith he your faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth 2 Thes 1. 3. Where God plants he makes to grow and where he sows he watereth into an increase 2dly John 10. 10 I came saith Christ that they might have John 10. 10. life and that they might have it more abundantly or that they might have abundance So Musculus reads it Et abundantiam habeant For it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Abundantius but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Abundantiam copiam affluentiam i. e. Qui vivere dedit dabit reliqua ad vitam hanc caelestem necessaria Nec dabit parce sed liberaliter opulente Musculus in Johan Quid dat formam dat consequentia formam He that gives life will give all things necessary to this Divine life to maintain it richly an abundance and affluence of spiritual and heavenly Additions to the least grace 3dly Isa 42. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break and the Isa 42. 3. smoaking flax shall he not quench The Negative here implieth an Affirmative A bruised reed shall he not break i. e. he shall strengthen it and the smoaking flax shall he not quench i. e. he shall be so far from quenching that he shall make it flame and blow it up into a blaze He shall bring forth judgment unto truth which Matthew following the Septuagint Matth. 12. 20. saith He shall bring forth judgment unto victory And this is the meaning of that Text Of his fulness have John 1. 16. we all received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
at If you mean to shine as Angels do the Work of God with Angels if you would be where Christ is be at the work that Christ was And let me tell you your time is but short and you have done but little work none at all to purpose and 't is not long till your Crown shall be put upon your head and will you not be ashamed then to wear so rich a Crown for so poor a Service To have God pay you so great wages for so little work done Certainly if ever it come to your share to be saved you will when the Crown is putting upon your head blush for shame to think of your cowardise and your laziness that you should wear a Crown that have done so little work Fifthly The Lord will do thy work do thou but his work and he will do thine The Lord will take the care and charge of thee to bring about thy ends for thee many of you are sparing in Christs work because of so many distractions of your own others of you wave Christs work out of love to your own I mean the World What will become of my Family Wife and Children Oh unbelieving wretches set your hearts to do Gods Work and he 'l take the care of your Families and Children upon himself set thy face to the Sun and these shadows will follow you The Lord is a sun and a shield the Psal 84. 11. Lord will give grace and glory the Lord will give grace i. e. honour and esteem among men the favour of men and glory too in the World No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Set thy face then toward this glorious Sun serve him and these shadows will follow thee Solomon you know askt for Wisdom that he might discern between good and bad and judg the people and God tells him because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked riohes and honours therefore I will give thee riches and honours Solomon his great care and work was to rule a State well and the Lord gave him all the rest he set his face to the Sun and the shadows followed him Oh then Sirs Act for God up and be doing do his work and he 'l do yours There are these three Things attend the man that gives himself to do work for God 1. There shall not any evil hurt thee The three children were in the fire and yet the fire did not could not hurt them In the fire and in the water saith God I will be with thee there shall not any evil hurt thee Whereas if thou dost not thy good things shall they shall hurt thee Thy riches and thine honours they shall lift thee up and there make thy head giddy upon the top of thy glory and then thou comest tumbling down like a drunken fool into shame and hell it self Tolluntur in altum ut lapsa graviore ruant 2. All creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve the man that serves his God The Whale shall serve Jonah to carry him to the shore Indeed the poor man at that time ran from Gods work yet because he was his Servant the fish shall swallow him that it might save him The Ravens shall feed Elijah I will hear the heavens saith God and they shall Hos 2. 21. 22 hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Thus all creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve that man that serves his God Whereas else they all groan under thee and above thee The Heavens above groan over the sinner and cry out How long Lord how long shall we bestow our influence upon this Enemy of thine The Earth groans under the unprofitable servant and crys out How long Lord how long shall I bear this useless burden Nay Christ himself is weary of this fruitless Tree how long shall we stand Cut it down why cumbers it the ground 3. Thou that art at thy Lords work the Angels shall come out of Heaven to guard thee thou art a greater man than the greatest General under the Sun thou hast the Angels to be thy Life-guard Are they not all ministring spirits Heb. 1. 14. sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And therefore let 's see who dare touch thee Take heed Matth. 18. 10. saith Christ that ye despise or hurt not one of these little ones For I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Jacob saw a ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven and Angels descending and ascending Vse 10. The last Vse shall shew you how God makes Additions to his Saints graces And herein his Methods are various if not unsearchable yet by fathoming we may sound some of them though not the bottom As grace it self is a Mystery so the increase of grace especially being carried on by such Mysteries And therefore the contrivement whereby God increaseth grace is excellent worth the knowing that we may know what he is doing with us in his Providences and may read the Mind of God in many of his proceedings In a word how shall we help on the work if we know not Gods Method in working 1. The Lord increaseth grace in his People by their Faith Faith is one of the Graces and therefore needs support her self but she is the mouth of all the rest that speaks for them to God in Prayer and sucks nutriment for them out of the Breasts of the Promises Sirs The case is this Faith lives upon Christ and all the Graces live upon Faith When there is a famine in the Land of the soul Faith goeth up to our Brother Joseph in Egypt and brngs home Corn Faith is the Mother-grace and as the old bird the Dam flyeth abroad and fetcheth in food to her young ones and distributes it to them all in the nest So Faith takes Wing when the graces sit hungry and in want at home I say then Faith takes Wing and flyeth to Christ in the promise she comes home with her mouth full and serves all the graces they are fed by her And therefore the Scripture saith That the just lives by faith Which expression the Apostle Paul makes use of in two of his Epistles First in Rom. 1. 17 The just shall live by faith that is in respect of forgiveness of sin and in respect of Righteousness or Justification before God But in Heb. 10. 38 where he useth this same phrase The just shall live by faith The Apostle speaks of the Saints perseverance and standing fast in all their troubles and temptations Now Faith is the prime grace that helps and succours all the rest Hope lives upon Faith for the hope of a Christian is but poor in fruition we can hope no longer than we believe He that hopes and expects the things promised must by Faith live upon the certainty of the promise
him off But it was a great sin insomuch that Christ saith If I wash thee not thou hast no part in me So again when the Samaritans would not receive Christ his Luk. 9. 54. Disciples James and John said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did 7thly Satan tempts to extreams Satan will not have you do a thing in season and when it is too late then he will make you mad upon doing of it Thus he would not let the children of Israel go into Canaan when they had the gate of season open and when they had Gods good will to go in But when 't was too late when 't was a sin to desire to go when God had shut the gate of opportunity and set a lock of prohibition on it as you know when you walk or travel you shall find gates not only shut but a lock also put upon them for security and then you conjecture that not only you cannot but you must not go through such a place or piece of ground or where there was a stile to go over a mans land when you come again and find the stile taken up and a hedg made you conclude that now it is not the owners pleasure that any passengers should make a thorow-fare there any more So it was with Israel God offered them and made a stile for them to step over into Canaan The Lord thy God hath set the Deut. 1. 21. land before thee go up and possess it and then they would not for they sent spies to search the land and upon their report wept and murmured and wisht Would God we had dyed in this Numb 14. 2. wilderness Vse 2. If Satan be so learned and exquisite an Artist in the Trade of deceiving souls then humble your selves in that you are so capable and receptive of Satans motions He is a willing agent so we are willing patients we are wont to say that the receiver is as bad as the thief and the harlot that entertains the motion is as bad as the adulterer So my Beloved when Satan tempts and you sin you are as bad as the tempter you are his Harlots that consent to his adulterous motions thy consent to his temptation makes thee one with him What makes two persons at any time one Consent Thus consent makes two persons one in marriage and consent makes two persons one in a Design or Action so thy consent with Satan makes thee one with Satan and as bad as he is If an adulterer should tempt a mans wife to lewdness though he would hate the Adulterer yet he would lay the greatest blame upon his wife and take it most unkindly from her and break his heart with grief that she whom he loved so well should deal so ill with him So when Satan that great Adulterer tempts thee to sin though Christ hates him for it and will at last be revenged on him for jealousie is the rage of a man Prov. 6. 34. therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance yet he takes it most unkindly at thee that thou Saint whom he loved so well that thou sinner for whom he shed his blood that thou professor who art his bride should hearken to such a base fellow as Satan is And therefore do not put your sins off from your selves to Satan do not think that because he tempts you you shall not answer for them I will give you two noted Instances to the contrary The first is Adam and Eve Eve was tempted by 2 Cor. 11. 3. 1 Tim. 2. 14. 1 Chr. 21. 1. the Serpent and mark ye she was deceived and beguiled by him and yet see how God curseth Adam and Eve for that sin and entails curses to all their posterity for it The second Instance is that of David who was tempted by Satan to number the people Now to discover our vileness note these two things 1. Satan cannot compel us to sin only perswade us he hath only a perswading slight not an enforcing might And therefore James tells you that every man when he is tempted is enticed James 1. 14. and drawn away of his own lust Though Satan hath a hand and that no small one in tempting of us yet because he doth only allure us and lay baits for us but not constrain us because he cannot make us sin against our wills because our own lust carrieth the chiefest stroke therefore he saith Every man is tempted and drawn away not by the Devil but by his own lust for Satan can do nothing but by our own lusts 2. Because in obeying Satans Temptations we do our own wills We do not sin to serve Satan but to please our selves Eph. 2. 2 3. As wicked men in doing Gods work aim at themselves so in doing Satans work we do it to serve our own selves and therefore it is our sin Vse 3. If Satan be so learned and exquisite an Artist in the Trade of deceiving souls then watch against Satan 1. We talk of Travellers that have seen the world over 1. Satan a Traveller one ever saw so much as Satan he hath seen Earth seen the Sea seen Hell seen Heaven as he saith himself that he came from compassing or from going to and fro in the earth 2. Great Conquerors have been crowned for Victories and 2. Satan a Conqueror Extention of their Kingdoms Satan is beyond them all Saul hath slain his Thousands David his ten thousands but Satan his millions 3. If we know that we have an adversary at the next door 3. Satan an Accuser that pryeth into all our courses and upon the least error will sue us on an Action of Trespass we will be circumspect to disable him of advantage Satan no sooner spies our wandrings but he presently runs with a complaint to God and prefers Bills against us in the Star-chamber of Heaven where the matter would go hard with us but for the Great Lord Chancellor of Peace our Advocate Jesus Christ Vse 4. Resist him It is the Apostles precept Whom resist 1 Pet. 5. 9. stedfast in the faith Quest But you will say How shall I resist him Answ 1. Resist thy self and thou resistest Satan I say thou must resist him by resisting thy self Resist thy self and thou shalt resist Satan for Satan tempts thee by thy self he tempts us by making us do our own works oppose thy self and thou opposest Satan stand on thy guard against thy self for Satan tempts thee by thy self Store up Wisdom against him that thou mayst be an Artist against his Temptation Encounter with him find out the out-goings of Satan Answ 2. Satan doth tempt thee by not tempting thee As God is said to punish us by not punishing us not to punish us Hos 4. 14. is the greatest punishment so Satan doth tempt you by not tempting you he tempts you to pride by not tempting you to gross
to profess and acknowledg their Ignorance Non Pudor est Nescire aliquid sed Discere Nolle Et Pudor Scelus est 4. The Saints are very desirous to know the Reason of Christs Actions Why speakest thou unto them in Parables 5. Beginnings of Grace and Knowledg are very earnest after more Good hearts are very Inquisitive and diligent to ask and understand the Mysteries of Heaven Dub. 1. And indeed it is a wonder that Christ who loved souls so dearly and thirsted after their Salvation who was sent into the world by his Father to Vnmask the way to Heaven and who had before Explained the Law and taken the Vizor off from the face of it and convinced the Proud and Preached so home to the heart that he Preacht with Authority He Preached plainly when he said Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand He preached plainly when he said Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven c. and now to cloathe his Sermons with such dark Parables it is a wonder Resp To this the Lord Jesus Answers That he therefore preached in Parables i. e. darkly and obscurely Because he preached in Judgment unto some that were present He preacht that they might not understand him Dub. 2. But why should his Disciples admire that he preached now in Parables seeing it was always his custom to do so And Parables do illustrate and clear things more to the understanding than plain phrases Resp Christ was wont to preach in Parables and therefore that is not the Disciples Query at least not the meaning of it why he did now use Parables for he did ordinarily use them but when he did use them he did Explain them Luk. 15. 4-7 and 16. 1-8 9. But now Christ did preach in Parables and not Explain them as he was wont to do And before we leave this Query of the Disciples Why speakest thou unto them in Parables Observe further First Their Charity Secondly Their Modesty 1. Their Charity and love to the souls of others Why speakest thou to them in Parables They understand thee not they first ask Christ why he spake to them in Parables before they ask him to Explain the Parables to them Obs Good hearts desire the Salvation of others as well as their own aeque though not aequaliter 2. Their Modesty towards Christ They do not question Christ's Doctrine or manner of Teaching in publick but ask him in private to Explain himself When he was alone Mar. 4. 10. and Mat. 13. 36. Obs People ought not to question and move doubts against their Ministers Doctrine in publick but in private lest they should by their importunity create stirs and tumult and give to others occasion of doing any thing unseasonably and out of due time Therefore his Disciples move questions in private We shall now descend to the words of our Text To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance To you The word to you hath Emphasis in it Vobis vestri similibus To you and such as you 1. To you Elect for Christ speaks of the Elect under the Apostles Persons To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Vobis amantibus videlicet Sicientibusque veritatem To you Guilliandi who love and thirst after Truth to you that are godly and gracious the Spirit gives to you not only to hear and see these things but to know them and believe and feel them in your hearts And therefore these are no mysteries to you but Salvation and truth Revealed 'T is given that is it comes to pass 1. Not Casu by chance 2. Nor Necessitate by necessity 3. Nor Natura by nature or natural industry That you know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven But 't is given He discovers the gift and Grace of God For O man What hast thou which thou hast not received Obs The knowledg of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven is a Supernatural gift a gift from above None can understand the mysteries of Heaven but they to whom it is given The gifts of God are two-fold 1. The gifts of Nature 2. The gifts of Grace It was given them by Nature that they could hear or see But it was given them by Grace that they should hear the Gospel and see the Miracles and Face of Jesus Christ but more Grace yet that they could Receive the Gospel and Believe in Christ and know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven It was outward Grace to have the Gospel given them to hear it and Christ given them to see him It was inward Grace to have knowledg to see into the Mysteries of the Gospel and to have Faith to distinguish and apprehend Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory There 's the Gospel of Grace and the Grace of the Gospel To have the Gospel of Grace preached to them and to have Grace to receive the Gospel is a double Grace The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Is a Periphrasis of the Gospel and of those things which lye hid in the Gospel Obs The Gospel is a mystery The Doctrines of the Gospel are mysteries Mysterium significat secretum aliquod quod remotum est ab oculis atque absconditum praecipuè vero in verbis ut cùm aliquid dicitur quod obscurum est intellectu difficile Solemus dicere hoc mysterium est Subest his verbis tectum aliquid abstrusum Mysterium sic enim consuevit appellare Scriptura quae praeter spem praeter humanam fiunt Opinionem Ecce mysterium vobis dico Omnes quidem c. Guilliandus in Loc. 1 Cor. 15. The mysteries of God therefore are Faith and the Gospel concerning Christ nay Christ himself is called a mystery because he is a Spiritual thing and remains hid and covered till the Spirit unvail him For whatever the Gospel preacheth they Mat. 11. 25. 1 Cor. 2. 6 7 8. are remote from sense and reason that the whole world cannot apprehend them till they are Revealed by the Spirit You shall see many preach and many hear that Christ was delivered for us to Redeem us but these words are only in ore in the mouth not in corde in the heart For 1. Neque ipsi suis verbis credunt neither do they themselves believe their own words 2. Neque gratiam hanc aliquatenus sentiunt neither do they feel the Grace of the Gospel But to them it is not given Luke hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark hath Luke 8. 10. Mark 4. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui for is sunt sive exteris To them that are without By which he understands not only them that are strangers all their time from the Kingdom of God as the Gentiles but also all those that have been for a time the children of the
Mystery For take a Saint there 's no man denieth himself so much as he and yet there 's no man 1 Cor. 9. 27. seeks himself so much as he 7. Affliction is a Mystery That God should kill his people and yet love them and put them in his bosom it is a Mystery Again Persecution for Jesus Christ is a Mystery That whosoever Matth. 16. 25 will save his life should lose it save and not save and whosoever will lose his life for my sake should find it lose and not lose it it is a Mystery That a man should hate himself and yet love himself nay love himself best when he hates himself most for God it is a Mystery 8. Patience in Affliction is a strange Mystery for a man to sit down cheerfully and be content with his Condition in all changes and varieties is a Mystery That a man should be tossed and moved up and down and yet be unmoveable it is a Mystery To be at home and yet to be a Stranger and a Pilgrim in his own House and among his own Children is a Mystery And therefore saith St. Paul I know both how to be abased Phil. 4. 12. and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instituor in sacris i. e. I am instructed in this Mystery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diodor. Siculus Instituo in sacris Pasor I am instructed in this Holy Mystery both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need 9. When God is destroying his Church he is multiplying his Church when he is pulling her down he is setting her up As when you see a man pulling down an old or deformed house you say surely he is building up a fairer when a Taylor is ripping the Cloath and cutting it into shreds and pieces he is making a comely Garment Again Sometimes when a Sinner is galloping in the high way of Sin and Hell he is in his way of pardon and salvation God meets him in the way and makes his way from Heaven his way to Heaven As Paul when he was going to Damascus Acts 9. went in his Intention to undo the Saints but went in Gods Intention to be made a Saint Doct. 2. It is a matchless and blessed priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven In my Discourse upon this subject I shall through Divine assistance shew you 1. What are the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Why it is such a Priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1. What are the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1. They are Latent and secret things they are hidden treasures and therefore are they called Mysteries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some derive from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Claudo to shut up under secrecy For secret things are not spoken but lockt up in the heart But I rather think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose root is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hide or keep close And from the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came Saturnus who hid himself in Italy as the Poets Fable which was therefore called Latium Upon this account are the matters of the Kingdom of Heaven called Mysteries because they are unknown to Nature they are hidden till they are revealed Man could never have known them had God never revealed them And though they are revealed yet they are still Mysteries to carnal men who hear the Gospel and yet do not understand it 2. They are excellent and stately things because they are the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven They are high Mysteries for they are Mysteries of a Kingdom and of the highest Kingdom too for they are the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Never were there any such Mysteries of State as these and truly they that are acquainted with them are of Gods Privy-Council Thus you see why they are called Mysteries But what are they They are the Plot or Design of Gods wisdom which he hath contrived in order to Mans salvation the sacred Principles and Doctrines of Christian Religion the Plat-form and Draught of his Will according to which he will save Man For the Church is stiled a Kingdom and Jesus Christ is the King and the Laws of this Kingdom are Mysteries because it is a spiritual Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven they are Laws of an higher and more sublime nature than the Laws that any worldly Kingdom hath If the Common Law of England be a Mystery to silly Countrey-men what are the Imperial Laws of the Crown of Heaven More particularly 1. The Incarnation of Christ is called a Mystery Without controversie great is the Mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh This is a Mystery not only not known by Nature to humane 1 Tim. 3. 16. Reason but being known and revealed far transcends the conception thereof We do not so much believe it by our understanding as understand it by our belief This is the Mystery of all the Mysteries the Master-piece and flower of all the rest 2. The Vnion and conjunction of Christ and the Church Paul saith This is a great Mystery and I speak saith he concerning Christ and the Church that Christ and his Church should be Man and Wife that there should be a conjugal oneness between them that a person of such Majesty and Distance should marry so poor a Bride and make her his Queen 2. Why is it such a Priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Reas 1. Because Knowledg is wondrous desirable and satisfactory to the Nature of man for man is a rational creature and therefore desires to know all things that are knowable There 's a rational desire in man breathing after Knowledg Knowledg is as it were mans Element wherein he breathes and lives as sense is the Element of bruits and beasts they wallow in sense and walk within the circumference of sense higher they cannot go so Knowledg is the Element of man his native air as it were wherein he is born and bred and which he sucks in delightfully The air of Knowledg is wondrous pleasant to man and therefore he loves to take the air read Books and search after Knowledg Reas 2. The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is a Knowledg that will save thee It is Scientia scientiarum the science of sciences the Knowledg of all Knowledges it is a Knowledg that will save thee and do thee most good and stand thee in the greatest stead it is a Knowledg that will do thy soul good a Knowledg that will put thee into Heaven It is the Object that makes the Knowledg Knowledg derives its Excellency from its Object Therefore saith Paul I count all things but loss and dung for the excellency of the Knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord that I may be found in him The Knowledg
of natural things leaves thee but a natural man a well-polished Phil. 3. 8 9. natural man but the Knowledg of Christ makes thee a Saint the Knowledg of Jesus saves thee from thy sins the most exquisite Knowledg of all natural things leaves thee in thy sins but the Knowledg of Jesus Christ saves thee from thy sins And therefore saith Paul I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Because Paul knew that no Knowledg would save himself and no Knowledg 1 Cor. 2. 2. he made others know would save them but the Knowledg of Jesus Christ and him crucified If all the men in the World were wounded and lay at the point of Death and there were but one herb in all the World that would heal them How would they all send abroad to know that one Herb and to know the virtue of it and how to use it and apply it How happy would they count themselves in the Knowledg of it My Beloved All the Men and Women in the World are wounded they are wounded to death and lye gasping for life and there is but one Herb in all the World that can heal and save them and that is Jesus Christ whose Divine nature did grow out of the bosom of God the Father from all Eternity and whose humane Nature did grow out of the sanctified Womb of the Virgin Oh! how precious should be the Knowledg of Jesus Christ then unto you Surely it is the greatest priviledg to know him 3. Grace begins in Knowledg in the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven as the stream begins in the spring for Knowledg is the spring of Grace the Knowledg of God is the spring of our Love to God the Knowledg of the Power and Truth of God is the spring of our Trust in God They that know thy name will trust in thee Psal 9. 10. Knowledg that saves us is not a bare notion of God it knows his power and therefore fears him knows his justice and therefore serves him knows his mercy and therefore trusts him knows his goodness and therefore loves him Reas 4. Because it is a Knowledg above the reach of Nature to know the Mysteries of Heaven is beyond the sphear of Nature and Reason They are foolishness to the natural man 1 Cor. 2. 14. neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Natural men cannot know supernatural Mysteries Carnal reason cannot apprehend spiritual Objects Surely they are some rare and stately things that stand thus aloft above the reach of Reason For mans Reason is an Eagle and flieth high and therefore these Mysteries of Heaven must needs be some high and glorious things which mans reason soaring upon its loftiest wings cannot attain unto Reas 5. Because few do know them we count that a great Priviledg which is committed but to a few and that 's the signification of the word Privilegium Reas 6. Because they are Mysteries i. e. hidden and secret things Now to know not plain and common things but to know Mysteries we count it a great Priviledg How did the Philosophers study to know the Mysteries and secrets of Nature and in what Honour were they had because they knew them What a priviledg is it then to know the Mysteries of Heaven And because they are such deep and rare Mysteries the Angels themselves desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to peep into them Reas 7. Because they are Mysteries of God and is it not a 1 Pet. 1. 1◠superlative priviledg to know the Mystiries of God A man counts it an high priviledg to be of a Kings Privy-Council and to know his Royal secrets What a point of Honour is it then to know the Mind and Mysteries of the great God and have his Divine secrets communicated to them God can do no more unless he should make us God They that know the Kings secrets are next unto the King himself So doth God make them that know his secrets next unto himself First God makes all his secrets immediately known to Christ and Christ is next to God and Christ made known his secrets to the Apostles and they are next to Christ Reas 8. Because the Mysteries of Heaven are lovely things to see to they are bright beauties and exquisite rarities to look upon God is a lovely and beauteous thing therefore saith David Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord. His beauty is such that if we could but see some little of it it would enamour and ravish our hearts 't would wrap us into such an Extasie and Admiration of him that all other even the most excellent things would appear to be but base to him For First God is the only satisfactory Object of mans Knowledg The Knowledg of all other things could you behold them all with one intuitive Act is but an hungry beggarly Knowledg a sick Knowledg till thou know him The soul of Man her Appetite is never filled nor satisfied till she know God When I read some Authors and view their Ignorance of God I cannot but sit down and say Oh! what a Priviledg is it to know God! I will give you an Instance Pliny A man of vast parts who writes the History of Nature Lib. 2. Cap. 7. Quisquis est Deus si modo est Alius c. Irridendum verò agere curam rerum humanarum illud quiequid est summum Ibidem Annè tam tristi atque multiplici Ministerio non pollui credamus Dubitemusvè Ibidem Verùm in his Deos agere curam rerum humanarum credi ex usu vitae est Ibidem Verùm in his Deos agere curam rerum humanarum credi ex usu vitae est Paenasquè Maleficiis aliquandò seras occupato Deo in tanta mole nunquam autem irritas esse Ibid. and you would think he had fathom'd the very bottom of Nature yet when he comes to speak of God saith he God whosoever he be if haply there be any other but the World Again saith he That the chiefest Power whatsoever it is meaning God hath care of mankind or of mens affairs is a thing to be derided or scorn'd at What dreadful darkness is this How uncomfortable to us that we have no God to mind our Conditions or manage our Events And his Reason is this as poor as his Assertion Can we believe that he should not be polluted with so sordid or base and so trouble some a service As if the Sun cannot shine upon a dunghil but it must be defiled And yet afterwards he saith Howbeit to believe that the Gods have care of mens Estates is useful and expedient for this life Whether he speaks this being forced by Conviction or out of Pollicy to keep men within Bounds rather than of Faith
Mysteries of Heaven to you there may be a great deal of Riches wrapped up in a Treasury but this opens and unlocks the Treasury The Ministry of the Word is ordained to lay open the Treasure to Gods People that they may know what Riches they have by Jesus Christ There be rich Mines in the Scripture but they must be digged up The Ministry serves to dig up those Mines and lay them open above-ground that the Saints may see them and be in love with them 2. The Preaching of the Gospel casts the sweet savour of the Mysteries of Heaven abroad the World and renders them lovely As the Woman that brought her Box of Oyntment to anoint the Lord Jesus with it when she opened the Box the room was filled with the Odour of the Oyntment were not the Box opened the Oyntment would not smell so the preaching of the Word is the opening of the Box. The Gospel which is a rich compound made up of the Fragrant spices and Mysteries of Heaven I say the Gospel is a Box of sweet Oyntment and the Preaching of it is the opening of the Box if it be not opened it casts not its sweet savour abroad the World The publishing of the Word is the opening of the Box and the casting of the perfume of it abroad the World Hence saith the Apostle Now thanks be unto God 1 Cor. 2. 14. which always causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the SAVOVR of his Knowledg by us in every place 3. The preaching of the Gospel applies the Mysteries of Heaven to mens Souls in particular It distributes the portion to every Child of God The Ministers of God are the Stewards of God to distribute the Mystery of comfort and the Mystery of pardon and peace to whom they belong Now where there is an equal and convenient distribution of the portion to every one this makes the Ordinance of God so beautiful and the Mysteries of Heaven so delicious this makes the people taste them taste the Mystery of comfort and the Mystery of peace and pardon when the Waters of Life are derived from the spring of the Scriptures to every mans particular use they taste them and relish them And 't is this that makes the Word in the Application of it so sweet a thing I say the Word in the Application of it is a sweet thing for good things the nearer they are brought home the more delightful they are as a Rose on the Tree is a sweet thing whether you smell it or smell it not 't is sweet but if it be brought home to you and put into your bosom then you smell it sweet So the Mystery of peace and pardon as it grows upon the Tree of the Promise is a sweet thing but if the Hand of Application bring it home to you and put in thy bosom there thou art sweetned with it Vse 2. England See thy priviledg God hath revealed to thee the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Ah London See thy priviledg Thy Fleece is wet with the dew of the Mysteries of Heaven Thou art Goshen when the greatest part of the Kingdom is Egypt dark Egypt And the rather oh England see and prize thy priviledg The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven lest God remove them lest God depart from us The Glory of God departed out of the Temple before the Destruction of Jerusalem so the Glory of God departs from a Church the Beauties and Excellencies of God remove when we esteem them not And if any thing in the World make God to leave a Church as he left the Jews and as he may leave any particular Church it is because there is not a prizing of the Heavenly Mysteries we have For however we esteem these things God sets an high price upon them and if we do not God will deprive us of them and of the Power and Beauty of them Vse 3. Oh the love of God that will communicate the Knowledg of himself unto us that is not content we should know any thing unless we know him 1. He knows himself to be our chiefest good and therefore knows that the Knowledg of all other things would do us no good without the Knowledg of himself All the Creatures are but his Servants the Sun Moon and Stars are but the Creatures and Servants of the High God and to know them and all their motions would not advantage us unless we know their Master As a man that is ambitious of Honour and high places he useth acquaintance with a Kings Servants but as an Introduction to acquaintance with their Lord and Master He knows that the Donation of Honours and Collation of places and offices is in the hand of the King and therefore to know his Servants will do him no good only the Knowledg of the King himself So God is the Fountain of Honour and Glory all the Creatures have but a Glory Derivative from God they can confer no Glory on their fellow-Creatures and they will part with none of their own There 's no Creature will part with its Glory or lose its Glory to confer it on thee The Sun will not lose its Light and Place in the Heavens to translate it to thee if they would it is not their own to dispose of Besides the Sun may shine upon thee but cannot shine Peace of Conscience into thee The earth may afford thee Wine and Oyl but cannot yield thee the grapes of saving joy and the Oyl of gladness to anoint thy soul with To know any thing the Knowledg of Jesus Christ would be of greatest worth unto thee and yet to know Christ would not advantage thee but as a means and door to let thee in to acquaintance with God himself The Knowledg of Christ would not save thee did not the Knowledg of him lead thee into the Knowledg of and acquaintance with God himself And therefore saith Christ I am the way not the end no man John 14. 6. comes unto the Father but by me Thou must not terminate the Knowledg of Christ in Christ himself but use it as a Medium and Way to bring thee to the Father Therefore saith the Text Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from 1 Pet. 1. 21. the dead and gave him Glory THAT YOVR FAITH AND HOPE MIGHT BE IN GOD. 2. It is a wondrous priviledg that any man affords us to let us know him and to be intimate with him What can he do more than to unvail himself to us and let us see his inside and let us peep into the Cabinet of his secrets and make us acquainted with all his Excellencies It is the greatest love that can be A man may invite us often to his Table and make us sit down with him and yet not let us know himself nay you may live with him all your days and converse with him and yet he not let you know his inward self nor what is in himself Hee
his voice to the great World and the Rocks rend Thunder is the voice of God to the great World and in what Majesty doth he express himself to all Creatures below in that voice As there be Thundrings without so there be Thundrings within In great Majesty doth Christ speak to the soul sometimes Ask your Consciences else ask Faelix the Jaylour and Cain else yea ask your Father Adam else what a case were all these in when Christ did but reason with them Yea I ask you Hypocrites if any here is not the way of Christ full of Majesty What means those loads that gather about your hearts and that fearfulness which surpriseth you Thou dost but touch the mountains and they smoke saith the Psalmist so God doth but touch your Consciences and they smoke he doth but whisper within and your spirits fly about every where into the fingers into the face and up into the head and the heart within beats for want of them ready to swoon away Ask wounded spirits whether Gods Word be not full of Majesty Twenty years time not enough to heal the wound of a word of Gods mouth Oh the Majesty of that word Look upon the whole Creation upon the Earth upon the Sea upon the Heavens do they not all-speak the Majesty of Christ God is mightier than the noise of many waters yea than the Mighty waves of the Sea The tossings rollings and roarings of the Sea Do they not speak loudly the Majesty of Christ But ah sinner The tossings rollings and roarings of a troubled soul speak the Majesty of Christs word much more Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men 2. Kingdoms have Supremacy This is Basis Majestatis Christ is a great King over all as the Psalmist titles him Psal 29. God hath set Christ over all so should we as God hath set him so do you over all in all things Now self-denyal is an excellent means that Christ may Reign Thou must deny thy Kingdom that Christ may have his you must lay down your Crowns at his feet that he may wear his Crown upon his Head And this is a sweet Testimony of Grace in the heart if the heart can endure Tribulation that Christ may Reign If it can suffer all things that Christ may do all things if it can lye low that Christ may be exalted when we are most annihilated our Lord and his Mysteries are most admired Sixthly They know thankfully The beams of Knowledg that shine into them melt them into pangs of Thankfulness that they should have the Honour and Happiness to know those things that they know They would not be without Christ whom they know not for a thousand Worlds They would not be without the miracles of love and peace and pardon in Christ which they have and know for all the Worth of India They count themselves to have been no better than brutes and beasts all the time they were without the Knowledg of those Divine Rarities which now they lay up so close in their hearts They adore God that they should know and see those saving secrets which are hid from the eyes of so many round about them Seventhly The true Knowledg of spiritual things doth spiritualize True Knowledg of Religion makes a man Religious Religion in Scripture is called Godliness Without controversie great is the Mystcry of godliness that is The principles of 1 Tim. 3. 15. Christian Religion Godliness is great gain i. e. Christianity The Christian Religion is great gain Thus the Truths themselves are called Godliness Why so Because the true Knowledg of them begets an inward godliness As Religion it self is called Faith and the grace in the soul is also called Faith Why so To shew that Faith begets Faith that is the Truth revealed begets Faith and must be received by Faith Therefore one word includes both the Object the thing believed and likewise the Disposition of the soul to that Object So Religion is called Godliness because the true Knowledg of it begets Godliness Oh! See then what makes a true Christian What when a man nakedly believes Divine Truths When he knows the Principles of Faith doth that make him a true Christian No But when Religion makes him Religious when these Tit. 1. 1. Truths work Godliness for Religion is a truth according to godliness Where the Truths of Religion are embraced there is Godliness with them A man cannot embrace Religion in Truth but he must be godly because Religion is Godliness so it is called for that it tends to beget all Piety and Virtue and Godliness in the heart And therefore if the Mysteries of Heaven work not Godliness a man hath but an Humane Knowledg of Divine things When Lucius a bloody Persecutor offered to confess his Faith hoping thereby to gain an opinion that he was Orthodox Russin Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 6. Moses a Religious Monk refused to hear him saying The eye might sometimes judg of one's Faith as well as the Ear and that whosoever lived as Lucius did could not believe as a Christian ought A man knows no more of Christ than he is sanctified he knows no more of Divine things than he esteems and affects he knows no more of the Mysteries of Heaven than he brings the whole inward frame to be like the things He that saith 1 John 2. 4. I know God and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him No doubt but Hophni and Phineas being Priests had a literal Knowledg of God yet being prophane they are said expresly not to have known him They were sons of Belial they knew 1 Sam. 2. 12. not the Lord. Eighthly If we know God aright we know God in us for we come to know God savingly by Regeneration and so by little and little we come to know God in us knowing in our selves those Divine perfections which the Holy Ghost attributes to God We know the Holiness of God by the Beam of Holiness which he hath irradicated into our hearts We know the love of God by the working of love in us towards him and towards his Saints We know hatred of sin in God by knowing in our selves an hatred of sin we know the Mercy of God by finding in our selves an Image of his Mercy towards our Enemies As Christ saith Be ye merciful as your heavenly Fathers is merciful Luk 6. 36. And it is a clear case We could never know in God Truth Justice Goodness were we not in some measure true just and good it being natural for Man to judg of others according to that which he knows in himself The spirit makes me to know Omnipotency in God through the great Power which he shews in me mortifying me and making me alive The spirit makes me know Wisdom in God by the Wisdom which I get through his Holy Spirit he makes me know Justice in God because he justifieth me in Christ he makes me know Truth
the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 En. 1. l. 6. unless it be Sun-like and hath the form and resemblance of the Sun drawn in it so neither can the soul of Man behold God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless it be God-like hath God formed in it and made partaker of the Divine Nature As in the natural body it is the heart that sends up good blood and warm spirits into the head whereby it is best enabled to its several Functions So in the spiritual fabrick 't is the heart that sublimates the head and stores it with pure influences the affections beget imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Iliad T. v. 44. As the Treasurers of an Army give out Corn and Provision to the Soldiers Some men have too bad hearts to have good heads they cannot be good at Theory who are so bad at the Practice Our Lord Christ hangs all true acquaintance with Divine Truths upon the doing of Gods will If any man will do his John 7. 17. will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God Such as set themselves to do the will of God shall know the Doctrines and Mysteries of God Corrupt passions and earthly affections are apt of their own nature to disturb all serene thoughts to precipitate our Judgments and warp our Understandings There is an inward sweetness and deliciousness in Divine Truth which no sensual mind can taste or relish And therefore the Platonists solicite so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A separation from the body in all those that would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purely understand truth The more our souls dive into our bodies the more will reason and sensuality run into one another and make up a most unsavoury and muddy kind of Knowledg And therefore wicked men let them imagine what they please have no true Knowledg of God Such as men themselves are such will God himself seem to be It is the Maxim of most wicked men that the Deity is some way or other like themselves their souls do more than whisper it though their lips speak it not That Idaea which men generally have of God is nothing else but the picture of their own complexion 6. Know things as God doth know them God to exercise the wisdom that he hath given to man hath planted a difference in the Creatures and hath given a faculty to man to know and make a right choice in those differences and then man doth know things aright when he knows them as God knows them and then man makes a right choice when he chuseth as God chuseth Now God knows that riches are but little things and that credit in the world is but a shadow and that honours in high places are but like leaves on the top of a tree And who would climb a tree to fetch a leaf But God knows that pardon of sin is a choice rarity 7. Know things and judg of them as they are in another world Whilst thou livest in the world and hast all things before thee know and judg of them as thou wilt when thou art going out of the world and hast all things behind thee ah my Beloved when thy last sand is run out thou wilt have a far different opinion of the World from what now thou hast Vse 7. As I desire you to know the Mysteries of Heaven so I would have you to know your selves that you have an Interest in these blessed Mysteries that they are yours Salvation is a Mysteries but if you know that salvation is yours and the way to salvation is a Mystery but if you know that you are in the way Ah! this is the soul and sweetness of the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaveb This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greece of Greece the wheel in the wheel the Heaven of that heavenly Knowledg It is to no purpose to know that these things are Mysteries unless we know they be for us and for our good that Christ is ours and that God is reconciled to us Vse 8. You Saints and Children of God who enjoy this great priviledg Oh! go you and bless God For unto you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Would it not have greatly ravisht your hearts had you been the persons present to whom Christ spake these words Surely it would But though Christ be in Heaven yet he hath left this Text behind him to speak to you and to tell you It is given unto you to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given Observe here two things 1. It is a gift To know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven saith Christ it is given to you Dear souls Flesh and Hath 16. 17. blood hath not revealed these things unto you but your Father which is in heaven Now gifts are received with thankfulness even small gifts are taken thankfully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom Odys Plutarch de Artaxcrxe Longimen It is said of Artaxerxes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was no gift so small which he received not kindly I say we take small gifts thankfully how much more spiritual gifts Such gifts as have Heaven and Salvation wrapt up in them Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Eph. 1. 3. Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ These gifts are blessings and for such blessings Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Being is a gift but grace added to it is a blessing to be born is a gift but the new birth put to it is a blessing otherwise It had been good for that man saith Christ if he had never been born To have Understanding and Knowledg is a great gift but to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven is a great blessing Blessed are the eyes which see the things that Luke 10. 23. ye see 2. They are Mysteries and will ye not bless God that he should make Mysteries known to you They are Mysteries of his bosom and is it nothing to be Gods bosom-friends They are the Mysteries of his secret wise and eternal Counsels And is it nothing to be Gods Privy-Counsellors They are the Mysteries of eternal life And is it nothing to know the Rolls and Records of eternity Saints God hath made ye his Cutodes Rotulorum is not eternal life a delicate flower to smell at Is it nothing to see within the vail Surely it is a great priviledg therefore you may rejoyce in it and bless God for it And this leads us to the third Doctrine which is this Doct. 3. The Divine Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some not to others In this Doctrine there are three things clear and obvious 1. The Knowledg of Divine Mysteries is a gift To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven What is given is a gift Divine Knowledg is a
can create a soul in the Womb but the Lord Who can form the shape and structure of a man in the Womb but the Lord So though thou labour and travel in birth of Service for the Lord though thy Service for God may cost thee many a pang yet count it a gift As Jesus Christ did The works which the Father hath Joh. 5. 36. John 17. 4. GIVEN me And I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Lo Our Saviour counts his work a gift so should we take it for a favour that he employs us that we may do him any service or have any office about him Nay to suffer for Christ and lose all for Christ count it a gift As Paul tells the Philippians Vnto you it is given in Phil. 1. 29. the behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake To suffer for Christ was given them as a great favour sufferings are a gift as well as Faith As Latimer said The greatest promotion that God gives in this world is to be such Philippians to whom it is given not only to believe but also to suffer And Ignatius professed he had rather be a Martyr than a Monarch And the Apostles rejoyced that they were graced Acts 5. 41. so as to be disgraced for Jesus Christ Vse 4. Make sure of Heaven then since the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is a gift to some not to all How should we make our calling and election sure since many are called and but few chosen Give diligence to make thy calling sure seeing he gives grace but to some not to all since he sends pardons but to some not to all We need not doubt the attaining of that which none at all miss nor any are ever put by it But when a thing of price and worth is given only to some not to all there we should make sure work You that hope for Heaven make sure of Heaven for hopes disappointed will break the heart If hope deferred makes the heart sick surely hopes disappointed will make the heart break Oh do not hang upon rotten hopes as a man that hangs over a deep River by a Rope or Cord there he hangs and hopes and hopes and hangs but if his Cord break and snap asunder there he falls and never riseth more so many hang over Hell by the Cord of hope and if thy Cord of hope breaks as it will if it be but rotten thou art gone Man thou art gone if thou hadst a thousand souls And therefore do not hang upon a weak Cord of uncertain hope but upon the golden Cord of Faith and Assurance If you say How may we attain Assurance I answer you First God gives assurance in Gods way if God gives assurance certainly he will give it in God's way Therefore Sirs never expect it in a way of sin for sin is not God's way I am told by a most learned man That Assurance by our Divines Mr. Woolbridge of Hustification Pag. 292. is wont to be made a part of Sanctification and may very well be included in the sanctification of the spirit 1 Thes 5. 23. as distinct-from Soul and Body Secondly Seek not assurance in the way of the World the World is a stranger to assurance this is such a flower as grows not in the Worlds garden the world and assurance are Antipodes And therefore if ever you would meet with assurance do not as the world doth For do ye not know That narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it And therefore you run from assurance if you follow the world Oh tremble then to go in the way of the world If thou wilt follow the most I tell thee the most will be damned Assurance lyeth East and the world goeth West if thou follow the world the Sun of assurance will set upon thee The Apostle saith That the Devil is the God of the world who 2 Cor. 4. 4. hath blinded their minds And he tells you That the Saints are chastened of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 32. that they may not be CONDEMNED with the world Where then can the world or her Children meet with assurance They may be assured of Hell but not of Heaven Our Lord Christ saith I pray not for the world but for John 17. 9. them which thou hast given me for they are thine The Lord Jesus doth not spend one breath to pray for the world and where then is the assurance of the world Thirdly It is but a few special ones that wear the golden chain of assurance about their necks and therefore you must be choice Christians if you would have this white stone and the new name written in it It is not every measure of true grace that affords assurance ordinary Saints have it not and therefore advance Sirs you must advance higher you must be peculiar ones if you would enjoy assurance All the Children know not their Fathers secrets but the choicest of them Fourthly Assurance is a work of the greatest diligence And therefore saith Peter Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure Lazy souls will never arrive at it he that would have it must be familiar and intimate with God Enoch who was translated was one that walked with God and you that would be translated into the Heaven of assurance must be persons walking with God You must take many a turn with him you must dwell in his Presence you must pray hard and lay fast hold upon him As it is said of Thetys that when she came to ask a request of Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Iliad A. v. 512. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She laid fast hold upon his knees and held him as if she had been ingrafted into him and would not leave him So vigorously must you pursue God in Prayer that would have assurance you must wrestle with him and lay hold on him as if you were incorporated into him Vse 5. Tremble at the severity of God in his spiritual administrations His judicial punishments upon the souls of men are very dreadful To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven here is exceeding mercy But to others it is not given here is exceeding severity The Lord knows how to meet with sinners in their own way to shape his judgments to their deservings Ignorance is their sin and Ignorance shall be their punishment He will speak in parables to them and he will act in parables to them his Word shall be parables and his Works shall be parables to them They shall understand nothing that he saith and nothing that he doth he will walk every step in the dark towards them all his paths shall be covered with Clouds in all his teachings and in all his walkings there shall be a mist before their eyes though he saith This is the way to heaven walk in it yet they shall
not see the way they would not and now they shall not Oh that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes They did hide their eyes from their peace and now their peace is hid from their eyes Consider What are the things whose Knowledg is not given you The Mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven What Sirs Is it the matters of Heaven that are kept from you A curtain drawn between you and heaven Now God's angry indeed A cloud set up to darken salvation and eternal life from you Lord here is thy greatest severity Nay he infatuates the wise and takes the understanding from the prudent He is a severe God to those that act against the light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Odys Ψ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath made thee mad who can make the wisest man a fool and strip him of his Intellectuals Do we not see men whom we call wise damn themselves understandingly God draws an horrid Eclipse upon their minds and their See Isa 29. 10 11 12 13 14 verses Sun of Wisdom sets upon them they run madly upon their ruine and most skilfully plot their own destruction God struck Nebuchadnezzar mad and he was driven from Dan. 4. 33. men and did eat grass as Oxen his hairs were grown like eagles feathers and his nails like birds claws he was turned into a beast by the Judgment of God And therefore Sinners are called in Scripture Lyons and Bears and Wolves and Dogs God bereaves them of their understanding they bark against Religion like Dogs and bite the Saints like Dogs they run about snarling and snapping at Gods ways and his People like mad Dogs Thus God is severe in his spiritual Judgments he infatuates the wise and makes them fools they carry on most artificially their own damnation Vse 6. Sinners see your spiritual misery and my God open your eyes that you may see it 1. You have seen many things and if you see not your own misery you see nothing It may be you have seen miserable Objects but if you see not your soul-misery you have seen nothing You have seen War in the Land you have seen garments rolled in blood you have seen your own or other mens estates plundred you have heard the noise of the Trumpet and the beating of the Drum in your streets But now if in a day of peace you see not God at War with your selves if you see not the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven denied to you if you see not your selves plundred of Heaven and stript of light and life if you see not your spiritual estate wallowing in its blood if you hear not the Trumpet of the Gospel calling you to Repentance if you hear not the Drum of Conscience beating against sin in your own bosoms whatever you have heard or seen you have seen and heard nothing 2. Much communicable and nothing had is not this miserable Heaven drops and it drops fatness and yet your souls so lean is not this a Mystery So much to be had and so little enjoyed makes me wonder and grieve Light communicable and yet men have no light Grace communicable and yet men without grace Heaven communicable and yet men drop every day to Hell This is an aggravation of Misery Ah sinners in your Fathers house is bread enough feasting banquetting glorious dishes in Wisdoms house how is it that you have nothing 3. Your sins are aggravated and so will your condemnation be you seeing see not and hearing you hear not you hear and see and yet understand not Doth not this aggravate your sins and make them exceeding sinful You are called and yet you have refused God hath stretched out his hands and yet you have not regarded you shut your eyes and stop your ears lest you should be converted and doth not this greaten your sins and make them odious Glorious power works in the world and yet men lye in their sins Power works gloriously but you feel none you are under the power of sin as if there were no Power of God at all working in the World Sinners this leaves you wholly without excuse there is power enough working to subdue the strongest lust what can you plead How great is that sin which is committed under the neglect of glorious power within the reach of a glorious arm As there is a glorious power so there be glorious sins splendida peccata scarlet crimson sins and these are such as are committed against glorious means glorious light grace and aid Men sin and lay it upon their weakness and so rest and rub on Ah Lord what a life is this God will judg you and lay it upon your wickedness and wilfulness for is not glorious Power present to raise you up Weakness becomes wickedness when it is rested in and pleaded for A soul given to shifting hath no mind to leave his sin there is no damning temper like this you say you have no power to come out of sin 't is not fo there is the Power of God in the Gospel present and ready for you to lift you up And therefore there must be no pleading for sin no not for any sin though never so great and strong The remedy the power is so gloriously All-sufficient Dub. But I pray you Sir tell us How shall we know that the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is not given unto us Answ 1. You that sleep in your lost estate to you the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is not given The Mysteries of Hell and Damnation are made known to you and yet you awake not What soul is there that doth awake 2. When a man can love a sin in the very face of Divine Mysteries in the very face of Mercy and the face of Glory 3. When the more God forbids a sin the more you bid for it When the more the Commandment comes sin becomes the more sinful and the heart the more stubborn when the more the spirit strives the more sin thrives the more the spirit strives against thy lust the more thou strivest to hold fast thy lust From this man is the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven shut up let him look to himself be-times Vse 7. Sinners go not on to provoke God to deny you the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven I told you in the Explication of this Point that God in denying to some the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven observes a Method of Justice that is Sinners deserve it and procure it at the Hands of God I say Sinners deserve blindness and obduration First sensu Negativo in a Negative sense because they deserve not softness of heart that God should mollifie them they deserve not this special mercy Secondly They deserve blindness and hardness of heart in an Affirmative sense because by their Additional sins and daily resistings they deserve a further Hardness and Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
he is not weary or remiss in any of his Acts. He takes more pleasure in giving than thou canst in receiving such is his Noble and Princely spirit To give is as it were an Act connatural to him an eternal Act he gave his Essence to his Son from all eternity and John 5. 26. John 3. 16. Rom. 8. 32. in time gave his Son to lost Sinners see he loves to give and with his Son will give us all things Reas 3. To him that hath grace God gives more because he knows there he shall not bestow his grace in vain he shall have fruit from his Plantation the grace he sows there will return him a crop Oh how happy a thing is it to have a soul seasoned with true grace The person gains and God himself is a gainer by such an one the poor soul gains by it for he that hath true grace shall have more and God gains by it for the more grace God gives such an one the more fruit shall God have from such an one and that 's the Lords delight it is the vine-dressers delight to see his Vines which he plants and prunes deckt with grapes It is the Husbandmans delight to walk and see his Field which he tilled cloathed with stately Corn Now God is an Husbandman as Christ saith I am John 15. 1. 1 Cor. 3. 9. the true vine and my Father is the husbandman And ye are Gods husbandry Saints it doth delight God to see his Vines full of grapes and to see his Field clad with fruit ye are his Field ye are his Vines ye must be always bearing because he is always watering The gardener delights to Water those herbs that will grow and yield him profit he bestows no drops upon the Flowers that are dead and wither'd 'T is so with God Every branch that beareth fruit saith John 15. 2. Christ he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit here 's the reason of it he that hath grace and bears some fruit God will give him more grace that so God may have more fruit Reas 4. Because it is his design to perfect his Saints and the work of grace in his Saints he means to make every one of them as Holy as Adam was in Paradise God doth not mean that we should come short in Christ of what we were in Adam Christ Jesus came in place to repair us up all that we lost in Adam and more than that all only Adam was made perfect at once and we are perfected by degrees but this is no disadvantage to us for Adam was made perfect at once but he lost it as soon he lost it at once and we are not made perfect at once but by degrees but we shall never lose it As a Limner that intends a curious picture at first makes but a rude Draught and lays his dark Colours but then by degrees he comes over with his beauteous and bright Colours and draws out the perfect proportion of a curious piece So God that glorious Artist in repairing man intends some stately piece he hath in his thoughts the Idaea of some glorious piece Indeed 't is Jesus Christ that stands by him after whom he means to draw man's picture As a Limner that seeth a beauteus person draws his picture whilst he is in the room with him and takes it wondrous lively because he hath him before him So God the Father hath Jesus Christ the beauty of Heaven and Earth before him and looking upon Christ draws every Saints picture and will make his Saints exactly like to Christ every Saint shall be Christs perfect picture And therefoe he that hath grace be it never so small shall have more nay shall have all because God intends to make his Saints perfect in Christ Jesus We shall now make some Improvement of this Point And in the first place Vse 1. This shines with excellent comfort upon the weak Saints upon you that complain you are but weak Christians and you cannot match others in performances you cannot do as others can and if we do believe we believe but little and if we do love Jesus Christ we love him but little To you to you I say if you have the least drop of true grace God will give you more and you shall have abundance Do you believe but a little Be of good comfort you shall believe a great deal Do you repent but a little you shall have given you a greater store of repentance Canst thou pray but a little canst thou but scarce pray It shall be given thee to pray mightily to pray down mountains and strong sins I pray you consider these things 1. Though thou hast but little grace yet thy little may be true grace Thou art suspicious of thy self and art wont to say Surely if my grace were true it would be more than it is it is so little that I cannot think it is true grace But I say unto thee though thou hast but little yet thy little may be true grace as a little piece of gold is true gold Object 1. Oh! But I enjoy rich means of grace I lye down in the fatting pastures of the Gospel which would in a short time plump up the weakest grace if it were true I sit daily under the nourishing showres of the Word and yet my grace is but little and therefore I fear me is not true Answ The Disciples sate under the most powerful Ministry that ever was under the droppings and the honey-dews that fell from Christs lips Never man spake as the spake He was the Prince of Preachers that had the tongue of the learned To be with him was to be in Heaven upon Earth They saw his wondrous miracles every day and conversed with Christ himself his lips did drop the choicest fatness and yet under all these golden shrowres they had but a little Faith For the Lord Christ upon an occasion saith unto them Why are Matth. 8. 26. ye fearful oh ye of little faith Object 2. But I cannot trust God for the smallest matters Food and Raiment are the smallest matters and he that cannot trust God in the least matters I fear me hath a faith less than nothing Answ The Disciples of Jesus Christ had many experiences of God Providence and Provision for them they went about with Christ from place to place and though they had no victuals yet they found victuals every where they saw so many thousands sed with so few loaves and yet they were Mat. 6. 30 31. troubled What shall we eat what shall we drink and wherewith shall we be cloathed Thus thou seest thy little grace may be true grace 2. God will own thy little grace thy grace though it be never so little yet he will own it As you may see in Rev. 3. 8 where writing to the Church of Philadelphia saith Christ Thou hast a little strength and hast ept my word She had but a little strength and Christ takes
greatnotice of her little strength Christ makes much of a little grace As the Father dandles his little child so Jesus Christ dandles a little grace upon the lap of his Commendation Though thy grace be but low yet he hath an high esteem of it 3. God's giving some grace engages him to give more Hath God given thee a little grace His giving thee that little puts an engagement upon him to give thee more one of his gifts bind him to give another When God went about to destroy Sodom saith God Shall I Gen. 18. 17 18. Hide from Abraham that thing which I do seeing I mean to make him a great and mighty nation As though one kindness did bind him to give another with God the bestowing of one favour binds him to add another If God begin to give thee grace he is engaged to go on and give thee more grace not for thy sake but because 't is his own work and therefore if he should not carry it on he should lose what he had begun If God hath pardon'd thee some sins and should not pardon thee all the rest all his former Pardons would be thrown away like precious water spilt upon the ground If God hath begun to give thee some grace he is engaged to give thee more for the sake of the former I say he is engaged to give thee more for the sake of the former and to give thee more yet nay more yet for the sake of that grace that went before As man that ploughs a piece of Land counts himself engaged to sow it and if he sow it he counts himself engaged to fence it and make it thrive because one work is for another the former for the latter plowing is for sowing and sowing is for growing and growing is for reaping and therefore one labour calls for the help of another So when God puts a little grace into thee it is for another to bring on another and that the former grace may not be in vain one gift calls for the help of another 4. A little grace is a pledg of more I say the little grace thou hast is a sure pledg of more as a little piece of money is an earnest of the whole sum God speaking of the effusion of his gifts and graces saith I will pour out my spirit God gives his spirit as freely as he gives rain now you know first it rains small drops and after greater and the small are the signs of the great 5. Jesus Christ makes intercession for a little grace Peter saith Christ I have pray'd that thy faith fail not thou hast but a little faith and I have prayed for thy little faith for thy weak faith that it fail not if any man sin we have an 1 John 2. 2. advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Vse 2. What saith this Principle to Sinners that are without grace Surely Sirs it should much deject you and make you smite upon your hearts When Christ saith It is given to you to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others it is not given should it not make those tremble that have not the gift that have not this special gift To know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven When our Lord saith To him that hath shall be given should it not shake the heart of the man that hath not so much as the first gift of grace yet bestowed upon him Sinner thou hast not so much as the Foundation the first stone of the building yet laid in thee Lord what a sad case am I in whilst thou art promising the addition of grace to others thou hast not planted so much as the beginnings of grace in me 1. While the saving-work in others is going on it is not yet begun in thee While others are upon their growth thou art not yet born I say not born again Sinner thou hast not yet so much as the first preparation of Heaven in thee while others are upon their Progress thou art not as yet in the Race while others are running to the Gole thou lyest dead while others are raised and enlivened thou hast not yet set out toward Heaven while others are a great way upon their Journey to Glory thou art left sleeping in Sodom till the sparks of fire and brimstone fall down from Heaven and fly about thine ears while the Lots are carried out by the Angel of the Lord Oh Sirs see your misery 2. Sinners you are ugly and mis-shapen Creatures without grace you want the Image of God upon you Holiness is our comeliness and Grace is the only handsom garment What are thy sins but thy deformities and thy lusts but thy leprosies Thou carest not what thou art in the eye of the godly but carest thou not what thou art in the eye of God Thou feest no unhandsomness in sin thou seest not thy self ugly but art thou therefore the less ugly A Toad or a Snake hath no odious apprehensions of it self it is above their reach to apprehend what they are so Sinners cannot discern their own deformities their Judgments follow their Natures and Dispositions 3. If Jesus Christ doth not conquer you he 'l slay you In Rev. 6. 2 there saith John I saw and behold a white horse Rev. 6. 2. and he that sate on him had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went forth conquering and to conquer 1. Here John saw an horse which is mystically the Gospel because of its swiftness The Apostles and Apostolical Preachers of the Primitive times were Horses for their nimble and swift Preaching of the Gospel through the World 2. This is a white horse to signifie 1. The Purity of the Gospel or Divinity of its Doctrine 2. to signifie the joy and peace it offers to the Sons of Men it is called glad tidings and the Gospel of peace A white Flag is an Ensign of Peace 3. To signifie the Glory of Christ white robes are Emblems of Glory Princes and Nobles did go in white 4. To signifie the Triumph of Christ white horse in sign of victory and Triumph The Romans when they rid in Triumph had white Horses to ride on or to draw their Chariots The Lord Christ will get the day he will triumph over souls either in their submission or destruction And therefore it is said 3. That he that sate on the white horse had a bow given him This Horse-man or Prince the Lord Christ had a bow in his hand and a Bow presupposeth arrows that is terrors and threatnings against his Enemies that will not submit to his mercy he hath his Arrow prepared upon the string and will shoot at the rebellious Sinner It may be thou hast some of Christ's Arrows sticking in the ribs of thy Conscience and art wounded for some sins thy very heart is galled with the threatnings that fly like Arrows out of the Bow of the Ministry but thou frettest instead of being converted
and falling at his feet thou ragest Well Christ rides on still in the Chariot of his word conquering and to conquer one or other way conquer he will if he cannot conquer thee with love he 'l kill thee in wrath Those that do yield he saves those that will not he slays 4. Christ will Preach over all these Truths again in Hell-flames to thee Thou keepest thy sins and lusts and wilt by no means send them away thou makest nothing of the Word of God because dispensed by Man I tell thee all the Sermons thou now hearest against thy sins all the Truths of God shall one day be Preach'd over again in flames of Fire to thine eternal horrour and that will be a long Sermon All the Sermons of Repentance and Grace thou heard'st here in thy life-time shall in Hell be brought fresh to thy memory thy Conscience shall then Preach them all over to thee in Hell-flames and then 't wil be a woful Sermon Now the Sermon is but an hour long look upon the glass 't is turned and while the glass is running we are Preaching Preaching thee if it be possible into a state of grace this Sermon is but a short Sermon it will end anon and while this glass is running thy glass is running and thy life is hastening but in Hell there 's no glass turned up This and all the Sermons thou ever heard'st will there in flames be Preach'd over to thee again throughout eternity Oh tremble at it It will be a woful Sermon and a long Sermon 't will never have an end Vse 3. Here 's rare comfort to weak grace To them that are but new beginners you complain your grace is but little My Beloved you shall have more 1. Grace at first is but little An Infant when 't is new-born is but little a Tree when 't is first planted is but a little Graff The Cloud that over-spreads the Heavens was at first no bigger than a mans hand Object 1. But I am a Christian of long standing and yet my grace is but little Were I but a new beginner 't were something but I am a long stander yet a short Christian Answ 1. Truly my Beloved blame thy self then chide thy self that thou art a Christian of a long standing and of a short stature It is a disgrace to be so as 't is a disgrace to be an old man and yet a dwarf Christ chides his Disciples for it though they were but of one or two years standing in his School yet he chides them because they had so little Matth. 8. 26. Faith Besides Those that have less Grace shall have less Glory But yet I must say this much 2. That every thing in this life is but little David saith Psal 39. 5. Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth A small measure the Lord knows David lived in all probability threescore years and ten he was King of Judah and Israel forty years and yet he called it but an hand-breadth 3. Thou measurest thy grace with what thou should'st be and then it seems but little A great deal of grace measured with what thou should'st be is but little As Augustine saith Maxima eorum quae scimus Minima eorum quae Ignoramus The much nay most we know is the least of what we do not know so the most we are is the least of what we should be the most we do is the least of what we should do Great Saints are but little to what they should be 4. Compare thy grace with times past and then it may be it is not little and that thou must do Object 2. But I have trifled away my time the time I should have got grace in The Ant provides her meat in summer and gathers her food in the harvest But I have spent my time of gathering and is there any hope that I shall have more 1. Humble thy self for 't is a wondrous sin to lose time because we have but a time to glorifie God here and by our losing of time God doth lose his Glory 2. Yet though thou hast loytered away thy time do not limit Gods time because thou hast past away thy time do not say that Gods time is past 3. It may be thy time of growing is not come yet As Children some shoot up presently in their first years others do not grow till they are sixteen or twenty years and these at last out-grow the others some Saints grow more at first others grow more at last Trees bring forth their fruit in different seasons some sooner and some later There is the first ripe fruit and there is the latter fruit some Trees have their fruit ripe and ready with the spring others not till August others not till Winter there 's the Summer-fruit and there is the Winter-fruit One tree goeth before and hath her fruit ripe one month another hath its fruit the next month another follows and hath its fruit the next month after that And this is the Masters Wisdom that he may have new fruit every month to serve his Table and please his palate so doth God Object 3. But I am a withered tree I did bear fruit but now do not I was once fresh and green but now am dry and blasted I am in part an Apostate I am fallen from my first love I was good and now am worse I do not bear the fruit I did Is there any hopes for me Answ Yes thou mayst recover and therefore away to Prayer and send quickly for the spirit Lose no time I will give you an Instance in another case Nebuchadnezzar was a great tree whose height did reach Dan. 4. 11. 12 14 15. to heaven and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth The leaves thereof were fair and the fruit thereof much the beasts of the field had shadow under it and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof and all flesh was fed of it And this great Tree Nebuchadnezzar was lopt down fearfully and withered dreadfully he was driven from among men and cast off from his Kingdom seven years But yet the stump of his roots was left in the earth with a band of Iron and Brass To signifie that his Kingdom was reserved for him and that he should revive again So thou hast been it may be an high Tree whose top of profession did reach up to Heaven and all the fowls of the air the Saints that live about thee were wont to fly and sit under the boughs and branches of thy gifts to receive Counsel and Direction from thee And now thy leaves are fallen and thy branches cut thy graces lopt thy gifts withered and thou thinkest therefore thou art forsaken But oh man Is not there a stump of thy roots left in the earth with a band of Iron and Brass A stump of Faith and Repentance and panting after Christ As long as there is a stump left thou wilt revive again Vse 4. Shall more grace
be given to them that have grace be it never so small Then Saints see what your work is What 's that to receive How may we receive more grace First Open thy soul to receive grace For to receive a thing is sometimes a motion of the subject or faculty opening it self to receive it As the hand doth open it self to receive a gift and a vessel must be opened to receive oyl or cordial pour'd into it The earht opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah And Numb 16. 32. Gen. 4 11. the earth as God said to Cain opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand Now the opening of the soul to receive Grace consists in these three Things 1. In believing the Promise when the soul believes its door stands open to receive the golden Treasures of Grace that are brought into it out of the store-house of the Promise And therefore saith the Text They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto Acts 14. 27. the gentiles 2. In love to grace promised for love is an opening grace When a man loves a friend dearly he opens his Arms to embrace and receive him so when a man loves grace he opens his heart to welcom grace into it And therefore ye shall find this passage between Christ and his Spouse saith Christ Open to me my love And saith the Spouse I rose up to open to Cant. 5. 2. Vers 5. my beloved He that loves Christ will open the two-leav'd gates of his soul to let in Christ with all his train 3. In desire after grace promised for the desire of grace is an opening of the soul to receive grace As the Lord saith Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide i. e. ask freely open thy mouth in Prayer as wide as thou wilt And I will fill it 2dly Lye low The valleys that receive all the showres and floods into their bosom lye low under all the high hills and proud mountains so the humble Saints that lye in the bottom of self-abhorrence under all the rest receive the showres of grace the floods stay upon them and they drink them in they are overflown like your low grounds with abundance of grace 3dly Accept of grace to receive grace is to accept of grace As Jacob said to his brother Esau Nay I pray thee if now I Gen 33. 10. have found grace in thy sight then receive my present at my hand i. e. accept of my present at my hand Vse 5. What shall I do that have no grace To him that hath shall be given But what shall I do that have not Consider grace is a gift and therefore 1. God can give grace where it is not he gives grace where is none he doth good to them that are not good A gift is bestowed where it is not See Isa 44. 3 I will pour water upon Isa 44. 3. him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring i. e. as I pour Water and Floods upon the dry and thirsty ground that hath none so will I pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Where observe God gives showres of grace where there 's not a drop before 2. He can give grace to whom he will he can love whom he will and he can give grace to whom he will this is the Prerogative of Gods Love he can love any one Man being a narrow creature cannot love any one one that is fowl and ugly and crooked but God can love any one he can love unhandsom and deformed Creatures and marry them and make them lovely Naaman the Syrian was a Leper and therefore wondrous ugly he was a Leper in Body and Mind too The beauty of the mind presents a crooked person comely to us but Naaman had beauty in neither part he was a Leper in body and an Idolater in mind and yet God loved him and by a poor maid in his house sent him to the Prophet of Israel and healed his outside and healed his inside made his Body comely and made his Soul comely 3. He makes notorious sinners noteable Saints he makes Persecutors Preachers As he did Paul and all the Church admired it But they had heard only that he who persecuted us Gal. 1. 23. in times past now PREACHETH the faith which once he DESTROYED See the Work and Free-grace of God! Would God shew mercy to him that destroyed the Faith Yes he gave Faith to him that destroyed the Faith Paul if he could would have kil'd Christ and yet God gives him Christ The Gentiles were the greatest Sinners in the World and they were at the height of sin when the Gospel began to be Preached to them they were counted unclean the unclean Act 10. 14 15. beasts swine and other Beasts which the Jews under the Law might not eat did signifie the Gentiles and the Jews not eating the unclean beasts did signifie that they should have no communion with the unclean Gentiles yet on the GENTILES Vers 45. Acts 11. 17. also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost And forasmuch as God gave them i. e. the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto us 4. Sometimes God makes his greatest Act of Love to pass upon the greatest sinner Paul you know was a Saul indeed chief of sinners he saith it of himself and yet notwithstanding Acts 9. 3 4. Christ Preached from Heaven to him he sent men to Preach to others as Philip to the Eunuch but Jesus Chrrist doth himself Preach to Paul Jesus Christ when he was on Earth in the form of a servant called the other Apostles as Matthew at the receipt of custom and Peter when he was fishing follow me but when he was on his Throne in Majesty he Preacht from Heaven to Paul Wondrous love to a wondrous sinner 5. He bids thee pray and he 'l give Ask and it shall be Matth. 7. 7. Luk. 11. 13. given you But you 'l say he saith this to Saints Sol. See what our Lord Christ saith to the Woman of Samaria If thou knew'st the gift of God and who it is that saith John 4. 10. to thee Give me to drink thou would'st have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Dub. But I ask and yet 't is not given Resp Questionless he that bids us ask means to give As we bid our Children say I pray you father give me such a thing we do it not but when we mean to give it them Object But I cannot pray I cannot pray for grace Answ 1. He that will give thee grace when thou prayest will give thee grace that thou mayest pray As God first formed Adams body and it lay dead before him on the ground without breath or life or soul in it and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
habit A man may free himself from his acquired Corruptions he may by care and industry of his own mortifie his acquired depravations of Nature As we read of many Socrates and Plato who by their Wisdom and Industry freed themselves from the slavery of many sensual appetites and passions which their corrupt nature and evil company had led them into and yet the natural corruption remained still Thou thinkest thou art converted because thou hast overcome thy drunkenness but drunkenness is but an acquired corruption thou didst get it by custom and mayst break it by custom and yet nature remain still unchanged 5. The change of the heart chiefly appears in the change of the ultimate or utmost end As the Pollution of the whole man and all his Actions Moral Civil and Religious consists chiefly and appears in seeking self or making our selves our utmost end so our sanctification lyeth in this and appears chiefly in making God the ultimate end of all we do A man before he is sanctified desires God and Christ only to keep his sores from aking for so I look upon all men made up of wants if the body ake with diseases and pains the stomack with hunger conscience for sin all their happiness lyeth in the easing thereof here lyeth their bliss They seek after God only as a Physitian to heal or cure them but not as the end of their cure The sick man sends for the Physitian but his health and recovery is his end so do men before their Conversion in their pangs of Conscience their afflictions their wants and necessities they seek to God and make use of God as an instrument but their ease and interests are their ends Jehu sought the Lord but his last end was himself But when the heart is sanctified then God is their end instead of their lusts and sins God is the only end in their eye instead of the riches or comforts of the World God is the Object in their eye Whom have I in heaven but thee and Psal 73. 25. there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee God was instead of all things to him 1. The soul seeth its own vileness and the Lord in his Glory This is the first Principle of seeking the Lord the soul seeth all his good laid up in the Lord more than in himself nay wholly in the Lord not at all in himself All my springs saith the soul are in thee All my treasures of Righteousness and Redemption all my riches of Wisdom and Sanctification they are all in thee and therefore the Saints when they see their own vileness and the Lord in his Glory are so far from seeking that they loath themselves 2. The soul slights the creatures as vessels of meer vanity Oh try your selves then by this touchstone A carnal heart may cross his own Will but not his own utmost end A man may seek the Lord with delight and follow the Zech. 7. 5 6. Isa 58. 4 5. Ordinances and fast and pray but himself is his end still How shall we know we make God our end 1. When you make him your happiness those that are throughly sanctified make the Lord their last end and happiness Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O Deut. 33. 29. Psal 144. 15. people Happy are those people whose God is the Lord. The full rest and peace of the soul is to be found only in the Presence of God in this Being of Beings his perfections are in himself he keeps a perpetual sabbath of rest in himself And in this rest only the gracious soul seeks his rest God is the journeys-end of all his Labours Life and Travels When Solomon had tyred out himself in his Travels through all the things of this World at last he returns empty and crying home and now when he sums up all his Glory he saith The words of the preacher the Son of David King in Jerusalem Eccl. 1. 1. He stiles himself 1. A man gathered to the Church to be as near God as he can 2. The Son of David to whom the promises were made And then thirdly King of Jerusalem the least and last of all Secondly When you do the Lords work purely for the Lord the Hypocrite will do the Lords work but 't is because his own Interests are bound up with it As a man that goes to the City he will do your business but he would not go unless he had affairs of his own to do there But the gracious heart will go for God and ride for God meerly upon the Lords occasions Thirdly When you carry all things down the stream toward God As a River running toward the Sea many springs fall and run into it but it carrieth them down all with it so the upright soul there are many occasions hinderances businesses but he carrieth them all down along with him they must all go with him they shall not divert him but he will over-master them and lead them his way nay the more he is hindred the more violent is his motion It is time for thee O Lord to work for they have made void thy Psal 119. 126. 127. law therefore love I thy Commandments above gold yea above fine gold Fourthly Therefore they that are sanctified love the Lord fully that is above all A man is highly endeared to that which he makes his end his end commands his affections to love the Lord and to be beloved of the Lord and behold his Glory is the main end of the upright heart Fifthly They that are sanctified dedicate themselves to the Will of God I mean to the whole Will of God Their will is emptied into his will Teach me to do thy will Psal 143. 10. Psal 40. 8. O God I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart The Hebrew word for an holy man is a consecrated man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man seperated from common to a Divine use The sanctified man is a man separated from his own will and set apart to do Gods Will he is gone out of his own Will and lives at a distance from it he is sorry that he hath served his own will so long and is weary of the service 1. They that are sanctified do Gods Will purely because it is his will because it pleaseth him there is a dear propensity in the Saints to do Gods Will because it pleaseth him Thus saith the Lord unto ths Eunuchs that keep my sabbaths Isa 56. 4. and chuse the things that please me This is their choice it is in their hearts to do it because it pleaseth the Lord I will Psal 69. 30. praise the name of God with a song and magnifie it with thanksgiving This also shall please the Lord better than an Ox or Vers 31. Bullock that hath Horns and Hoofs This is the Motive and loadstone of their Obedience in that it pleaseth him This is the joy
of their work and that which makes musick upon the strings of their hearts because it pleaseth him It is with every man as it was with Sampson he would needs have a wife of the Philistins Why so because she pleaseth Judg. 14. 3. me So why do men seek themselves love themselves and espouse these and those lusts but because it pleaseth them Look then as the soul when he loved himself did seek to please only his own will in every thing and 't was good because it pleased him so the Saint whose heart is now endeared to Christ though he cannot perfectly do it that 's in Heaven yet he seeks to give the whole will of Christ content because it pleaseth Christ He that is unmarried saith the Apostle careth for the 1 Cor. 7. 32. things that belong to the Lord how he may please the Lord. 2. The upright heart though he cannot joy in the Lords Love yet he will joy in the Lords Will His delight is in the Psal 1. 2. Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night 3. They close with the whole Will of God as their happiness It is not only good to do the Lords Will for thus men may seek the Lord as thinking it good so to do but as their Blessedness else 't is not their last end and so not sought as their last end The sanctified soul obeys God as his Blessedness Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of the Lord Psal 119. 1. Vers 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart This makes them seek God with the whole heart because they count this their Blessedness this makes a gracious heart prize service to God above the whole Creation and set an higher rate upon a good work than upon a miracle he had rather be obeying than working miracles rather humbling his soul than removing mountains because he is doing the Will of God Vse 8. Saints reach after more grace It should not content a Saint to have grace but to have more grace As it doth not content God to give grace but to give more grace so it should not content a Saint to have grace but to have more grace Because 1. The more grace thou hast the more of God thou hast in thee And he that is full of grace is full of God To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might Eph. 3. 19. be filled with all the fulness of God 2. Abundance of grace is lovely for grace is the beauty of the soul the quintessence and sweetness that doth dulcifie and perfume the soul A little sugar doth not sweeten a cup especially if it be a bitter cup such as mans nature is we say of a little that 't is as good as none at all A little Frankincense doth not perfume a room especially if it be a stinking room such as mans impure nature is Where grace is predominant there a Saint is lovely Ah my Beloved God would have the Saints lovely in his eye and lovely in the Worlds eye Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven There must be abundance of light in thee to shine over all the Horizon of thy Conversation as there is abundance of light in the Sun that shines over all the Hemisphere we live in and therefore 't is a great body so must thou be a great Saint to shine before all men and therefore the little stars do not shine scarce to our eye Ah my Beloved This is the reason why many who call themselves Saints are not lovely in the eyes of the World they have not abundance of grace they have abundance of profession but not abundance of grace abundance of profession but little grace and this makes them so odious in the World abundance of profession without grace makes them but the more odious in the world The world seeth so much pride and so little humility in them so much worldliness and so little of Heaven in them so much unjust dealing and so little truth in them that the world is apt enough to conclude that either this is not the Gospel which they profess or that they are not true to their profession John the Baptist had abundance of grace and he was very lovely in the eye of the World he was lovely in Herods eye Mark 6. 20. 3. Abundance of grace is lively for grace is the life of the soul and where life is but weak there the actings are not lively A weak man cannot run But saith David I will run the way of thy Commandments He was lively for he had Psal 119. 32. abundance of grace Moses was mighty in Prayer saith God Let me alone that Exod. 32. 10. my wrath may wax hot against them i. e. hinder me not by thy Prayer from punishing them Moses had abundance of Spirit he was too hard for God himself as I may say with reverence Saints had ye abundance of Faith ye would be lively in believing As 't is said of Abraham He was strong Rom. 4. 20. in Faith 4. The more grace thou hast the more terrible to the Devils The Devil trembles at the mighty Prayers of a gracious man the Devil trembles at the strong Faith of a gracious man Oh! Who would not have grace And who would not have much grace When the Apostles acted by Faith came as Christ said to cast out Devils Did not the Devils tremble at them Saint he fears thee more than thou needest fear him Jesus I know Act. 19. 15. and Paul I know said the Devil That is I know them to my fear they have put me to flight many a time And if you were such as they I should fear you also Believe it Soul he trembles at thy holiness he trembles at thy Faith put it forth in Prayer and thou shalt see him run Resist the Devil Jam. 4. 8. and he will flie from you 5. The more grace thou hast the more thou shalt-serve the Lord which is the true and proper end of thy Creation Lord saith one is it much that I serve thee whom Thom. a Kempis l. 3. c. 10. all creatures are bound to serve It ought not to seem much unto me to serve thee but this rather seems much and marvelous to me that thou vouchsafest to receive into thy service one so poor and unworthy to serve thee He goeth on Behold all is thine which I have and whereby I serve thee and yet in very deed thou rather servest me than I thee 6. Nothing but grace will bring thee to Heaven Vanity of vanities and all is vanity but only to love God and wholly to serve him Knowledg is Vanity yea Knowledg of God himself is Vanity and of Christ himself is Vanity without grace to love him and live to him As one
we all fell so in Christs standing we all stand the Lord Jesus having stood they cannot fall because by virtue of his standing they have the eternal Presence of the Holy Ghost I say the ground is Christs standing for though there are many reasons why the Saints shall not fall from Christ as the immutable love of God the Covenant of Grace the spirit of Grace and the Intercession of Jesus Christ yet all these are bottomed upon Christs standing and fulfiling the first Covenant For therefore is the Covenant of grace unchangeable and the federal love of God to us in that Covenant immutable and the dwelling of the spirit eternal and the sealing of the spirit indelible because built upon the unchangeable Priesthood of Jesus Christ such a Priest as stood and finished the work so stood as to satisfie Justice and vanquish Satan And the Intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven for us is built upon the standing and perseverance of Jesus Christ had not Christ stood his Intercession had not now been standing had he fell that had fell to the ground also had he fell the Holy Ghost had not been given Hence it is that the Covenant of grace reigns to life Rom. 5. 21. eternal Hence it is that they who receive Christ shall be sure to Vers 27. reign with him Hence it is that our Justification by Christ is not a tottering or fallible Justification that may be lost but a Justification Vers 18. unto life In a word hence it is that the Spirit when he comes he comes to dwell and abide in Believers Rom. 8. 11. He is called the spirit that abides for ever And now I am returned where I began Saints your perseverance is certain in it self though not perhaps to you because in Jesus Christ you have not only the graces of Christ but the spirit of Christ the spirit dwelling and abiding in you 1. The spirit knits the soul to the Lord and never suffers that Love-knot to be untied again This knot the spirit makes is stronger than the Gordian-knot which cannot only not be loosed but cannot be cut asunder The Gordian-knot Alexander the Great when he could not loose it cut it asunder but this knot whereby the Saints are tyed to Christ 't is such a knot as can neither be untied nor cut asunder 2. When the poor soul is careless of himself the spirit keeps him he sleeps and the spirit sits by him The wise virgins took a nap as well as the foolish they fell into a sleep of carnal security but the spirit watcht by them and awaked them 3. When the poor soul is weak the spirit helps him 4. When the froward soul offers to run from the Lord the Spirit follows him Jonah run from God but the Spirit follows him into the Sea and into the Whales belly and there he prayeth and looks again toward the holy Temple Is not this your wonder 5. When the unkind soul grieves the spirit yet the spirit still keeps the house and will not depart from him and so not suffer the soul wholly to depart from the Lord When David sinned and defiled himself he grieved the spirit he polluted the house and yet the spirit would not leave the house the spirit stai'd to keep grace alive in the embers and to blow it again into a new flame at Nathans Sermon Vse 10. You to whom God hath given grace the beginnings of grace here 's a great deal of work for you to do 1. Give the Lord the Honour of his grace And now the Lord knows I know not to whom I speak The Lord knows who are his Some that make the least appearance may have the greatest grace and some that cast the greatest lustre may have no grace a slight Impression upon the soul among men goeth for grace But you that have searched your hearts and found the pearl there give the Lord the Honour of his grace that ever he should plant such a flower in your bosoms For the last end of all the Elect is to admire and honour the riches of Gods grace Eph. 1. 5 6. Beloved This is Heavens work Oh! learn this song before you go thither which none learn but the redeemed and sealed Rev. 14. 3. of the Lord. The Lord in all his dealings with his people seeks lastly to bring about the glory of his grace 1. He leaves them a long time in their graves of sin before he gives them the resurrection of grace that they live like other men wallow in sin as other men which is strange that he that loved them so long should leave them so long to be as bad as any yet this he doth because it makes for the praise of his grace Eph. 2. 2 4 7 8 verses And this doth so confound Gods People that they wish not only Heaven but Earth and Ages to come may record this love 2. Out of men fallen he picks out usually the poorest and the vilest The younger Brother most despised and least respected in a Family and leaves the elder Jacob have I loved Rom. 9. 11 13. 1. Cor. 1. 26. Esau have I hated This is strange that the Lord should chuse thus but this he doth to blur the Glory of all the World 3. The Lord leaves many wants in his People under which they sit sighing and sometime very long Sometimes he takes away those feelings those enlargements they had hides his face from them that if ever he returns in love his grace may be the sweeter and last the longer 4. Sometimes he refuseth to hear their Prayers that when he doth answer them at last his free-grace may be adored and cryed up 5. Sometimes he humbleth them with vexing sins and pricking distempers and it is to advance grace 2. Cor. 12. 7 9. 6. In a word you shall find the Lord so strangely carrying on matters as if he did not love nor care for his people against the hair and grain of their desires and when all comes to winding up 't is to advance grace All a mans good days and bad days all Gods frowns and smiles all the Lords food and physick all God cares for works and plots for 't is to do his people no more hurt than this To advance his grace in them and by them All his hewings and hammerings of you his knocking you a pieces and new melting and new casting of you 't is that you may be vessels of his glorious grace that you may be able to live in the Air of Gods grace to suck in and breathe out grace and let all the powers of Hell seek to blur it yet grace shall conquer Who would not be under grace Oh poor creature Satan is tempting sin vexing yet grace must reign 2. Act for Jesus Christ Do the work of Christ and finish it Christ gives grace because he hath given work for grace to do Christ sets up a work in you that he may do work by you
Saints that they may be more serious in their duties 2. The other evil in a slight and formal Communion with God in Duties is unthankfulness Duties of godliness are not only a debt to God but a reward to us Therefore in slightness there is not only unfaithfulness but unthankfulness Both the Majesty and Mercy of God is despised and can God be well pleased with such things 3. There is a third evil in a slight Communion with God in Duties and that is unfruitfulness we get nothing from God in duties we pray slightly and therefore get nothing by Prayer we hear the word slightly and therefore profit not by it Now that the Lord may cure his people of this slightness of heart and make their graces grow he useth this dispensation to leave them in want of assurance 6. God increaseth his Saints graces by terrors within he not only suspends their comforts but afflicts their souls he writes bitter things against them 1. These rowse them up to seek God They that see themselves lost will find a way to God They that have Hell-fire burning in them will value Heaven and pardon and the least drop of Gods love Oh! now promises are precious and Gods love neglected is now sweeter than the honey and the honey-comb Now they cry Come Lord Jesus come quickly 2. These fright them out of their dreams and carnal slumbers as the cry made at midnight that the Bridegroom cometh awoke the virgins out of their sleep Among the other diseases of the soul Divine desertions cure deadness and dulness of heart Sometimes living men are in a lifeless state their hearts are so benummed that they seem to lye among the dead They can hear the word carelesly and sleep out whole Sermons there is no vigour nor activity in their graces at home and therefore the Lord hangs their souls over the mouth of Hell and makes them drink of that red wine the dregs whereof the wicked of the earth shall Psal 75. 8. wring out and drink them that by this strong potion he may rowse them up and quicken their dull and drowsy spirits 3. These terrors work them more closely to Christ And for this cause God gives his People sad visions of sin and wrath he shakes the soul with Earth-quakes that she may stand faster upon her true Basis and Foundation These storms make their hearts gather in to Christ That I may be found in him saith Paul The soul must have some dry land to stand upon and when the flood of Gods terrors overflow the soul then she flyeth to Christ as Noah's Dove to the ark 7thly The Lord increaseth grace in his Saints by afflictions he makes them by marring them Divine Wisdom works by contraries he makes them shine brighter by their Eclipses and clears up their light by darkness Schola crucis Schola lucis And truly It is the property of true-born grace to grow the greater by the cross As the laurel tree is not smitten Plin. Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 55. nor blasted with lightning no more is heaven-born grace hurt by any afflictions but much bettered by them 1. God increaseth his Saints graces by sharp sicknesses by diseases unto death i. e. this startles mightily Oh Lord thou didst surprize me unprovided and if thy hand had cut me off with that disease my soul had been cut off from heaven for ever This enters deep upon the soul and strikes terrour upon the heart the Lord I hope shall never find me so again This stirs up thankfulness to the Lord that hath not only in this tryal saved me from the grave but also from Hell 2. Sicknesses deaden the Saints to the world They that in sicknesses are always leaving the world learn to dye unto the world They have death always in their eye They see themselves still upon the borders of the grave They are ever and anon lanching in eternity and this makes grace grow 3. Sicknesses are searchers Thou enquirest after mine iniquity Job 10. 6. saith Job and searchest after my sin When God smites our bodies he searcheth our hearts and makes enquiry in our lives and now saith the soul Let us search and try Lam. 3. 40. our ways When God is searching VS it is high time for VS to search our selves and this also makes grace to grow 4. Sicknesses dig Wells of godly sorrows in the heart They are as it were Gods Mattocks and Spades whereby he delves deep into the center of the heart and digs Wells of repentance which send forth streams of confession of sin which before would not run because they had no vent being covered and stopt with the earth of lust and hardness and worldliness upon them but now they find a passage When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the Psal 32. 3. 4. 5. day long for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me and my moysture is turned into the drought of summer I acknowledged my sin unto thee and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin 2. By poverty and narrowness of estate Many men must Aquilone maxime gaudent densiores ab afflatucjus laetioresque materiae firmioris Plin. Nat. Hist l. 17. c. 2. Jer. 6. 22. be kept short and bare that they may thrive in grace Pliny saith That trees generally like best that stand to the North-wind It causeth them to spread thick and more flourishing and makes the Timber more strong and solid The Lord threatneth the Jews with a people from the North-Countrey the Chaldean Army which should carry them captive into Babylon The North wind winnowed them and fanned all their Idolatry They flourished gallantly in Religion after the North wind had blown upon them 1. The cold blasts of poverty correct pride and moderate high thoughts Make a man poor and you make him humble Pride is an absolute enemy to grace and prosperity is the seminary of pride The North-wind of poverty cools the courage and tames the spirits of men and now they know God and themselves Their Plumes fall and now they will digest a reproof and sit upon even ground with the lower Saints When the world frowns upon them they seek the smiles of God before they were too high for him 2. Poverty teacheth them to pray they can now fall upon their knees those that never called upon God learn now to visit the Throne of grace and cry Lord Give us this day our daily bread Nay they long for the spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father Nay those that have prayed in their fulness now pray feelingly They can go to God in sense of wants before they did not hear nor feel their own Prayers In their prosperity they did not care what Prayers they put off God with Now they set the highest rate upon Prayer for they are fain to live upon Prayer An hungry belly makes a Saint hungry after Ordinances and after Gods Presence When a mans debts and poverty make
him say I know not what to do then his soul saith Mine eyes are up unto thee O Lord. 3. When a man seeth that God blasts all his projects and endeavours and that he shall not be rich in this world then he looks after grace and so a poor estate makes a rich soul A man for a while ascribes his poverty to his great charge and family or to his carelesness and improvidence or to his superfluous expences and therefore brings himself into a narrower room and saith I will try this and that way and he riseth up early and goeth to bed late And now saith he I shall be rich But when he seeth all will not do his good husbandry and pains do not enrich him let him improve his utmost diligence yet all his care cannot add one cubit to his stature then he looks upward and saith Now I see it is God alone that gives wealth riches are only in Gods hands I perceive now that God will not have me rich in this world And therefore Lord Lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me give me grace instead of greatness humbleness of heart instead of Honour God instead of gold 8. God increaseth grace in his Saints by awakening sin in the soul As long as sin lyeth a sleep the Saint thinks it is not there He conceives of himself better than he is A disease lying hid and dormant in the body is supposed to be out of doors we think we have not what we feel not and therefore God awakens sin in the soul For 1. Thereby it is discovered 2. Thereby the War is maintained against corruption till it be rooted out God increaseth grace in the Saints by their continual War and conflict with sin The enemy is destroyed by rising their rising is their ruin had they lain still they had lain safe What made Zedekiah and his people to be carried captive 2 Chron. 36. 13. but because they rebelled and rose up against Nebuchadnezzar When sin riseth the Saint riseth and gathers forces against it and therefore God awakens sin in the Saints that they may raise Armies and get new Victories over it Were there no War there would be no Conquests did not sin rise there would be no War against it and therefore Sirs God awakens pride lusts and sins in his Saints that they may hew them down such a sin assaults them and takes the field against them that in a pitcht Battel they may tread it under foot and make an end of it for ever And therefore I would advise you to two Things 1. Do not think thou art under the Power of thy sin when thou art at War with thy sin and it with thee When the soul many times hath had sweet rest in God then to break his joy again in pieces Satan hath stirred up a sin to assault him and now he cryeth out That all his sweet joys were but delusions were my state right should I be thus assaulted again And he thinks he is under the power of sin because there is a new rising of sin against him To answer thee thou must know that there is difference between time of War and time of Victory between the day of conflict and the day of conquest Now is our day of conflict and that of sin which remains in thee must rise again in thee that it may be subdued When Rebeccah had twins in her she was troubled and marvelled at it and went to the Lord who told her The elder shall serve the younger So there is flesh and spirit in the Saints and these two are contrary so that you cannot do the things that you would and sometimes cannot will yet something opposeth this well know it that the elder and stronger shall serve the younger Lord it shall be so because thou hast said it A man that is at War with another and is able to raise Forces against him hath received power against him but Victory is not gotten presently 'T is so here The bruised reed shall he not break till he bring forth judgment unto victory Though Thou art bruised in the conflict yet there 's no fear of breaking if God will not do it none shall do it Now Christ will not break thee The bruised reed shall he not break and therefore thou shalt get the Victory only know for the present thou hast power Thou goest to all Ordinances to ordinary duties thou prayest daily and strivest daily and when thou meetest no help there thou goest to extraordinary duties thou dost fast and lye in sack-cloth against thy sin and raisest the powers of heaven Oh Lord awake Awake thou arm of the Lord here 's a continual and hot War now against sin And this is the first thing I would have you consider Do not think thou art under the power of thy sin when thou art at war with thy sin and it with thee 2. The thing I would advise you to is this Be sure to improve your utmost strength and rise with all your might against the Lords Enemies I mean your sins do not the work of God negligently which is an accursed thing Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently And for this cause God casteth you into sore straits The Israelites should have done the work perfectly when they were commanded to root out the Canaanites but because they were slack and did it unfaithfully therefore God left them as Briars and Thorns to be always an affliction to them And this is the reason why God leaves such a lust or sin in you to be a perpetual scourge to you in your bosoms when you are pressed to take up Arms for Christ against the sins of your hearts if you fight not with all your strength and pursue not the Victory to the utmost till you find your Enemies dead before you God may give you into their hands to lead you into captivity and to hold you in chains that will eat into your souls and may in this distress stand afar of as one that knows you not 9thly God increaseth his Saints graces by the work of humbling Many within a while forget that they have been humbled Time wears out all those Characters of humiliation that were at first engraven upon them their wounds and bruises they had at their first Conversion are healed up again and upon this they have decayed in grace and at last become Apostates and the greatest enemies to the Saints And therefore God to preserve his Saints graces and to increase them keeps up still the life of humiliation in them As the radical moysture in the body is the pabulum caloris naturalis the nutriment of the natural heat and the Oyl is the food of the Lamb which its light lives upon so humiliation is the humidum radicale the radical moysture the fundamental sap that keeps Faith and Prayer and the other graces alive They that humble themselves will pray and seek the 2 Chr. 7.
live godly in Christ Jesus they derive it from him and direct it to him they breath for him and bring forth all their actions for him for this is essential to an Evangelical life to do all in the strength of Christ as their root and to do all for Christ as their end And if this be a godly life to live to Christ then let us so think of him and so do that from henceforth our hearts and mouths may neither speak nor think but of him that all things else may be of no savour to us that nothing enter our spirit which resenteth not the Spirit and Odour of Jesus Christ and respires not his honour and glory I say let us be vigilant and faithful to do and desire nothing but the honour of Christ to regard nothing but his pleasure and glory so as to have no eyes but for Jesus no more life but what is consecrated to the honour of his Soveraignty and Greatness Vse We have shewed you what a godly life is and how you may attain a godly life Let us now stir you up to attain this godly life 1. Let me take St. Pauls word to Timothy that which he recommends to him is Piety Exercise thy self unto godliness 1 Tim. 4. 7. Truly all virtues are good and all suitable to the state of a Christian the acquisition and practise of them all useful and necessary but he would have his prime and chief care be To exercise thy self unto godliness for godliness is the Ornament and Mistress of all other virtues it leads us to God and makes use of all virtues to conduct us thither and having no Object but God teaches us the worship and honour that we must render to him and like a good mistress puts us into a ready and easie practise of virtues and entertains us in the exercise of actions that honour God and are acceptable to him 2. Godliness is profitable as Paul saith in the same place Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable to all 1 Tim. 4. 8. things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come True godliness is one of the principal foundations on which Christian perfection stands and is supported In the conduct of men all actions and exercises of their life are ruled according to the Piety and as we commonly say according to the Devotion they have If their Piety be not well-laid the rest of the Christian life will be unconstant and its exercises very uncertain and superficial as we see in the devotion of many which is only in the exterior Who as the Apostle saith having the form of godliness deny and despise the power thereof In such souls we see nothing solid nothing but inconstancy in their lives imperfection in their actions disquiet disturbance and adherence to several creatures in their spirits a small blast of adversity over-turns them Object But it is an hard thing to be godly we have Satan opposing us and he is too hard for us besides our own corruptions and strong temptations Answ While we strive to be godly we may safely expect the Presence of God he is never wanting to those that seek after him and never fails those that engage in his quarrels As he who plots sin shall be sure to find Satan standing at his right hand so he that pursues after God and Holiness shall find God nearer to him than he is to himself God hath not forsaken the earth but as he sustains the whole universe much more those who are seeking grace and participation of himself Are you then striving to be godly and aiming at a Divine life His almighty arms will bear you up and he 'l cherish you with his own goodness Wheresoever God beholds any breathings after himself he gives life to them as those which are his own breath in them where there is any serious and sober resolution against sin any real motion towards God there 's the blessing of heaven in it He that planted it will also water it and make it to bud and blossom and bring forth fruit Object But a godly life is an afflicted life Answ You have heard that grace in us is the life of Jesus in us We ought then to know what his life was The life of Jesus is Divinely Humane and Humanely Divine he is God and Man and therefore lives a life Divine and a life Humane As God he lives the life of God in the bosom of his Father a life of Glory Power and Majesty As Man he lived the life of Man in lowness humiliation in impotence in sufferings so that at the same he is living in the bosom of his Father and dying on the arms of the Cross There he reigns and governs and judges all the world here he is accused and accursed condemned and crucified at the same instant he is in the exaltation and greatness of his Majesty and in the lowness and humiliation of our Humanity Such also ought the Christian life to be on the one side it is great seeing grace makes us the Children of God elevates and unites us to God On the other side the same life is obscured dejected wholly in the spirit of humiliations and privations for grace cannot reign in the soul without operating therein annihilation death and humility Again The Saint by his Union to the Son of God is raised Eph. 2. 6. up and made to sit in heavenly places in Jesus Christ And at the same time the life of a Christian is exposed here to Temptations derided by men and condemned by the world at the same time it is in the greatest cherishing of God and under the fiercest agitation of the Cross So that an afflicted godly life should be no wonder being compared with the life of Christ Besides God enlightens the soul by grace 't is granted but 't is in annihilation he upholds her but 't is in confounding her he unites her to him but it is in separating her sometimes from himself and she remains separated from God as long as she remains upon earth While we are in the body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6. so she is at once united and separated Again This is the Conduct of God over his Church If we reflect upon the highest works we shall find he puts not on the Ornament of Grace he lays not the foundation of her estate but in lowness his grace his gifts his spirit and his communications When did he come down from heaven and give her his law with such appearance of glorious Majesty as never the like was but when he had brought her into a wilderness When the Lord Christ instituted the Sacraments which are Conduit-pipes to convey his graces to his Church he chose bread water such things as are mean little or nothing esteemed among men In the Birth of the Church he took the Cross for the Throne of his Empire a Calvary for his Seat-Royal he rejected an estate by Poverty Sufferings and Martyrdom and at this day he doth the same in the Regency of his Church And according to Gods proceedings in the Conduct of his Church is likewise his carriage in the sanctification and government of our souls he leads them by the Cross he retires from them he hides himself he leaves them in privations he humbles them annihilates them smites them overthrows them Whereby is discovered how they are as I think deceived who in their devotions and religious exercises seek resentments enjoyments content and satisfaction and would know and feel the excellency and elevations of grace I call it a deceit as I suppose for Christian grace consists chiefly in privations in lowness in rigours and that is it they stand most in fear of and avoid But as the life of Jesus began in poverty and ended on the Cross so a perfect Christian who would live a life of grace must resolve to walk among Thorns to bear privations and sustain desertions for the Cross and Thorns are things proper to Christian-grace and to the love of Jesus Let us not so much seek after assurance of heaven as a thing to come as after heaven it self present in us For where Heaven comes into a heart it will bring its own light comfort and assurance along with it Get Heaven into your soul and you will easily have the assurance of Heaven Let us have a fire in a room and we shall quickly have the light and warmth of it there also Men seek the assurance of Heaven as a thing to come but neglect the present power and possession of Heaven it self in their souls Oh! let us get the Sun it self into us and then we shall not be without its shine and smiles within us FINIS Books Printed for and are to be Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel PResent State of New-England Burges's Husbandmans Companion Burges's Englands Bond. Adams's Catechism Survey of Quakerism A view of Antiquity by J. Honner Abyssus Mali or Man's Corruption by Nature by W. G. England's present and most great incumbent Duty by Robert Perrott The Ark of the Covenant opened or a Treatise of the Covenant of Redemption Janewayes Life Meads Almost Christian Mr. Cawtons Funeral Sermon Preached by Mr. Vincent and Mr. Hurst Phelpes Caveat against Drunkenness Wadsworths last Warning unto secure Sinners Kidder on the Sacrament Wells Funeral Sermon by Mr. Tho. Watson Mr. Wadsworths Funeral Sermon Preached by Mr. Bragg Bishop Reynholds Meditations on the Fall and Rising of St. Peter Practical Divinity of the Papists proved to be destructive unto Christianity and Mens souls Burroughs's four Treatises Dr. Collins on the Canticles