before the coming of the Messiah Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations 2. We have a Prediction of his coming And the desire of all nations shall come 3. A Promise of the Glory of the second Temple together with an answer to an objection against it And I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine 4. An Amplification of that Promise concerning the glory of the second Temple The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former 5. An additional Promise of Peace as an Appendix to all other Mercies promised And in this place will I give peace 6. The Ratification or Confirmation of the whole in those last words saith the Lord of Hosts so often mentioned before and with which all that was before promised is at last shut up and sealed To begin with the first of these the Prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World before the coming of the Messiah It is yet a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations By these Metaphorical Expressions according to the usual Language and Style of the Prophets we are to understand great Troubles Commotions Changes and Alterations in the World in which high and low Persons of all Conditions Ranks and Qualities represented by the Heavens and the Earth should take their turns and have their share So God speaking of his terrible Judgments on the World saith Isa 13.13 I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of its place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the day of his fierce anger But now all the difficulty is what shakings should be here intended Some understand the words of the great things which the Evangelists report to have been done at and upon the Birth of Christ the Miracles wrought by him in his Life the strange and miraculous Providences at his Death and Resurrection and of the shaking of the World afterwards by the preaching of the Gospel whereby Idols were thrown down Heathenish Idolatry and Superstitions were abolished the Christian Religion and the Worship of the true God coming in place thereof These were great and wonderful things but how they should be here by the Prophet intended is not easie to conceive For he seems to speak of such concussions and shakings as should be antecedent to the coming of Christ and go before it not concur with it much less follow after it Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations and the Desire of all nations shall come that is after God should thus have shaken the World Christ should come And indeed very great and dreadful shakings there were between the time of this Prophecy and the coming of the Messiah in which shakings the people of God the Jewish Nation were not a little concern'd The Persian Empire under which they now were was not only shaken but shaken in pieces dissolved and ruined by the Grecians under the Conduct of Alexander the Great Then presently after Alexander's Death who died in the flower of his Age the Empire which he had but just then acquired and been possessed of was in effect once more rent in pieces and divided amongst his Chieftains and Principal Commanders While this state of things continued the Jews were miserably shaken oppressed and harassed by the Tyranny and Cruelty of Antiochus Epiphanes besides many other grievous pressures and sufferings which during the Government of the Seleucides they underwent After some time the Romans came upon them all and subdued all to themselves in which Revolution the distressed Jews fell under the power of the Romans and were at their Mercy After all these terrible shakings nearer the coming of Christ the Civil Wars under Augustus Caesar caused horrible shakings and convulsions in the Empire after which the Temple of Janus was shut up and a peaceable time ensued all Swords being sheathed and all Arms laid aside throughout the whole Empire and then was Christ the Prince of Peace born in the Forty first or as some will have it in the Forty second year of the Reign of Augustus Caesar Now whereas all these shakings were to go before the coming of Christ which was the greatest Mercy that ever was vouchsafed the World we may observe That great Troubles and Afflictions sometimes go before and make way for great and signal Mercies This is indeed the ordinary and usual method of God's most wise and gracious Providence Thus Joseph is sold to the Midianites carried into Egypt and there again sold to Potiphar falsly accused cast into Prison and laid in Irons that by this Series of long-continued Afflictions way might be made for his Advancement to the highest Honour in Pharaoh's Court and for his being made Ruler over all the Land of Egypt Thus seventy years Captivity and Bondage in Babylon goes before the joyful and triumphant Return of God's people into their own Land of which the Psalmist thus speaks Psal 126.1 2. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Which Psalm though placed among the Psalms of David yet is by Learned men upon good grounds supposed to have been penned by some other Person after the return from Babylon as also Psal 137. that is to say 460 years at least after that David had been gathered to his Fathers and perhaps much more for we know not how long after the return from Babylon it might be penned Thus the Ten most Cruel and Bloody Persecutions of the Christian Church in the first Ages thereof went before that quiet and tranquillity which the Church enjoyed under Constantine and the succeeding Christian Emperors when to use the expressions of the Prophet God made the peace of his Church as a river and the righteousness thereof as the waves of the sea Thus that wicked Usurpation and Tyranny of Antichrist making havock of the Church which hath been drawn out to so great a length already and yet we know not how much longer it may last goes before that happy estate of the Church and of the World when those joyful Acclamations shall be heard The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 And when they who shall have gotten the victory over the beast and over his image shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints Rev. 15.1 2. And to add but one instance more here at home thus
others of them eat the Bread of idleness and will do it for their hands refuse to labour and they will not have honest Imployment when they may but I say those before spoken of are diligent and industrious they rise betimes in the morning they follow their work closely all the day and go late to bed at night a very commendable thing in them and greatly to be encouraged but yet alas What 's their great end in all this What do they aim at Nothing else but that they may eat a piece of Bread that they may have wherewithal to keep themselves and their Relations alive if any they have Do they mind God in their Employment Are they diligent in their Calling because he commands them so to be And do they in that way of their Employment intend the serving of his Providence And do they seek his Glory in that their low condition of Life Do they humbly and contentedly submit to his Providence in thus disposing of things and in allotting them so slender a portion of the things of this Life and putting them to get their Livelihood in so painful and laborious a way And lastly as low as their condition is do they seek to honour God in it as much as they can If they do so then they do faithfully what they do in their mean condition and they may assure themselves that as their eye is on God so God's Eye is on them he takes notice of their faithfulness and will assuredly reward it But how few are they who look so high as to mind God at all or in the least study to approve themselves to him A fourth instance shall be in Servants Though there were never more complaints of the carelesness and unfaithfulness of Servants and perhaps never more cause for such complaints yet there are those who are diligent and faithful and cannot justly be charged with idleness or unfaithfulness or with any of those other usual faults for which Servants are blamed And yet even amongst these who are the best and most careful to please those whom they serve and who do all they can to give them content how few are there whose eyes are upon their Master in Heaven and whose greatest care it is so to discharge the Duty of their places as to please him Who according to the Apostles injunction before-mentioned do service with singleness of heart as to the Lord and not unto men Who do all the service which they owe to man as unto Christ studying to please him therein and expecting their Wages and Reward from him For the most part even the better sort of Servants look no further than their Masters here on Earth as for God their Master in Heaven 't is scarce in all their thoughts to please him and yet without a care and study to please him they are but men-pleasers Eph. 6.6 as the Apostle calls them and must never expect either reward or acceptance from God 5. Another instance may be in Parents and Children to put them together As for many Parents they are not without natural Love Affection and Tenderness for their Children in their younger years they are willing to take any pains with them they can cheerfully undergo much trouble for them and when they are grown up they are full of careful thoughts about them and so studious of their temporal welfare that they think they can never do enough to promote it And yet 't is possible that very little of all this may be done in obedience to God and with respect to his Authority and Command who as he hath furnished them with natural Affections to put them on to do for their Children so he hath by his command made it their Duty without regard of which command they do these things no otherwise than the brute Beasts feed tender and protect their young by natural Instinct and from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or inbred Affection which both strongly inclines them to do it and enables them to do it with delight and pleasure That many Parents are led to all that careful and solicitous travel and labour of Love which they undergo for Children by no higher Principles or Inducements is manifest because if the command of God did prevail with them it would also make them conscientiously Industrious in discharging their Duty to their Souls which God hath as strictly enjoined and which he looks after as much yea much more as the Soul is more worth and the everlasting miscarrying thereof of higher consequence than that of their temporal welfare But here how miserably do they neglect them and betray their Souls to Sin Satan and Hell While they neither bestow any pains upon them to instruct them in the Principles of Religion and their Duty to God nor use any effectual means for preventing and restraining Sin in them But neither is this the only evidence of their performing no part of their Duty to them in obedience to God for if they did then would the same command and authority of God also ingage them to reform their own Lives and frame their Conversations according to the Rule then would they not as many of them do allow themselves in sinful ways slighting God's Authority and casting his Word behind their back And what hath been spoken of Parents the same likewise may be said of Children I speak of Children grown up to years of some discretion and able to put a difference between good and evil They obey their Parents some of them I mean though many others are undutiful headstrong and rebellious I say the better sort of Children obey their Parents are unwilling to offend them or incur their displeasure but yet 't is not the command of God that sways them or prevails with them 'T is because they stand in some awe of their Parents but not because they stand in awe of God who hath threatned to punish stubborn and disobedient Children and hath promised to reward such of them as are dutiful tractable and obedient as is implied in the Motive annexed to the Fifth Commandment 'T is because of their dependance on them and in regard they live in expectation of further kindnesses from them but not with respect to God's command who hath said Honour thy father and thy mother and Children obey your parents for this is well-pleasing unto God Alas This consideration that 't is well-pleasing unto God hath not the least influence upon that obedience which many Children yield unto their Parents nor are they at all moved or stirred up to the performance of their Duty to them thereby And so I have shewed in these few instances unto which many more might be added that though men may do many good things yet very little of what they do may upon examination appear to have been done faithfully so far are they from being capable of the Testimony and Commendation given to Gaius to whom the Apostle saith Thou dost faithfully whatsoever thou dost both
And to the same effect is that of St. James To him that knoweth to do good Ch. 4.17 and doeth it not to him it is sin that is sin to the purpose sin of no ordinary complexion 2. What is done against light hath not only an inconformity to the Rule but some degree of contempt thereof Wherefore in such cases God looks upon himself as despised Why hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord said he to David when he had knowingly and deliberately sinned 2 Sam. 12.9 3. It argues Corruption to have gotten head and to have grown up to a great measure of strength and maturity it argues such a person to be set upon sin and wholly bent to gratify himself therein whatsoever shall come of it When the light it self shall stand in a man's way and flash in his face and yet he will go on he acts as one so resolved to sin as nothing shall take him off This in the language of the Scipture is to sin presumptuously by which a man under the Law was judged to have reproached the Lord in regard whereof no less punishment was appointed than the utter cutting him off from among his people Numb 15.30 31. And thus far I have only insisted on the consideration of light more generally 'T is light that is refused and contemned and therefore neither the sin nor the punishment of the person so offending can be small 2. 'T is not any kind of light but Gospel light that is so ill treated and this hath yet much more in it than all that hath been hitherto mentioned 1. The light of the Gospel is a clearer light All other light is but darkness to this The Heathens had the light of Nature for their guide but yet they were still in darkness till the Gospel enlightened them for the very Errand of the Gospel to them was to open their eyes Acts 26.18 and to turn them from darkness to light The Jews under the dispensations of the Law had much more light and yet were heavenly things in great part so vail'd and wrapt up in Types and Shadows as their condition to that of Gospel-times seems to have been but as the morning spread upon the Mountains to the noon day-light 2. 'T is a light that presents to our view the most excellent and most desirable things Pardon of sin Acts 10.43 Peace with God Rom. 5.1 Eternal life John 3.36 A kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 12.28 An inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1.4 Such things as neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor have entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 3. These excellent things which the light of the Gospel sets before us are such as were by infinite Wisdom and unspeakable Love designed and contrived for us before the foundations of the World were laid The most wise and gracious God did in nothing more discover the unsearchable Treasures of his Wisdom and the Riches of his Grace than in the Contrivance of our Salvation in such a way as in which Mercy and Justice so admirably meet together and Righteousness and Peace kiss each other We cannot therefore refuse or slight these excellent things without a manifest disparagement of the Wisdom and Love of God as if neither the one nor the other were considerable herein and as if after all that God hath done the things so wifely designed and graciously proffer'd were not worth our acceptance 4. The Gospel presseth the entertainment of these excellent things with the most cogent and forcible Arguments 'T is not laid before us as a matter of indifferency whether we will embrace what 's tendered or refuse it We are told and assured that as the acceptance of the things proffered will render us unspeakably blessed and happy to eternity so the refusal of them will certainly make us everlastingly and unconceivably miserable He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 5. Besides the external tender of these things in the Gospel the Spirit of God usually more or less accompanies the outward Ministration of the Gospel inwardly working together with it treating with us and solliciting the matters of our peace by Enlightnings and Convictions by stirring up good Motions and Affections Purposes and Resolutions which makes our refusal of mercy after all this much more worthy of the severest punishment 6. Add to all this the consideration of the greatness of the Person who at first published the Gospel and made tender of those excellent things to the World himself while here on Earth and also still continues to do it by his Servants The Lord of Life and Glory the Eternal Son of God who is over all God blessed for ever came in person from Heaven out of the Bosome of his Father on this very Errand that he might make reconciliation for sin Dan. 9. â—4 and bring in everlasting righteousness And offer the fruits and benefit of all to Mankind making this general Proclamation Whosoever believeth shall be saved If but an Earthly Prince should send his only Son to the remotest Parts of his Dominions on purpose to make tender of some great thing to one of his meanest Subjects what an indignity and how intolerable an affront would it be if that his tender should be slighted But here the King Eternal sends his only Son from Heaven to offer us Everlasting Life and we entertain him no otherwise than as if he came in a needless Embassy for so much our most unworthy carriage towards him imports if we do not accept of his Tenders This the Scripture insists on as a circumstance that carries in it no small aggravation of the sin of our unbelief If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken to us by the Lord Heb. 2.2 3. Heb. 12.25 And again If they escaped not who refused him who spake from earth much more shall not we escape if we refuse him who speaketh from heaven Now put all these things together and I see not how you can chuse but conclude That as there is no sin like that which is committed against the light of the Gospel so there is no punishment like unto that which will be inflicted for this sin or That this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light And so I proceed to the application of what hath been spoken VSE 1. First then To speak to the more dissolute Professors of the Christian Religion From the Premises we may infer That 't is a most vain and empty Plea which many loose Christians think to help themselves with at the day of their account to God They have had their birth and education where the light of the Gospel shines and under the
light that it shine not in upon us to our conviction humiliation and conversion but he makes him shuttings to do it of our own darkness prejudices false Principles and corrupt Affections I now proceed to the third Objection taken from Matth. 11.25 where God himself is said to hide the Mysteries of his Gospel from the wise and prudent Before I say any thing to this Objection I must premise That God in this matter as in other things hath a Prerogative which he makes use of and according to which he acts where and when he sees good He being the Supream Lord of Heaven and Earth as our Saviour styles him in the place whence this Objection is taken may dispose of the knowledge of the Mysteries of his Kingdom as he pleaseth freely vouchsafing it to some and withholding it from others For what can restrain him but that he may do with his own as he pleaseth Matth. 20.15 as in the person of the Householder he argues This good pleasure of God is it into which our Saviour expresly resolveth his hiding the Mysteries of the Gospel from the wise and prudent Matth. 11.26 Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes even so father for so it seemed good in thy sight So then reserving unto God his Prerogative I answer That yet however God's hiding the Mysteries of the Gospel from men may very much and in many cases though not universally be resolved into the sins of men For whereas there are chiefly three ways by which God may be said to hide the Mysteries of the Gospel from men namely by denying to them or removing from them the means of knowledge or by with-holding the effectual influences and operation of his Spirit to accompany the means or by permitting Satan to blind them upon consideration of the matter we shall find That the sins of men have frequently very much to do therein and contribute much towards it though even here the good pleasure of God must also be acknowlegded who permits it so to be and doth not powerfully interpose to hinder it as he might do if he saw good 1. If God deny the Gospel to men 't is often through their thrusting it away and keeping it off from themselves when 't is approaching towards them How often do men oppose themselves against it How often do men decline the light and chuse to live in places of darkness where there are no means or as good as no means of knowledge So if God remove the Gospel from a People is it not most commonly not only for their own sin but by their sin that 't is removed God for their unfruitfulness and unthankfulness for their manifold sins against the Gospel most righteously gives them up to be active and instrumental themselves in putting out the light and sending the Gospel far away from themselves 2. If God continuing the Gospel and the means of grace to a People with-hold the powerful influences and co-operation of his Spirit what is this in effect but a leaving them to themselves suffering their lusts prejudices love of sin and hatred of holiness so far to prevail in them as to shut and bar up the Soul and forcibly to keep out the light or so far to weaken the influences and impressions of it as nothing to purpose is done upon them 3. If God hide the Mysteries of his Kingdom from them by giving them up to Satan to be blinded and deluded by him the thing is still upon the matter one and the same for as hath been at large shewed Satan effects his purpose much by their own sin and makes use of their Corruptions as the Weapons of his warfare against the Soul to keep it under the power of darkness Now to apply what hath been spoken VSE 1. This gives us a true account of the reason of several Practises of the Church of Rome As 1st Of their vilifying and disparaging the Holy Scriptures as defective and imperfect as obscure and uncertain and no better than a Nose of wax that may be turned any way at pleasure that may be moulded and shaped to every man's fancy as one of that Party wickedly and and profanely reproacheth it In short Their making the word written insufficient to inform us touching the matters of our belief and practise and to lead us in the way to Heaven without the help and supplement of Human Traditions 2. Of their refusing to bring their Doctrines Worship and Practises to the Test and Touchstone of the Holy Scriptures alone and of their setting up another pretended Infallible Judge of Controversies not admitting the Scriptures to be the common Umpire and Determiner of them 3. Of their shutting up the Book of the Holy Scriptures and forbidding it to be read by the People so taking away from them the key of Knowledge What 's the reason of these their ungodly and abominable Practises but this He that doth evil hateth the light and cometh not to it lest his deeds should be reproved Their Principles are unsound and rotten wicked and abominable their Doctrine false their Worship Idolatrous their Usages vain and superstitious and therefore they hate the light of the Scriptures that discovers their Errors Cheats and Juglings therefore they decline the light and run away from it they defame and reproach it they shut it up and imprison it they do what they can to extinguish it and keep men in darkness wheresoever they have power to do it But blessed be God that we are not yet brought into bondage by them they have not yet prevailed to deprive us of the light of the Gospel we have free access to the Holy Scriptures the Bible lies open before us in our Mother-tongue O! may we never by our unthankfulness our not improving the mercies we enjoy and our other sins so far provoke God as that he should suffer the Land of our Nativity to be again overspread with that worse than Egyptian darkness VSE 2. This discovers the true reason why many that frequent Publick Ordinances love and affect such Preaching only as comes not too near the Conscience meddles not with their spiritual estate toucheth not their own particular darling and beloved sins A smooth and general Discourse that descends not to the concernments of their own Souls or it may be a serious and smart Sermon that reproves the sins of the Age or the sins of some particular Persons known to them those sins which they thomselves are not guilty of all this they can hear with much patience and perhaps with some delight Mar. 6.20 as Herod is said to have heard John Baptist gladly But if any man shall lay open and set before them the great evil of their own sins the unsoundness of their spiritual Estate while they continue in them the extream danger of their present condition the absolute and indispensable necessity of Regeneration of sincere and universal Repentance of sound Conversion
many such when they lye a dying how 't is with them whether there be any thing that troubles them or lyes heavy upon their Consciences And they will readily answer There is nothing that troubles them nothing that disturbs their peace Ask them if they be willing to die and whether they be not afraid of death Their answer is they are very willing to die and as for death they fear it not Now call you this a dying peaceably and comfortably when men of very bad or careless Lives go out of the World fast asleep in carnal security When they die without any sense of their Spiritual and Everlasting Estate O be not deceived 't is certainly a very sad and fearful thing when a careless or wicked Life without any evidence of after-repentance is shut up in a quiet and undisturbed death How much better grounds of comfortable hopes concerning the Everlasting Estate of such men were there if they died under many fears and troubles from a sound conviction and thorough sence of the sins of their Life 'T is very true you will say if they have been very wicked Men great and notorious Sinners But if the worst that can be said of them is that they have been careless and uncircumspect in their Lives the matter is not much A. Considering the corruption of our Nature our strong proneness to Evil the many Temptations we meet with and the malice and restlesness of Satan ever watching to take hold of all advantages against us to hurry us into Sin 't is impossible but that a man of a careless and uncircumspect Life should have led a very sinful Life and have contracted and heaped up a great deal of guilt and therefore if such a one without discovery of any After-repentance and Humiliation and without any trouble upon account of his Sins go quietly out of the World 't is a sad and uncomfortable thing and though we may not rashly and peremptorily pass our Judgment concerning the Eternal Estate of particular Persons yet have we just cause to fear and all things considered we cannot but greatly fear how it may be with such a one in the other World Sure we are without Repentance whereof there was no evidence or appearance he must everlastingly miscarry So from the Duty of walking circumspectly I come to the Argument by which it is enforced implied in the next words Not as fools but as wise 'T is every man's wisdom to walk circumspectly but his folly to be careless uncircumspect and heedless in the course of his Life Prov. 17.24 Wisdom is before him that hath understanding That is He that hath understanding the man that is truely wise his wisdom is before him to look right on to ponder the path of his feet as Solomon speaks Prov. 4.25 26. to spy out and consider his way to direct and govern his steps And so is this Proverb expounded by that other to the same purpose Prov. 14.8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way that 's the use which he makes of his wisdom he is as to that matter wise for himself in Solomon's Language still Prov. 9.12 But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth he exerciseth that little reason which he hath about remoter things about any thing else rather than what most nearly concerns him the observing and making choice of his way As if a Man should fix his Eyes on the Hills at a great distance where the Earth and the Heavens seem to meet and in the mean time neglect to heed his way to observe where he treads and what dangers he runs upon as the Philosopher who fell into a Pit whilst his Eyes were taken up with the Contemplation of the Celestial Bodies Thus we see 't is our wisdom to walk circumspectly and 't is so in several respects 1. We hereby shun and avoid the greatest Evils 1. The displeasure of God whose wrath is so terrible that it made the Prophet cry out Hab. 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger 2. The sting of an evil and guilty Conscience the Torment whereof is intolerable Prov. 18.14 A wounded spirit who can bear 3. The loss of a man's Soul which nothing can compensate or make up What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world Mat. 16 26 and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul He that walketh circumspectly avoideth these three great and formidable Evils greater than which none can be the displeasure of God the sting of a guilty Conscience and the loss of his Soul 2. On the contrary by walking circumspectly we secure to our selves the greatest the most desireable good things 1. The favour of God for while we are with God in a course of Obedience 2 Chron. 15.2 he is with us 'T is only sin that deprives us of God's favour Now the favour of God is better than life Psal 63.3 What is there in all the World that is comparable to it 2. It secures to us peace of Conscience Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them and upon the Israel of God And this also is a thing of invaluable worth Prov. 14.13 A good conscience is a continual feast The comfort of which is so great as none can tell what it is but he that hath had experience of it in himself It passeth knowledge Eph. 4.7 3. By walking Circumspectly we secure to our selves the Everlasting well-being of our Souls which even in Satans valuation of them are more worth than the whole World Mat. 4.9 Psa 50.23 To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God There being these singular advantages of walking circumspectly you need not be much troubled at the Censures of the World They who are strangers to the ways of God and were never acquainted with the Comforts of them may count them little better than Fools that run not with them to the same excess of Riot But this is more than enough to satisfie and quiet you that what they count foolishness the Holy Ghost honours with the Elogy of Wisdom So I have done with the great Duty of circumspect walking together with the reason by which it is enforced I come now to speak of the particular instance in which our circumspection should be exercised Redeeming the time To redeem properly is by laying down a price to purchase again or recover that which another hath gotten possession of So a Captive or a Slave is redeemed out of the hand of an Enemy So a Man redeems his Goods which have been pawned or sold to another Now in this very sence to redeem time that is gone is impossible For time is of that nature that it can never be recovered when once 't is lost All the Gold and Silver all the
that should open mens eyes shall shut them and when those means that should soften mens hearts shall harden them Let us take heed that this be not the case of any of us If what should convince humble and reform us take no other effect upon us but that we are so much the worse the more remote from repentance the more obstinately and resolutely bent after our sinful courses the more incorrigible and irreclaimable our Charge would be heavy when the day of reckoning comes How dreadful and intolerable would the Sentence of Condemnation to be pronounced against us be when the means we have enjoyed shall rise up in judgment against us and our mercies shall condemn us 4. As the most necessary and important work that we have to dispatch is limited to a certain time and the duration of that time is in divers respects very uncertain so not to have improved that time but to have left our greatest business undone till it be too late and till the only season in which it was to be done be now over and irrecoverably gone is a most deplorable and dismal thing How affectionately did our Saviour weep over Jerusalem in this respect Luke 19.41 42. saying If thou hadst known even thou in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes When mercy was offered her and she was earnestly importuned to accept of it she did not know the day of her visitation as it follows v. 44. She slighted mercy and refused the gracious tenders thereof But wherein doth the misery of such a condition lie I answer in these three things 1. Having finally refused mercy having obstinately persisted in the refusal of it to the end they shall never have the like offers any more The day of grace with them is run out once for all and shall never never be recalled no more opportunities of making their peace with God to eternity The united Prayers of all the Saints in the Church Militant and Triumphant if they should all join together in such a Suit could not obtain the offer of mercy for the space of one hour for any finally impenitent Sinner He hath sinned away his mercies and 't is utterly impossible that he should recover what he hath wilfully deprived himself of Lament his loss he may and rue it he shall to eternity but retrieve it he never shall 2. Another thing in which the misery of this condition lies is that the punishment of such persons shall be dreadfully heightened upon the account of the mercy that hath been offered them which they have so wretchedly slighted and rejected The Gospel it self fully and clearly represents to us what a direful aggravation of their punishment this will be We have three severe and most remarkable Scriptures to this purpose This is the condemnation that is Joh. 3.19 the most sore and dreadful condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Mat. 11.21 22 23 24. Wo unto thee Corazin wo unto thee Bethsaida It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you And thou Capernaum that art lifted up to heaven namely in the means of grace which she enjoyed but improved not Thou Capernaum which art lifted up to heaven shalt be brought down to hell it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day judgment than for thee How shall we escape Heb. 2.3 if we neglect so great salvation 3. The last aggravation of their misery is this That the thoughts of mercy once offered and rejected and of their having wilfully made themselves eternally miserable when they were in a capacity of being eternally happy if they had not stood in their own light and been wanting to themselves I say the thoughts hereof will be in their Consciences a never-dying Worm to torment them with unspeakable anguish to eternity So dismal and deplorable a thing it is not to have improved the time and opportunities afforded us for making our peace with God And so much concerning the Reasons why we must redeem the time I now proceed to the Application which was the last thing to be spoken to And here VSE 1. 1. If Time be upon so many accounts to be redeemed to be redeemed especially for heavenly things and to be improved for the good of our Souls what may they think of themselves who make little other use of their time than to dishonour God debauch their Acquaintance and Companions in sin and to bring swift ruin and destruction upon their own Souls who redeem time indeed but 't is for the satisfaction of their Lusts for gratifying their Corruptions for glutting themselves with sinful Pleasures and sensual Delights for heaping up sin upon sin for filling up the measure of their Provocations and making themselves ripe for judgment That spend their time in excess and intemperance in riot and drunkenness in chambering and wantonness in setting their mouths against Heaven in belching out horrid Oaths and Blasphemies in scoffing at Religion and deriding Piety that make it their business to sow the Principles of Atheism and to scatter the Seeds of Irreligion and Profaneness in all Places and Companies where they come to seduce poison and corrupt all they meet with and to make them twofold more the children of hell than themselves O how many such wicked Instruments such Agitators for Hell and Factors for the Devil have our times produced How doth City and Countrey abound with them and what swarms of them are there to be found in all Quarters of the Land Though such as these come seldom to the House of God yet in regard they sometimes drop in amongst others and in regard that no Congregation if numerous at least can be presumed to be without many lewd and vicious Persons though perhaps there may not be many that have arrived at the same height and excess of wickedness with those before-mentioned I shall propose these three Questions to all those who spend their precious time in lewd and ungodly Practises of what kind soever or rather I shall desire they would propose them to themselves 1. Let them ask themselves put the question to their own Hearts and Consciences Whether they think or can think that God made them and gave them excellent and immortal Souls to these ends If they think he did then it seems they are of opinion that God gave them a being to the end they might renounce their homage and disclaim their subjection to him and serve the Devil And that he still preserves them upholds them in their being to no other purpose than that they may still go on in the same ways of open rebellion against himself and defiance against Heaven Certainly it were an high disparagement and an horrid derogation to the wisdom and holiness of God for any man to imagine that God should make
be coming on the Nation We read Ezek. 9. that God commanded a Mark to be set upon the Fore-heads of the Men that sighed and cried for all the Abominations that were done in the midst of Jerusalem that the Executioners of his Wrath might pass them by and spare them And 't is also the best Course that we can take for obtaining Mercy for the Land and for averting those Judgments which the Sins thereof cry aloud to Heaven for By the Intercessions of a few thus humbling themselves for their own Sins and mourning for the Sins of others the Wrath of God is sometimes turned away from the Places where they live But however they are sure to deliver their own Souls though they cannot obtain Mercy for others as we may gather from Ezek. 14.14 And this may suffice to have been spoken concerning the Lord's bringing upon Manasseh and his People the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria What these Captains did and with what Success they managed their Business is express'd in the Words following They took Manasseh in the Thorns and bound him with Fetters and carried him to Babylon They took Manasseh in the Thorns it was as it seems a Place of Thorns or Thickets whither Manasseh in the Dread and Consternation of Spirit under which he was had fled to hide and shelter himself from the Enemy So we read in 1 Sam. 13.6 that the Israelites being greatly distressed by the Philistines that oppressed them did hide themselves in Caves and in Thiekets and in Rocks and in high Places and in Pits Now whereas Manasseh though a King was brought into that Distress that he was constrained to hide himself in the Thorns from his Enemies we may observe That great Men and Persons of high Places and great Dignity may sometimes be reduced to great Extremities and be put to make use of hard Shifts to preserve themselves Sisera the Captain General and Commander in chief of the Army of Jabin King of Canaan Judg. 4.15 16 17. was forced to light off his Chariot and on his Feet to betake himself to the House of Heber the Kenite to save his Life which yet he could not do but lost it there by the Hand of a Woman Zedekiah King of Judah and his Nobles were constrained to dig through a Wall to make way for their Flight in the Night Ezek. 12. Jer. 39. that they might not fall into the Hands of the Chaldees and yet was Zedekiah taken by them and being bound with Fetters saw his Sons slain before his Eyes and then after that lamentable Spectacle the last that ever he saw had his Eyes put out All Ages and even our own times have been full of the like Instances of the Mutability and Uncertainty of all earthly things The Consideration hereof may be useful to us several ways 1. Hence may such as are in Places of Eminency above others or enjoy more of the things of this World than others do learn not to trust in their Riches Honour Power Greatness or whatever else it is in which they excel others All these things are fading and transitory they are inconstant and unstable they have their Turns and Revolutions he that is full to Day may be empty to Morrow he that is now uppermost may e're long be nethermost How high soever any Man be God can bring him low enough before he dies Obad. 4. Although thou exalt thy self as the Eagle and though thou set thy Nest among the Stars yet thence will I bring thee down said the Lord to Edom. Of this sad Change Jeremiah complains and laments over it Lam. 4.5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the Streets they that were brought up in Scarlet imbrace Dunghills A remarkable Instance we have of the Instability and Uncertainty of these temporal things in Belisarius a great and famous Commander of the Forces of Justinian the Emperor This renowned and victorious General after that he had subdued the Persians overcome the Goths and vanquished the Vandalls and by these his Victories raised himself so high as that he became the Object both of the Fear and Envy of Equals and Inferiours was at length reduced to that Want and Misery that he was constrained to beg by the High-way-side crying out to Travellers that passed by Date Obolum Belisario give a Half-penny to Belisarius Let no Man therefore make Account that he stands so fast and firm but that his Feet may slip and he may take a Fall and the higher he is the more dangerous will his Fall be Neither is there any thing that threatens a Man more with a Fall than carnal Security and a vain Confidence of the Firmness and Stability of his present Station and the Unchangeableness of that prosperous Condition in which he is When David said Psal 30.6 7. In his Prosperity I shall never be moved Lord by thy Favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong God did but hide his Face and he was troubled 1 Thess 5.3 When Men shall say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction cometh upon them as Travail upon a Woman with Child and they shall not escape Rev. 18.7 8. When Mystical Babylon saith I sit as a Queen and am no Widow and shall see no Sorrow Then shall her Plagues come in one Day Death and Mourning and Famine and she shall be utterly burnt with Fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her 2. Hence you may also learn not to insult over those who having formerly been in a better Condition are now brought low their present Condition may be your own you have no absolute Security against being emptied from Vessel to Vessel as they have been or against being subjected to the same Changes which they have undergone The Consideration hereof should beget in you Moderation towards Sufferers and such a compassionate Sense of their Adversities as becomes them who remember that they themselves are still in the Body Heb. 13.3 as the Apostle speaks 3. Seeing the Highest may be brought low and none are exempted from being obnoxious to Changes and Adversities it concerns all to prepare for Changes and to be always in a readiness to entertain them And those whose Condition hath elevated them above the common Sort and set them on high have so much the greater reason to be prepared for Changes because they are most in danger of them they being more exposed to Concussions and Shakings as the tall Oaks and lofty Cedars are more exposed to the Violence of Storms and Tempests than the lower Shrubs are Again it concerns these above others to labour to be prepared for Changes because they are so apt to think themselves to be above the reach of them For this fond Conceit is attended with two great Mischiefs 1. Their fancying themselves above the reach of Changes exposeth them to Changes so much the sooner for the evil Day is so much the nearer unto Men by
Persons of higher Place shall make use of their Power to the wronging and trampling under their feet such as have no power to resist them and when they shall abuse their Abundance to Drunkenness Gluttony and Excess and to the accommodating and furnishing themselves with what may supply and feed their Pride and Vanity they take the ready Course to be despoiled and stripp'd of all those Blessings which they so horribly dishonour God by making them the Instruments of their Sin and turning them into Fewel for their Lusts And so I have done with that Observation In the next place Whereas Manasseh's hiding himself in the Thorns did him no service stood him in no stead at all whereas even in the Thorns where it was not likely that a Prince should have hid himself he was found out seized on bound with Fetters and thence carried to Babylon we may observe That when God will punish Men for their Sins no Means which they can make use of shall secure them from his Judgments This is a Truth that no Man can question who believes and acknowledgeth the Infinite Power and Wisdom of God and the Absolute Dominion and Soveraignty that he hath over all his Creatures 1. He being Infinite in Power can do whatsoever he pleaseth If he will work Isa 43.13 who can let him as he himself speaks Isa 46.10 My Counsel shall stand saith he and I will do all my Pleasure 2. He being Infinite in Wisdom as well as in Power knows how to contrive and order to dispose of and direct over-rule and govern all the Means conducing to their Punishment so as all the Wisdom of Men and Angels shall not be able to devise or contrive any thing that may counterwork his Counsels or hinder the Accomplishment of his Designs 3. He moreover having an Absolute Dominion and Soveraignty over all Creatures and they being all at his Command he can either imploy them as he pleaseth for punishing such as he will punish or forbid them to be helpful to them and restrain them from doing any thing whereby they may be rescued from Punishment Wherefore 1. When God will punish Men when he will have them suffer for their Sins he will sometimes disenable them to make use of any Means whereby they may help themselves When they should run away from Danger they have no Power to do it but stand still as Men confounded and astonished till their Fears overtake them and come upon them when they should act to secure themselves against the Evils which threaten them they cannot find their Hands as the Psalmist speaks Psal 76.5 When they should be casting about and contriving what may be for their Safety and Security they are at their Wits End and cannot make use of their Reason to relieve themselves in their Distresses Their Wisdom faileth them Eccl. 10.3 as Solomon speaks 2. Sometimes again when they contrive and consult for their Safety God blasteth their Counsels and turns them into Foolishness when they make use of Means God makes the very Means which they made use of for their Preservation an occasion of their Ruine As Sisera betaking himself to the House of Heber the Kenite to save his Life Judg. 4.15 16 17. lost it and met with that Destruction there which by running thither he sought to avoid while he flies from the Sword he meets with a Nail that pierced through his Temples If they escape one Judgment they are overtaken by another Thus Sennacherib having escaped the Peril of the Sword abroad 2 Chron. 32.21 is slain at home in the House of Nisroch his God by those that came out of his own Bowels Thus God threatning wicked Men saith it shall be with them Amos 5.19 as if a Man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the House and laid his Hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Much to the same Effect God threatning Moah saith Jer. 48.43 44. Fear and the Pit and the Snare shall be unto thee He that fleeth from the Fear shall fall into the Pit and he that getteth out of the Pit shall be taken in the Snare When once a Man hath by his Sins made himself obnoxious to the Justice of God whither can he flee from his revenging Hand Whithersoever he goes he is sure to meet with an incensed God Whithersoever he withdraws himself he cannot run away from him who is omnipresent Can any hide himself in secret Places saith the Lord Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Jer. 23.24 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whither shall I flee from thy Presence Psal 139.5 8 9 10. saith the Psalmist If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me If a Man be your Enemy and seeks to do you a Mischief you may possibly get you away from him and retire you to some Place or other where he shall not be able to find you or where he may not reach you Though Kings have long Arms as we say and can by themselves and by their Ministers and Instruments reach a great way yet they cannot reach so far but that sometimes such as have offended them makeâ— shift to get them out of their reach But if a Man shall have offended God if he shall by his Provocations have made God his Enemy whither can he betake himself where he may be without the reach of his Justice Surely he must go out of the World that would go away from God And if he should so do yet would he meet with God in the other World and even there would he fall under his Sin-revenging Justice Hence it is that God often speaks of himself as of one that hath such a powerful Arm and such irresistible Might that no created Power can rescue any out of his Hand when he hath determined to make them Instances of his Justice and of his fierce Indignation against Sin by inflicting exemplary Punishments on them Having threatned severely threatned to reckon with the wicked the obstinate and impenitent Sinner that in the height of his carnal Security thinks God to be altogether such an one as himself he at length concludes Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord that I am God Yea before the Day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my Hand Isa 43.12 13. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my Hand For I lift up my Hand to Heaven and say I live
John in a Vision as giving glory to Christ I beheld saith he and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palms in their hands and cryed with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb Rev. 7.9 10. Now if you ask in what respects and upon what account Christ is the desire of all Nations I answer this is a subject which would take up much time if I should enlarge on it Briefly therefore he is the desire of all Nations because he is the promised seed in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed Gen. 22.18 Because he is the Saviour of all Nations the saviour of the w rld John 4.42 The propitiation for the sins of the whole world 1 John 2.2 There being no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 In short he it is that satisfieth the Justice of God for Sinners and delivers them from the wrath to come that purchaseth for them pardon of sin peace with God Grace here and Glory hereafter In a word this is he who is of God made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Now let us all reflect upon our selves and consider whether he who is the desire of all Nations be the desire of our Souls and whether he be in our esteem the chiefest among ten thousand Do we count all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Do we intirely love him Do we earnestly long after him Are our Affections towards him such as we can never be satisfied until we can say that he is ours and we are his Could we be content to purchase him at any rate And is there nothing in all the World so dear unto us but that we could freely part with it for his sake O let us never be at rest until we find that our Hearts stand thus affected towards him What say you to this all ye that have the Name of Christ frequently in your Mouths and by an external Profession own him as your Saviour but say of him in your Hearts We will not have this man to reign over us Ye that give him good words but refuse to take his Yoke upon you and submit to his Government who profess you know him love him desire him and give him the chief room in your Hearts but in your works deny him being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Deceive not your selves Christ will never own such as you are Without timely and sincere Repentance the sentence which you must expect from him is Depart from me ye that work iniquity I never knew you Mat. 7.23 Hitherto of the Character of Christ Now as to the Promise of his coming all that I shall therein take notice of is the circumstance of time when he was to come namely while the second Temple should be yet standing for he was by his presence to fill that House with Glory and to make the Glory of the latter House greater than that of the former as we shall presently see And this circumstance of his coming is that which also the Prophet Malachy who prophesied immediately before his coming foretold Behold saith the Messiah himself I send my messenger that is John the Baptist the forerunner of Christ and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek namely the Lord Christ shall suddenly come to his temple Mal. 3.1 even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in This as it confutes the unbelieving and blasphemous Jews and argues the wilful blindness of their minds and the miserable obstinacy and hardness of their hearts in denying the Messiah to be come and still fixing new periods of time for his coming as they find still that he comes not at the times by them assigned him for his coming so it greatly confirms our Faith in Christ as the true Messiah For as all other things prophesied and foretold concerning the Messiah exactly agree to him and none else so doth this remarkable circumstance of the time of his coming Wherefore the Apostle saith When the fulness of time was come God sent his Son into the world made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law Gal. 4.4 5. When the fulness of time was come that is when the time which God had predetermined and foretold was fully come This is that which Jacob prophesied of Gen. 49.10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come Though the Jews had now ever since the Conquest of Judea by Pompey been under the Power of the Romans and by them been deprived of all power to judge determine and punish in Capital Matters yet in other matters they had still a power allowed them so as all Government was not wholly wrested away from them and taken out of their hands But now the time was drawing near when their City and Temple were to be utterly destroyed their Polity Civil State and Commonwealth to be abolished the remainders of them after the fatal slaughters of that miserable people at the destruction of Jerusalem to be dispersed and scattered into several Countreys and not as much as the face or shadow of any Government to be left among them At this signal and critical time when the day of these their Calamities hastened was Christ born The sum of all is this The Messiah was to come while the second Temple was yet standing and while the Scepter was not yet wholly departed from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet while at least somewhat of Civil Power and Government still remain'd among them and so accordingly he came But 't is now above sixteen hundred years since the Temple was destroyed and all Civil Government among them into what quarters of the World soever scattered perfectly abolished In vain therefore do the Jews expect any other Messiah and as for us Christians we have all imaginable evidence that Jesus the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Christ the promised Messiah To him therefore let us betake our selves for the pardon of our Sins and the salvation of our Souls on him let us rest to him let us securely commit the Everlasting Concernments of our Souls Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.1 If an angel from heaven preach any other gospel take upon him to hold forth any other Messiah or to declare any other way of salvation let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 3. Now follows the third Particular A Promise of the glory of the second Temple together with the answer of an objection against it I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine I will fill this house