2. There must be light to actuate this Object if it were dark we could never see it There must be light both to actuate the eye and object Now this light that actuates the eye and object 't is either the natural light the light of Nature the light of Conscience the light of common Illumination the light of the Word or the light of the Spirit of God By all these Lights we come to look into the Looking-glass our Hearts 3. There must be an Irradiation from the Object i. e. a beaming forth from that Object some Species or Idea's that carries the object to the eye and clearly makes out to the sense what that Object is this beaming is by action from the heart mark it for it may be as necessary truth as was preached among you that look what the Stream is to the Fountain what the Beam to the Sun that the action is to the heart whether the act be manent or transient whether Internal in thought purpose election assection in joy in love in fear Or External in the life in the practice and in the conversation So that look as a puddle Stream always declares a corrupt Fountain so all your humble holy faithful thoughts speak a clear spiritual heart within a holy conversation speaks a holy Affection and a holy Affection declares a heavenly Constitution a new Nature Now for the Vse of this is the heart of a man a Looking-glass 1. See from hence of what concernment the Actions of men are whether internal or external The actions of men are like the streams you may certainly finde the Fountain by them they speak the heart as the Root bears the fruit 'T is of infinite concernment 't is the Fountain of what principles within and conversation without descend but into thy own heart c. 2. This shews the sad condition of all natural poor souls your Hearts are Looking-glasses but they are Looking-glasses in a dungeon of Darkness there be Toads Vipers and Devils there but thou canst not see them that hast no spiritual Light 3. Here is consolation to Gods people Is the Heart of a man a Looking-glass What reason have they to rejoyce in their hearts that are the best Looking-glasses in the world not like our Gallants Looking-glasses that must not bewray their wrinkles spots c. But theirs will represent their Heart Complexion Condition and Nature to them Nay in that Glass may be seen the face of a God Nay further because thy Heart doth answer to another Heart and his to his whatever Grace is in any Believers it is there in thy Heart in semine there 's the seed 4. By way of exhortation Is the Heart a Looking-glass Then keep the Looking-glass very chary make much of it above all keepings keep thy heart and that with all diligence in all places at all times and in all things If any thing under Heaven will keep thee holy it is the keeping of thy Heart There thou mayest see all thy spots defects desperate Hypocrisies Infernal Atheism all the deliques of thy soul How prone to commit as vile â—ins as ever was committed by the vilest of the sons of men Once more keep it clean and keep it close Look into the heart and thou shalt finde it to be a Copy of the Role of Eternity where thou shalt see thy very name written in Letters of Gold or Bloud for we looking into our Hearts may and do know that we are passed from death to life and that upon this ground because we love the brethren And thus I advance to The Fifth Sermon 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren IN these words five things 1. A supposed Estate in which we are all by nature and that is an Estate of spiritual death 2. A peaceable Recovery or mention of another state and estate of life 3. A real Transition from this state of death to life We are passed c. 4. An inseparable property of all the Regenerate Souls in the World they do not hate but love the brethren 5. A comfortable Conclusion that a Christian may make from that property he may know he may be assured by this that he is passed from death to life because he loves the brethren The Observation this A Christian may know his real Conversion and Transition to Eternal life by this Character among the rest because he loves the brethren This Proposition waâ— slit into these two particulars 1. That every Believer may have an assurance of his Transition from death to life 2. The love of the brethren is one of the great eminent Symptoms of mans Regeneration 1. A Christian may know his real Conversion and Translation to eternal life Such a great and real change is there wrought in every Believer at his Conversion and this wrought by such a great Efficient and Infinite cause the Spirit of God and this cause working by such real and powerful means and instruments the great Word of God and this done notwithstanding the great opposition that is made by a poor sinner against the Word and when wrought it hath such a real and grand effect upon a Believer that 't is impossible but a Believer must needs know this his Transition from death to life Secondly Love to the brethren is the great Symptom of mens Regeneration Love to the brethren not taken solely singly as if this was the onely Character but concomitantly taken with others but beyond and above all others this is the Privie Soul of God on the Soul if he have inflamed it with love he may know he is passed from death to life The Vse is of Confutation of the Papists those grand enemies to Gospel-Truths and Believers peace They abhor this Doctrine of Assurance by it their Purgatory would fall down their Popes Kitchin would grow cold They tell us Believers cannot have assurance in this World No 1. Why hath God commanded us to make our Calling and Election sure and will God command Impossibilities such as cannot be wrought by our or his own power 2. Other Saints have attained this Assurance this New Name and White Stone within them Object That 's by extraordinary Revelation Ans This is not upon proof Was not the assurance of Gods people in Scripture grounded upon general promises Had they many of them either extrinsecal signs or marks to assure them of it did it not spring from Principles common to all Believers Object But suppose they have assurance to day they may lose it to morrow Man is a mutable Creature he may be a childe of God in the morning and a brat of Hell in the evening Answ 'T is true man is a mutable Creature yet is he preserved by an immutable God Man is a weak Creature but yet is preserved by the power of God unto salvation Man as a Creature is no less mutable in Heaven than upon Earth there preserved by God therefore why not
we may live with the God of Peace hereafter Mr. Bull of Newington-Green his Farewel Sermon in the Forenoon Joh. 14.16 And I will send the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever THe Observation that I commended to you out of these words was this It is the great work for which the Spirit of Christ is given by God to comfort the hearts of his people You may remember that I have formerly opened the truth to you and have shewed you what this spiritual comfort is that the Spirit of Christ works in the hearts of his Disciples I gave it you in this Description It is that inward spiritual satisfaction that the heart of a gracious person finds in and through Jesus Christ in all the various dispensationâ— of God towards him whereby he is enabled to go on in chearfulness in the way that God would have him whether it be by a way of doing or of suffering And herein I shewed 1. The nature of the spiritual satisfaction 2. The Author of it It is God by his Spirit 3. The Object of it God through Jesus Christ 4. The proper subject of this inward spiritual comfort the people of God 5. And lastly The effects of the spiritual comfort it is to strengthen the heart both to do and to suffer I came the last time to shew you how the Spirit of God doth this 1. He doth it as an enlightning Spirit By shewing where comfort is to be had by opening the eyes of the understanding as he did Hagars bodily eyes to see the Well of Water 2. He doth it as a quickning Spirit bringing the Soul into that capacity to take in the comfort for what comfort can a dead man receiver a Cordial and Puddle is all one to a dead man 3. He works this inward spiritual satisfaction by discovering the truth of his vital Principle in the Soul for a man may have a principle of grace and spiritual life in him and not know it that though he has the spiritual comfort yet it is all one as if he had it not Now this is the great Question that is debated in the heart of a childe of God Whether he be regenerated and born again Whether he hath grace in his soul that grace that will qualifie him for glory and if he was satisfied as to this he would not be a moment without comfort But he is afraid that he is dead in sin that he is a stranger to the life of grace hence ariseth all the Spiritual troubles Now the Spirit of God comes in and resolves the case comes into the soul by his bright reflections and fills our souls with comfort Now we have received not the spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God 4. The Spirit of God is a comforting Spirit as he openeth the vein of godly sorrow in the soul Truly this is the next way to spiritual comfort when a man can once spiritually mourn for sin Mat. 5.4 Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Godly sorrow opens the vein and le ts out the matter that hinders comfort and causeth inward trouble in the soul A gracious man takes a great delight in godly sorrow Oh! it 's matter of marvellous comfort to a Child of God when he can kindly mourn for his sins 5. The Spirit of God comforts the soul as he is a mortyfying Spirit Thus he takes away that that is the ground and matter of Believers trouble mortifying that sin that is the cause of his sorrows pride unbelief inordinate love to the World 6. The Spirit of God works comfort in the hearts of his people by setting their own spirit to seek for comfort in Gods own wayes The last thing that I did for the explication of the Doctrine was to add some Propositions and they are such as these 1. Many a gracious heart that hath fellowship with the spirit of God in his sanctifying work may feel and find none in his comforting work The Sun may operate where it doth not shine A man may be in a state of Salvation when it doth not feel the joyes of Salvation Isa 51.3 You shall find those that fear the Lord and had the comforts of the Holy Ghost yet walked in darkness 2. Even those gracious souls that have the fellowship of the comforting spirit to day may want it to morrow This is not daily bread while the Saints are on this side Heaven The Solstice of a Christians comfort doth not last all the day long they are not feasted with this every day they have the night as well as the day there is a night as well as a day in the heart of a gracious soul as it is natural in the common course of nature the Sun may shine to day but it may be clouded to morrow Thus it was with that holy man Psal 30.7 Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled And God doth this in infinite wisdom to put a difference between Earth and Heaven this valley of tears and that state of Glory that so the hearts of Gods people may be kept in frame of longing after the state of Heaven God will have his people be groaning here that his people may groan after that condition when all sorrowing and sighing shall flee away God reserves perfect comfort to be the reward of perfect holiness while our graces are imperfect we must make account that our comfort will be so too Tears will be never wiped from our eyes till sin be quite taken out of our hearts 3. Those that have had this spiritual comfort in their Souls they may lose not only the impression of the Spirits comfort but they may feel the impression of Gods anger Haman complains That the wrath of God did bang upon him and that the terrors of God had out him off A gracious heart hath real grounds of Consolation though he hath not present sensible comforts A child of God hath always that that if he did see he could not be without comfort the Promises are his support he hath the first fruits of the Spirit and right to eternal life A Child of God shall always have so much to keep up his hopes and affiance upon God A Child of God in the darkest condition though he doth not see enough to make him rejoyce in God yet he sees enough to make him trust in God though he walk in darkness and see no light yet he trusts in God Job sayes Though the Lord slay him yet be would trust in him David was in great trouble while he was in that disquiet expostulation Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me trust in God 5. Those that have inward comforts from the Spirit may at the same time have little comfort from Gods outward dispensations It may be dark without when it is light within
shortly become a feast for Worms though they may be adorned with all the Ornaments that the pride of man can invent and friends and riches and will but accompany us to the Grave and there leave us and Oh what will then become of us if we have no interest in Christ and Heaven and can no lay claim to the eveâ—laâ—ing Glory If you ask me how we shall do to secure our interest in the Kingdom of Heaven I answer it must be by a through closure with Christ by saith and chusing of him for our Lord and Saviour God hath ordained that those that are united to Christ by faith here on earth that they shall be with Christ and live with Christ in Heaven Heaven and Glory is the Dowry that God giveth with his Son Jesus Christ and they that will Marry the Heir shall have the Inheritance and if we are Christs then all will be ours 1 Cor. 3.22 23. Whether of Paul or Apoâ—os or Cephas or things present or things to come all is yours and ye are Christs They that have an interest in Christ have a Title to all Let us therefore contract our selves to Christ resolving to be no longer our own but his and to live no longer to our selves but to him let us chuse him to be our Lord and Saviour and take him upon his own Terms as he is offered to us in the Gospel to be our King Priest and Prophet and when we are once thus united to Christ by faith we shall be coheirs with him of the heavenly Inheritance all this will be ours when we are Christs by a self-resignation and submission and when Christ is ours by a believing choice and election when we have thus made choice of Christ upon his own terms to be our Lord and Saviour our portion and our all and have given up our selves to him to be wholly his and at his dispose this will undoubtedly give us a sâ—m and an unquestionable title to Heaven Secondly The next address that I have to make is to those that are the Heirs of this Kingdom and have a Title to this Heavenly Inheritance Is it so that a Believers interest in the Kingdom of Heaven is enough to bear up his spirit under all his troubles and afflictions and to keep him from being dismayed under his sorest Trials and Tribulations that he meeteth withal from the World then the Exhortation that I shall give to you is the same that our Saviour giveth in the Text Fear not little Flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom You that have an interest in the Heavenly Glory Oh be not dismayed nor affrighted at those outward afflictions and tribulations that you meet with here below it is true God doth often exercise his dear Children with Trials Afflictions and Tribulations this is the way by which God doth discipline his Children while they are in their Minority here this Believers must count upon before hand but there is not any of those things that should make a believing Christian dismayed seeing his eternal concernments are so safe and his Heavenly interest is secure And there is no Trouble nor Cross that the Saints can meet withal but that we are somewhere or other in the Word of God exhorted not to be afraid of it Do we meet with reproach from men is that the Cross we undergo this indeed is heavy insomuch that the Psalmist complains that his heart was broken by it Psal 69.20 Yet the Servants of God the Heirs of Heaven are cautioned not to fear that â—a 51.10 Fear not the reproach oâ— men nâ—r be afraid of their revilings or is the affliâ—tion that thou meetest withal imprisonment for the sake of Christ and of a good Conscience this is likewise grievous and heavy to be born yet the Heirs of Heaven are exhorted not to fear that neither Rev. 2.10 it is Christs advice to the Church of Smyrna Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behâ—ld the Devil shall cast some of you into Prisâ—n that ye may be tryed and 〈◊〉 shall have Tribulation Ten days be thou faithful unto the death and I will 〈◊〉 thee a crown of â—ife Those that hâ—â—◠〈◊〉 interest in the crown of life imprisonment for the sake of Christ if God shouâ—d call them thereunto nay put case thou wert to suffer death it self for the sake of Christ this is the greatest and sorest of all sufferings yet the servants of Gâ—d are cautioâ—ed not to fear that neither for it can be but a bodily death and it will make way for a better and happier life Mat. 10.28 Fear not them that can kill thâ— body but are not able to kill the soul Whatsoever thâ— sufferings be thou that art a Believer and hast an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven thou art exhorted not to be afraid of it Oh Christians I beseech you act faith upon your Heavenly Interest I might tell you it can never be more seasonable so to do than now the more you act faith hereupon the more you will be enabled to live above the frowns of a troublesome and vexatious world Oh look up by an eye of faith upon â—he recompence of rewards and you will be able to prefer the afflictions of the Saints before the vain and transitory pleasures of unregenerate sinners which endure but for a moment and to chuse the greatest affliction before the least sin as Moses did Heb. 11.25 26. And let the joy that is set before you make you to endure the Crosses of this world and to desâ—ise the shame as the Captain of your salvation hath done before you and let the hope of the Glory of God make you rejoyce notwithstanding all the scorn and contempt that you meet with from the world But because of our frailty and aptness to be afraid and dismayed at afflictions and tribulations I shall see before you some considerations which if well weighed might by the blessing of God do much to the curing and removing of those fears and discontents that are aâ—t to seize upon us when we are exposed to Trials and losses in the world First Consider Christians you that have secured your heavenly interest are you in sore Troubles and do you meet with hard dealings from men it may be you may bring more glory to God bâ—â—our afflictions lâ—sses and crosses in the world than if you should always be in a quiet prosperous and serene condition it may be God mâ—â— have a greater Revenue of glory by thy troubles and â—â—â—als than by thy prosperity in the world and shall we not be wilâ—â—â—g to bâ— in such a condition howsâ—ever unpleasant to our corrupt fleâ—h in which we may be most sâ—rviceable fâ—r Gâ—d and bring most hâ—â—â—uâ— and 〈◊〉 to him It is a sign that we have little love to God or indeed to 〈◊〉 own souls if we do not prefer the Glory of God before our own ease and carnal contentment what do we but
intemperately to the honour of his Idol only in dead Vessels of Gold and Silver But these in doing thus abuse living Vessels living bodies and living souls such Vessels as by Baptism were markt out for God and separated and sealed to his holy service they abuse and prostitute to a Lust to a Whore to the Devil Ah! who can but weep and weep again to see how much of our English Bloud is poyson'd with these beastly Enormities at this day and how many of our otherwise hopeful Gentlemen who might do God and their Country much service and be a great help to the publick good and peculiar blessing to the place where they live do basely and unworthily melt away their youth and Emasculate their spirits in drunken Societies and Effeminate Embraces Alas that so many Noble Births so many sparkling Wits should be prostituted to Satans service and imployed in carrying on Satans cause while they know it not If they had found a Golden Chalice as Augustine observes of Lucinus they would have given it to the Church But God hath given them a Golden Wit a golden Head and golden parts and in these golden Cups and Challices they drink themselves to the Devil both body and soul for evermore Ah deluded and degenerated Gentlemen think with your selves seriously what answer you will make to your Judge at the general Audit-day for taking the Members of Christ and making them members of an Harlot Never see my face more said Joseph unless you bring your brother Benjamin with you Oh friends never think to see Gods face to your comfort in Glory if you carry not holy bodies and holy souls and holy affections with you God tells you his minde in Heb. Follow peace and holiness without which you shall never see the Lord You may go to Heaven without a peny in your purse but you shall never come there without holiness in your heart Heaven is a City where Righteousness dwells and therefore though God in his wonderful patience to poor lost man suffer the Earth to give the ungodly a little house-room a while yet sure I am he will never cumber Heaven with such a crew Before Enoch was translated to Heaven he walkt holily upon Earth else God had never desired his Company so soon as he did And before the Saints departed commenced and took their degree of Glory they kept their Acts and performed the exercises of grace and so must you the Scripture is plain Without Holiness none shall see the Lord. It 's true none goes to Heaven for his Holiness and this shews the Insufficiency of Holiness But it 's as true that none goes to Heaven without holiness and this argues the necessity of holiness And therefore though it be no plea for Heaven yet it will be your best Evidence and will you have your Evidences to seek when you should have them to shew Ah then as you value a portion among the Saints in Light and hope to live in Heaven when you can live no longer upon Earth Be holy as your Father which is in Heaven is holy Caesars money must be known by Caesars Image and Superscription and so must the Christian at the Reckoning day by the Terror of his Conversation Not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of the Lord shall be saved saith Christ Your works must be your witnesses and your deeds must declare whose you are and to whom you belong And therefore begin to live that life now which you intend and hope to live for ever and continue not one day longer in that condition in which you would not die and appear at Judgment in Therefore go home and dress your selves not with good Cloaths but with good works and while others are querying what they shall eat and what they shall drink and what they shall put on study you how to live and how to dye and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ making no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof And when others are projecting how to improve a barren piece of ground let your contrivance be how to improve a barren minde and as their care is that their fields should not lye fallow so let it be your study not to let your hearts lye fallow and the rather because you see that this is the will of God even your sanctification that every one of you should possess his Vessel in holiness 1 Thes 4.3 4. Now that this is the will of God will appear upon a two-fold account 1. First from the price with which he hath redeemed us to it 2. And Secondly from the Promise which he hath made to Reward us for it 1. The price he paid down upon the nail was his own blood Tit. 2.14 He gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people Had man kept his primitive holiness Christ might have kept his life and have spared his pains It was mans lost Righteousness lost Holiness that Christ came to recover But this is a Point that needs pressing rather than proving which I shall undertake to effect by these ensuing obrestations and intreaties I beseech you upon the account of these three Considerations that you would approve your selves a holy Nation a Seed which the Lord hath blessed I beseech you 1. For my sake 2. For your sakes 3. For Christs sake First for my sake who am to come to you as a Petitioner and Messenger from the Lord and the sum of my desires is this I beseech you in Christs stead that you would be reconciled to God I am not courting you for your silver but for your souls and what will you grant me if this be denied me O the Lord make you a willing people in the day of his power God hath sent me to you as Jesse to David with this Present in mine hands and these Breathings in my heart after your Salvation O may they but prove serviceable and successful to your souls and I shall bless God that hath put it into mine heart thus to visit you But if you will not hear nor fear to do no more so wickedly My soul shall weep in secret for you Is it not sad to a tender Physitian to see his Patients to dye under his hands much sadder sure to a poor Minister to see souls drop to Hell one by one under his Pulpit and cannot help them cannot save them this must needs be a heart-sadding sight to one that 's sensible of the worth of souls It costeth the Mother no small pains to bring forth a living Child But ah the bitter Throws of that Minister that travels all the year long nay all his life long with a dead Child a dead-hearted people That spends his strength and like a Candle Swails out his life amongst his Parish and is forced at last to take up the Prophets complaint Who hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord
by the light of the Candle slighted thy Manna so long Oh now therefore to day give us to hear and know and believe and do the things that concern our everlasting peace Hear us for Christ his sake to whom with thy blessed Self and Spirit be glory now and for ever The Prayer of Mr. Caryl at Magnes Bridge foot OH our Father what a priviledge is this that we may draw near to thee all our springs are in thee the Creature is but a dry heap a barren wilderness 't is but a Cistern and a broken Cistern It hath no water of its own nor can it hold that which is poured into it Oh that our hearts were taken off and dis-engaged from all things on this side thy self that we could say with thy Servant Whom have we in heaven but thee and on earth there is none that we desire in comparison of thee Then though our flesh and hearts fail us yet God would be our portion for ever VVe pray thee manifest thy Grace to us at all time and especially at this time that we may come before God in this publick worship as we should Let us see thy goings out in thy Sanctury and let us be satisfied with the fatness of thy house and drink of those pleasures that are for evermore Lord we have given thee cause to withdraw from us for we have not laboured to be fruitful under means and therefore thou in judgement mightest make them hereafter to be fruitless unto us and because we have taken no pains to get good by them thou mightest justly say they shall do you no good VVe have heard much of thee but we know thee but little we acknowledge thou mightest judge us because we know so little and thou mightest punish us because we do so little of what we know according as that faithless Servant was punished which knew his Masters will â—nd did it not Oh where be those manifestations of God that we have had Have we had not the light of the knowledge of God shining to us in the face of Jesus Christ But we have not rejoyced in this light but have compassed our selves about with sparks of our own kindling and therefore it is just we should down in sorrow and yet thou lengthenest out thy patience to us and yet we have one opportunity more to come unto thee Oh we pray thee let us understand the things belonging to our peace before they be hid from our eyes let our souls be bound in the bundle of life with Christ Jesus We pray thee that that Spirit of thine may strengthen us that the Spirit may guide us and lead us into all truth leave us not to our own strength nor to our own councel but shew us the secrets of thy Word and Works Thou hast promised Thy secret shall be with them that fear thee and thou wilt shew them thy cevenant And as thou dost give us thy Sabbaths so give us to thrive by them and help us to grow as the Herb and sent forth our fruit as Lebanon Let thy Word come with power one every one of us that it may not be as the beating of the air but let it fit us for Duty that we may honor our God in the midst of these changes until we come to that place where there is no change and all for the sake of our dear Lord Jesus to whom with Thee and the blessed Spirit be Glory and Honour now and for ever Mr. Venning's Prayer at Olaves before Sermon OH Lord God thou art the Fountain of Life yea thou givest to all Life It is necessity draws us now unto thee and we acknowledge it is a very great favour that thou wilt admit us to come into thy presence Indeed the services we do are not worthy thy acceptance thou gettest nothing by them but the gain of godliness is to our selves But wo unto us what a loss and what a curse will â—t be to us to haâ—e a form of Godliness and yet be ungodly Oh Lord how should this indear thee and thy word and thy service that thou wouldst have us do good for our own sakes thou turnest our obedience into priviledges thou hast made the means of our happiness a part of it If there were no other glory but to glorifie thee oh what a glory would it be to be found doing thy will there is a sweetness to be found in it more than in the Honey or in the Honey comes It is a great happiness to be conformable to God to be loving to God to be like to God is the greatest happiness that we can be capable of if we were now in heaven we could not have other happiness but this in a greater degree O Lord how should our souls be drawn forth to acknowledge thee may we not cry out in admiration Lord what is man and among the sons of men what are we that thou art so mindful of us Thou mightest have displayed thy VVord to many thousands in the world and we left ignorant But blessed be thy Name thou art pleased to admit eâ—en us also thereunto Oh let it not be a small thing unto us seeing we may yet live to serve God Oh Lord in Christ it will be worth our while to live and in him 't will be worth our while to die Oh that we may mind the end of living and the end of dying that whether we live or die we may be the Lords Indeed it were not worth our while to live and spend so much time in the world if it were only to have pleasure and honour and gratifie our selves to eat and drink and to be merry this is not worth our while What would it be O Lord to die in our sin and be eased of the miseries of this world and be sent to the place of torment But seeing thou hast provided for our living and our dying well give us to improve these means and that we may live and dye well let not our affections though our bodies be upon the earth though we converse with flesh yet let not our conversation be after the flesh but let us be like them which have sent their hearts up to heaven and do but tarry here to finish their Masters business and then we shall go where our hearts are and where our dear Lord Jesus Christ is Indeed Lord we have cause to complain of our hearts how we minde this world as it never would have an end and the world to come as if it would never have any beginning as if we had no souls to mind or had no mind to look to our souls We live as if all those glorious Reports thou hast made were but as a tale that is told we have cause to be ashamed that we have the means and the names of Christians and have not lived answerable to the discovery of the Lord Jesus Christ Indeed we have cause to bear our shame yet how few of us know what
aside of sin as salt potions kill wormes When Children are troubled with wormes we give them salt potions so these bitter penitential tears are the means God hath appointed to mortifie sin that 's the reason the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repentedoc 'T is not only a part of repentance but worketh preserving durable resolutions a walking closely with God 't is a means God hath blessed to this end and purpose 5. Recover from thy falls renew thy combate as Israel when they were overcome in battel they would try it again and again â—udâ— 20 28. Take heed of ceasing for the present for though thy enemy seems to prevail though the flesh seems to prevail against the spirit in the battel yet thou shalt have the best of it in the war by the power of grace thou shalt have the victory Thus I have gone over the privative part of our duty Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us I should have come to the positive Let us run with patience the race that is set before us there is the duty Let us run the race that is set before us and there is the manner of the duty Let us run with patience I should have shown you that a Christians life is like a race from earth to heaven in a way of holiness and exercise of Grace This Race it continues as long as we continue in the world from our Nativity to our death after death the strife is ended Now in this race we must run and o run that we may obtain the crown 1 Cor. 9.24 Running is a motion and a speedy motion there is lying sitting or standing but still there must be running â—e must make a further progress in the way to heaven forgeâ—ting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before Phil. 2 13. The Runner was not to enquire how much of the way already was past but to strain himself to overcome what was yet behind And so should we consider what sin are yet to be mortifyed what duties yet untouched almost untouched what heard conflicts are yet to be undergone and still to hold on our way without wining aside or halting because of difficulties discouragements stumbling blocks And there are fellows and copartners with us that run this Race with whom we may strive in a holy emulation who should go forwardest who should be most forward in the course of pleasing God O Christians there are many contentions amongst us but when shall we have this holy contention Heb 10 24. In a Race there is the Agonetheta the Judge of the sportes so here God observes all no matter what the standers by say the Judge of the sports must decide who must have the Crown 1 Cor. 14.3.4 And then at the end of the Race there is the Crown 2 Tim. 4.7.8 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth thre is laid up for me a crown of righteousness c. In a race there are spectators so there are here God Angels and men 1 Cor. 4.9 We are a spectacle to the world to angel and to men c. Thus for the similitude of our Race in our way to heaven Now wherein it differs This is a Race not undertaken out of wantonness but out of necessity God hath called us to this course and if we run not in this Race we are undone for ever And in other Races but one had the Crown here all are crowâ—ed 2 â—im 4.8 though they be not so eminent as the Apostle here all are â—rown'd that run in the manner God hath required Henceforth is laid upâ—o me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shal give me at that day and not to me onely but unto them that love his aâ— pearing For the manner with patience Let us run with patience Patience is necessary 1. Partly because of the length of the Race and the distance between us and the promised reward Our Race cannot be ended but after some degrees of time long waiting is troublesome to the flesh and therefore we â—ave need of patience 2. Because we meet with many impediments troubles and temptations by the way there are spiritual adversaries with whom we must fight for we go on we not onely run but fight therefore Run with patience c. 3. Because the spectators will be ready to discourage us We are set forth not onely as a spectacle to God and Angels but to the world and they will be ready to deride scorn and oppose us for our Zeal to God and out forewardness in the wayes of God to discourage us bâ— bitter mockings c. therefore let us run with patience the race that is set before us Mr. Caryl's Sermon Rev. 3. latter part of Ver. 4. And they shall wall with me in white for they are worthy IN the former part of this Verse you heard the commendation of those few names in Sardis it was this They had not defiled their garments In this latter part you have their encouragement in their reward They shall walke with me in white In which encouragement I told you we might consider two things or take it into two parts First That they should walk with Châ—ist Secondly They should walk in White I have spoken to the former of these â—hey shall walk with Christ and that the Scripture holds forth under a two-fold notion First as matter of duty It is a duty to walk with Christ Secondly it is matter of promise That they keep their garments undefiled and live in thigh favour with Christ they shall walk with Christ we favour those that walk with us Walking with Christ notes to us three things 1. That we have peace with him 2. That we have intimacy with him 3. That his being so much above us we should have this favour from him And hence I noted the great priviledge of the people of God that they shall walk with Christ 1. It notes the great satisfaction of the Saints to walk with Christ they shall be filled with his company 2. How safe it is and what safety there is to walk with Christ he hath a wing to spread over them 3. What opporunities such have as walk with Christ 4. What liberty such have as walk with Christ 5. Such as walk with Christ may be sure he will commuicate his secrets to them he will show them what they have to do 2. We shewed you the great goodnes of Jesus Christ that he should take such creatures to walk with him such defiled creatures 3. Then let us take heed of keeping our garments undefiled lest Jesus Christ cast us out of his company and we can no longer walk with Christ any more Oh take heed of walking blameless in the wayes of Christ These things were spoken from the first point Now I come to the walking with
will not receive him stop us at the door that we cannot bring in the doctrine of Christ that will not receive the principles of Christ How can we bring them and build them up that will not suffer the Foundation to be laid the Seed to be received Hast thou not received Christ then thou hast refused Christ been a despiser of the Gospel of Christ which will prove thy great condemnation What is it for thee to hear the Name and not to have the Spirit of Christ Do not go upon conjectures it s one thing to number thy self with those that are Christians as to outward appearancâ— and another thing to open thy heart and deliver up thy self to Christs Government and as a lost Sinner to receive him to those ends a Saviour must be received And remember this was no small worke Gods sending Christ into the world no small thing to fetch thee from Hell and Satan to wash guilty souls from all their sins and to bring them to everlasting glory If these great things be rightly understood and believed by thee if Christ be understood well as Christ it must be done with a weakened humbled self-resigned heart making the greatest matter in the world of these things Hath thy soul been seriously taken up about thy own recovery And hast thou received Christ as a man that was ready to be damned as one that had a load on his Soul heavier than all the Mountains of the Earth to ease and deliver him as one that was under the frowns of God in a state of enmity receives reconciliation Hast thou received Christ as if thou hadst received Heaven in him Believe it these are great transactions and will affect thy heart and it is not a sleepy or jesting matter thus to receive Christ Consider what it is to receive Christ 1. If you have received Christ you have received the great Reconciler that bindes up the broken hearted quiets those that tremble under the threatnings of God for fear he should forsake and cast them off for ever 2. If thou hast received Christ thou hast received a perfect enmity to all sin that will never let thee rest in sin but be perswading thee from it and conflicting in thee against sin in thy soul If thou hast received Christ thou hast not received a friend for sin that will plead for or give thee leave to commit sin but one that though he bear with thee in thy weakness yet abominates thy sin If thou hast received a Lord and Master to rule to be consented and subjected to him and to be ruled by none but in subordination to him who will break those in pieces that refuse his Government Obedience and not verbal profession is the thing he requires Hast thou entertained Christ to be the Master of thy words thoughts and deeds whose Government thou livest under more than under any in the world 3. If you have received Christ you have then received the beginning of felicity and full contentment to your souls having found none in your sins you have it discovered to you where it is therefore with gladness go you on and so far as you have hopes of attaining it so far you have great contentment c. 4. In a word if you have received Christ you have fallen out with sin sujected pleasures prosits and honours to him and you have received hâ—s Spirit and this hath made you new and maintains the way within you against the flesh c. If this be not thy case Oh that thou knewest what a case thou art in For then 1. What the better art thou for all his blood shed as yet if thou wert this day to dye What would Christs blood do to the cleansing and saving of thy soul 2. How canst thou look thy sins in the face and think on what thou hast done and art How canst thou look inward into thy defiled heart and not tremble when thou hast no more shelter from the wrath of God 3. How canst thou look God in the face who is a hater of sin How canst thou read his Attributes think on his threatnings 4. How canst thou think to have any Duty accepted and Prayer heard or rewarded c. 5. How canst thou think on the Day of Judgment on the time when thou must receive thy final sentence if thou hast not received Christ Oh what a thing is a Christless heart c. Q. What shall I do that I may receive Christ A. 1. Till Christ be thine and hath brought peace from Heaven to thy Soul let no peace be there to keep him out I do not say overwhelm thy self with sorrow but let sorrow dwell there and let holy cares and solicitousness about thy spiritual state be there till Christ come and quiet and reconcile thee to God 2. Read and believe the Gospel see there what Christ is and thy necesty of him Believing will open the door to entertain him assent will procure thy consent 3. Keep up no Idol in thy heart against him Turn out that that keeps out Christ how dear soever it seems now at last thou wilt see it more necessary to detest then keep it I come now to exhort all poor weak Christians that they would make after confirmation and grow to a greater measure in Grace as they have received Christ It is not enough to be conceited that you have been converted and it will not be enough to the assurance of your conversation or safety of your souls that you think you are converted and you sit down there He that is content with the opinion he hath Grace therefore desires to have no more because the promise of salvation is made to the Truth of Grace it is a sign he never had Grace Strength in Grace is your own felicity 't is part of your happiness Your eternal happiness will partly consist in your personal perfection and without personal perfection all Heavenly glory will not be a perfect felicity If you have fixed your Anchor in Gods promises this engages you to look up make after and proceed c. Take these Motives 1. Consider there is the same reason to move thee to grow and proceed as there was to move thee to thy first believing Why do you become Christians but because of the necessity of the Riches and Excellencies of Christs and that there was better things in Christ then in the World And are they not so still Is che case changed If Christianity was reasonable then it is reasonable now If it was necessary to begin it is necessary to hold on and proceed in your Race till you have obtained the Crown 2. Your receiving Christ essentially contains in it an obligation to proceed and go further actually to trust and obey him whom you have taken for your Lord and Saviour from the very Offices and Relations of Christ received If I be a Father where is my fear If I be a Master where is my honour If I be a Saviour where
subjection to his Law If you will please God in all your actions look to this That what you do may bear some resemblance to his Nature and hold forth obedience to his Law Consult the will of God and in all things act in conformity to that will do not allow your selves in the Commission of any known sin for that will certainly displease God as it was said of David when he took Bathsheba to Wife but saith the Text the thing displeased the Lord. Do not Bank any known duty for that will displease God In a word be holy in all manner of conversation This being too general I shall not insist upon it only in a word more particularly Do those things now now make conscience of those duties which now lie upon you in the doing of which you will certainly please God and they are such as these Be stedfast in the ways of God in the midst of a back-sliding and apostatizing age stand fast to the Law of God Phil. 4.1 Contend for the faith which is delivered to the Saints ver 3. of the Epistle of Jude Be not ashamed to own Christ before all the world if you be ashamed of him on earth he will be ashamed of you in Heaven and wo be to that sinner whom Christ is ashamed to own Reckon reproaches for the name of Christ better than the pleasure of sin that is but for a season When God calleth you to it assert the purity and spirituality of Gospel-worship do not place Religion in a sew shadows where the substance is neglected but chiefly minde self-denial mortification crucifixion to the world keeping up close communion with God love the people of God whatever the world say or think of thee for God is highly pleased when he seeth his Children loved Keep up Religion in your Families whatever scorn or contempt is cast upon you Oh that you would labour to be of Abrahams spirit I know saith God he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen 18.19 I do not know any one better means for the keeping up Religion in this Nation than for Masters of Families to be consciencious in the discharging of this duty Be good in bad times be patterns of good works to those that shall behold you Let no reproach or obloquy make you to abate your exact walking with God whatever you meet withall in the ways of holiness and a strict life say If this be to be vile I will be more vile Make conscience of a strict observation of the Lords day take heed of that Sacriledge of stealing away holy times of prostituting that to common and civil uses which is impropriated and dedicated to the service of God Pray for and love all those that have been instrumental for your spiritual good in the work of the Ministry whatever dirt is now thrown in their faces and though you never get more good by them Forget not to distribute to the necessities of Gods people that are many of them in a low condition for this is a sacrifice of a sweet odour and well-pleasing to him Carry your selves with all patience and Christian meekness towards them that wrong you pray for them that are your enemies and when you are reviled revile not again but commit your selves to that God who judgeth righteously Do your duty to your superiors and to those that are in Authority So carry your selves that it may be with you as it was with Daniel they had nothing against him saving in the matter of his God Bank not any duty for suffering choose the greatest of suffering before the least of sin In a word so walk as it becometh the Gospel And finally I speak to you as the Apostle spoke to them Phil. 2.16 Hold forth the word of life that I may rejoyce in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain nor laboured in vain The third use is for comfort to all those that do conscienciously endeavour in all things to please God the comfort lies in this you may suffer but when ever you suffer the Father will not leave you alone Pleasing of God does not secure a man from suffering from men sometimes it rather exposes a man to suffer from men But now though it does not prevent suffering yet it takes away the sting and venome of suffering it makes it to be like Sampsons Lion when it was slain he found nothing but honey in the belly of it Oh! the presence of God in a time of affliction is exceeding precious it turns gall into honey thorns into roses Be not troubled in your thoughts about what you may undergo if God be with you all will be well if God comes when the Crosses cometh the weight of it will not hurt you what is a Prison when God is there My brethren though estate leave you relations leave you all your comforts leave you so long as God doth not leave you it will be be well therefore do not fear be not dejected or discouraged Isa 43. 1 2. Fear not O Jacob why so when thou passest through the water I will be with thee We have more reason to be afraid of prosperity with Gods absence than of adversity with Gods presence A good God will make every condition to be good it is not a prison but a palace where God is they that do the things that please God whatever condition they may be brought to the Father will not leave them alone Ministers may leave you the means of Grace and Ordinances in a great measure may leave you your creature-enjoyments and comforts may leave you but here is a God that will never leave you Oh! bless his holy name Fourthly Is this pleasing of God a duty of so great importance and benefit then be tender and charitable in judging of those that do differ from you and others upon this account because they dare not displease God I may in this caution aim at my self and others of my brethren in the work of our Ministry but I am not here at present to take my last farewel I hope I may have a little further opportunity of speaking to you but if not let me require this of you to pass a charitable interpretation upon your laying down the exercise of our Ministry there is a greater Judge than you must judge us all at the great day and to this Judge we can appeal before Angels and men that it is not this thing or that thing that puts us upon this dissent but it is conscience toward God and fear of offending him I censure none that differ from me as though they displease God but yet as to my self should I do thus and thus I should certainly violate the peace of my own couscience and offend God which I must not do no not to secure my Ministry though that either is or ought to be dearer to me than my very life and how dear it is God
only knoweth Do not add affliction to affliction be not uncharitable in judging of us as if through pride faction obstinacy or devotedness to a party or which is worse than all in opposion to Authority we do dissent the Judge of all hearts knows it is not so but it is meerly from those apprehensions which after prayer and the use of all means do yet continue that doing thus and thus we should displease God therefore deal charitably with us in this day of our affliction If we be mistaken I pray God to convince us if others be mistaken whether in a publick or private capacity I pray God in mercy convince them but however things go God will make good this truth to us in this work he will not leave us and our Father will not leave us alone for it is the unfeigned desire of our soul in all things to please God Dr. Bate's Forenoon Sermon August 17. 1662. Heb 12.20 21. Now the God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ To whom be glory for ever and ever IT would give light to these words if you consider the scope and design of the Apostle in this Epistle to the Hebrews the summe of which is he writes to them that he might animate their spirits against apostacy from the Doctrine of the Gospel they were liable to this from you and others upon this account because they dare not displease God I may in this caution aim at my self and other of my brethren this upon a double account 1. Partly in respect of those persecutions to which they were exposed for the Jews were filled with a bruitish zeal for the Ceremonies of the Levitical Law and exprest the greatest rancour against those who lest Moses to follow Christ This is the reason why the Apostle lays down so many preservatives against their revolting from Religion and he spends one part of this Epistle in a most passionate Exhortation to perseverance and doth in the tenth Chapter insinuate himself into them You have already tasted the first-fruits of affliction ver 3.4 You took joyfully the spoyling of your goods knowing in your selves that you have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance This is that temper that Martyrs have exprest who have not only parted with their goods but with their lives for the Gospel When they came to the Stake they would not so much as shed a tear to quench those flames wherein they should ascend to God as in a fiery Chariot You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves that you have a better and an enduring substance Thus he insinuates himself by representing what they had done to encourage them to perseverance and partly he fortifies them against Back-sliding by those terrible judgements which he threatned against Revolters as you read Chap. 6.7 2. As they were liable to this Apostacy upon the account of Persecution so upon the account of the unsettledness and instability of their own spirits There were several of those who had given up their names to Christ who did compare the Ceremonies of the Law with the purity of the Gospel Now the Apostle to secure them from this mixture his great design is to represent the vanity and infectiveness of all the Ceremonial Law and to express and prove the virtue and efficacy of the Lord Jesus his death which was the substance of all the shadows And this takes up one great part of his discourse with them Now in these two verses he sums up by way of Recapitulation all that which he had discoursed of at large and in them you may observe these two things 1. A description of God to whom he addresses this Prayer 2. The substance of the Prayer it self The Description of God that he amplifies by these two things 1. From the Attributes and Qualities of God if I may so express it Now saith he the God of Peace 2. From the effects of his power and love That brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep And these Titles they are not here set down by the Apostle to adorn his discourse meerly as an ornament but they have all a peculiar efficacy as to the obtaining of the request which here he makes for them I shall begin with the first the Description of God from that Attribute Now the God of Peace the Title that is used in the Old Testament frequently is this The Lord of Hosts but in the New he is called The God of peace There were darker representations of the mercy and love of God than the more full discoveries of his grace were reserved till the coming of Christ Their discoveries under the Old Testament were but as the Day-star which ushered in the Sun of Righteousness Now this title of the God of Peace imparts two things 1. That he is the Author of Peace and works it 2. That he loves and delights in peace First That he s the Author of it And if you consider Peace in all its notions and kinds it is a fruit of God and that which descends from him 1. Peace in Nature is the harmony that is between all the parts of the World the union that is between the disagreeing Elements that is from God for without him the whole Creation would presently disband and return to its first Chaos of confusion 2. Civil Peace which is among the Societies of men that which is so amiable and lovely and which needs no other foil to commend it and set off its lustre than the miseries and cruelties of war this peace comes from God likewise Every rash hand is able to make a wound or to cast a Fire-brand but it is only the God of Peace that is able to heal breaches and to allay those storms that are in a Nation You know those showers which render the Earth fruitful descend from Heaven from God so all the counsels of peace descend from above The fiery Exaltations ascend from the Earth Counsels of War disturbance proceeded from the devilish hearts of men Or 3. If you consider that Rational Peace which is in the spirits of men that is when the understanding exercises a coertion and restraint over our licentious appetites when all our inferior Faculties are under the empire and conduct of Reason this proceeds also from God For since the fall there is a great deal of tumult many riots and disorders in the soul of a man Reason hates a bad Guide and our Appetites those are evil instruments and so many times hurry Reason from its regular actings But 4. much more if you consider Spiritual Peace that peace doth not only import an Agreement of a man within himself but the Agreement of the soul with God This
if he gives you the upper spring of Grace he will give you the neather spring of Peace for they go both together If he gives you the Dew of Heaven you need not question the fatness of the Earth if his right hand be full of mercy his left hand shall not be empty Therefore grace and peace be with you from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Grace hath a double sense either for the grace of God to us that justifies us or the grace of God in us that sanctifies us Now there is a different flowing from each of these but still it is grace and peace First justifying grace hath a peace attending that Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God So far as we have confidence in justifying grace there remains no conscience of condemning sin As there can be no bitterer War than between conscience and the ear so there can be no sweeter Peace than when Mercy and Peace meet together and when Conscience and Peace kiss each other The former is the taste of Heaven the latter is the perambulation of Heaven both which the Believer shares in upon his Justification by faith If Christ had peace who was made our sin needs must the Believer have peace who is made the Righteousness of God in him Seconly Sanctifying grace hath a peace attending it and this peace differs from the former as the Root from the Fruit. The peace of Justification is a radical Peace the root of Peace but the Peace of Sanctification is the bud the blossom of the Tree the former flows from the bloud of Christ sprinkled on the Conscience the latter from the conformity that is between the Word and the Will between the Commands and the Conscience As many as walk according to this Rule grace be unto them and peace Gal. 6.16 So that Peace is the fruit of sanctifying Grace Now as the bloud of the Pascal-Lamb which was a token of peace was not to be struck on the posts of the Egyptians but upon the posts of the Israelites so neither is the bloud of sprinkling which brings perfect peace to be struck on the Posts of the carnal Sinner but on the Posts of the true Believer an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile no Grace no Peace that is Gods Law How can a sinner have peace in a state of sin when God and conscience when Word and conscience when Law and conscience and all the Attributes of God are against a sinner No Peace saith my God to the wicked Pray mark that chapter it begins with the peace and ends in no peace In ver 2. it is said He shall enter into peace that is the Righteous in the last verse There is no peace to the wicked It is the state of Grace that is the only state of peace And thus I pass from the double Grace desired Grace and Peace to the double Fountain discovered God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ But here 's a question to be answered If Grace and Peace be from God the Father then how is it said to be from Christ and if from Christ how then from God the Father Answ It 's a known Rule that the transial external works of God are attributed to all the three Persons in the Trinity the same works that are attributed to the Father are also attributed to the Son and the same works are attributed to the Son the same also to the Father so Grace and Peace are here ascribed both to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ that is they are both from Mercy and from Merit From Mercy on Gods part to us from Merit on Christs part for us they are from God the Father because he wills them to us from God the Son because he works them in us they are from God to Christ from Christ to us they are from God the Father originally and from Christ derivatively and to us actually God the Father is the fountain of all Grace and Peace Christ as Mediator is the Conduit of all Grace and Peace Man in union to Christ is the cistern into which these streams of Grace and Peace runs God wils Grace and Peace to us Christ works them in us God gives Grace Peace to be applied to the Creature this is from the love of the Father but the Application of this peace to the soul is from the Merit of Christ the Redeemer Thus you see there 's a double spring of this double blessing Time will not serve me further The only Observation is That all the Grace and Peace which Believers share in is derived from God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ these three things opened will clear this 1. That Grace and Peace are the Believers priviledge 2. That the Fountain of this grace and Peace is from God the Father 3. That it is not given out from God the Father but through Christ First That Grace and Peace are the Saints priviledâ—e if Grace is then Peace is But Grace is the priviledge of every Believer and that whether you look upon it as taken from the love and favour of God to us this is the Believers priviledge God can as well forget Christ at his right hand as cease his love and favour to the soul of a Believer the Believers title to all their blessings arises out of this never-failing love of God or if you aske grace for the fruit of Gods love to the soul still it falls to the Believers priviledge Vocation Justification Adoption pardon of Sin purging from Sin strength against sin Holiness Faith Love Obedience Perseverance all these are the priviledges of every Believer nay a man cannot be a Believer without any one of them they are as essential to the Being of a Christian as reason to the Being of a man Secondly As Grace so Peace is the Believers priviledge There is peace external peace supernal peace internal and peace eternal There is peace external this peace with men there is peace supernal that is peace with God there is peace internal that is peace with Conscience all these three are to be had here upon earth and then there is peace eternal and that is only to be had in Heaven The Apostle here doth not exclude the former but chiefly intends the latter peace with man is a good thing to be desired but peace with God and Conscience is much more to be desired Peace with God is the spring of all things both within and without both below and above both in time and eternity so saith Job if he gives peace who then can make troâ—ble Now this peace is the Saints priviledge it is a Legacy left to every Believer by the last Will and Testament of a dying Redeemer Will you see a copy of his Will then look in Job 14.27 Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you There is it seems a
they may see God face to face and be for ever with the Lord which they cannot do till they dye therefore blessed by God that the righteous must perish If a man should always live on earth always be young rich and healthful it would be unwelcome news for while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord and subject to sin and therefore when Peter asked Christ what should be done with John Christ tells him If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee from henceforth there went a report abroad that John should not dye Now the Apostle himself was much displeased with this report and looked upon it as a great affliction that he should not dye and therefore he himself confutes it But yet Jesus said he said not that he should not dye as if he had said God forbid that I should not dye Before I come to Application of this point give me leave to speak somthing to the second point and so I shall apply them both together The second Doctrine is this That the perishing of a righteous man is nothing but a gathering him to God Christ and the blessed society of Saints and Angels in Heaven This is contained in the second expression merciful men are taken away the word in the Hebrew is Colliguntur they are gathered it is evegetical of the former they did not perish but they are gathered to God and Christ there is a great deal of excellency and a Magazine of sweetness in this expression They are gathered It implies two things First That the righteous are in a scattered condition while they are in this world and that three ways 1. They are scattered among the wicked and ungodly of the world as sheep among wolves as lambs among Lyons rent and torn in pieces forced to wander up and down in Sheep skins and Goats skins 2. The righteous are scattered in the world one from another and that two ways 1. They are scattered by their different habirations for the godly are forced one from another as Lot from Abraham 2. They are scattered one from another by the cruel persecution of wicked men and therefore you read Acts 8. that at that time when there was a persecution against the Church at Jerusalem that they were all scattered abroad 3. The godly are scattered in this life from the glorious presence of God in Heaven indeed they are never scattered from the gracious presence of God but sometimes they are scattered from the comfortable presence of God as long as we live in the world we shall be scattered from the glorious presence of God for while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord. Secondly This implies a bringing of Gods people out of this scattered condition it is a gathering of the Righteous out of this world into another from a sinful persecuted world into a sinless glorious world from diversity of dwellings on earth to dwell altogether in one Heaven it is a gathering out of the reach of Men and Devils and a gathering them not only to the gracious but to the glorious presence of God and Christ and to the souls of just men made perfect and to the general assembly of the first born and to the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem where they shall live together never to be scattered again To understand this the better let me offer three things to you shewing you that the Godly are gathered to God three ways in this life at death and at the day of Judgment First The Righteous are gathered to God in this life and that is at their first conversion for by nature we are Aliens and strangers to God scattered from any union or communion with God not only scattered from the glorious but from the gracious presence of God God made men at first to enjoy communion with himself but Adam lost this by sin and now we are all Cains and vagabonds scattered from the love of God and from union and communion with God but when God converts any of the Elect he gathers them home to himself for conversion is nothing but Gods gathering them to himself in the second Adam that were scattered from him in the first Adam the first Adam was a Root of scattering a Root of separation from God but the second Adam was a Root of union and conjunction Christ is the head and the Elect are all gathered together in him that he might gather together in one all things in Christ so that conversion is nothing but a gathering of the Elect of God to Christ by faith and a gathering to one another by love and charity Secondly Gods people are gathered at death here they are gathered to Christ by Grace but at death they are gathered to Christ in glory here they are gathered to God by hope but at death by fruition here Christ is gathered to us he comes down and dwells with us but at death we shall be gathered to him we shall go up and be joyned with him There 's a great deal of difference between esse cum Christo and esse in Christo esse cum Christo to be one with Christ is a Christians great security but esse in Christo to be one in Christ it is a Christians great felicity in this life we are gathered to God by Faith but at death by vision Lastly We shall be gathered to God at the day of judgment it is called the day of the gathering of the Saints together a day when all the Saints that are have been or shall be shall be gathered together 2 Thes 2.1 I beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him at the great day At the day of Judgment we shall all be gathered together and shall all be taken up to Heaven I mean all the righteous and be ever with the Lord and so much for the opening of the Doctrine But here it may be objected Are not the unrighteous gathered by death as well as the righteous I answer it is true the unrighteous are scattered in this life and gathered by death as well as the righteous but with a great deal of difference First the wicked are scattered in this life but they are scattered from God but the Godly are scattered for God and for a good conscience many times as they at Jerusalem were scattered The godly are scattered from the glorious presence of God in Heaven but the wicked are scattered from the gracious presence of God on earth Again the scattering of the wicked is a curse to them and it is threatned as a curse Lev. 26.32 I will scatter you among the Heathen and draw out my sword after you and where-ever the wicked come in what part soever of the world the wicked are scattered they bring the curse of God with them and they bring the judgments of God on Towns and Cities where they are as plague famine and
sword and all miseries But the Godly when they are scattered they are scattered as a blessing into what country or town soever they come they come as a blessing they come like a Ship laden with Corn to a Town ready to perish with famine they come as a blessing four ways First they pray down a blessing on the place where they come Secondly they come as a blessing by their holy life and conversation that is a Load-stone to draw others to holiness Thirdly they come as a blessing by their holy advice and counsel that they give to the place where they come Nay fourthly their very presence is a blessing as long as Lot was in Sodom Sodom could not be destroyed so long as Paul was in the ship the 300 could not be drowned So that the godly come as a blessing wherever they are scattered but the wicked are as chaff scattered by the wind and they are scattered as the dust of the earth You know when the dust is scattered it gets into mens eyes and blinds them and falls upon their cloaths and sullies them so the wicked wherever they are scattered they defile the place where they are scattered The godly are as Planets that wander move from one part of Heaven to another carrying light to the world Secondly as the wicked are scattered while they live so when they die they are gathered it is true but how not to God and Christ and his Angels but they are gathered to the Devil and his Angels and to damned spirits not as bundles of Wheat in the Barn of Heaven but as bundles of Tares to be burned for ever in everlasting fire Now if the righteous perish as well as others and if their perishing be nothing but a gathering to God and Christ then First learn hence the preciousness of every righteous man the great God will not gather things of no value great men do not use to gather chaff and straw and therefore when Christ said of Josiah I will gather thee to thy Fathers it was a sign he was a precious Pearl worth the gathering and of a high value and account in the sight of God and so is every true Child of God right dear and precious are they in the sight of God both living and dying they are bought with a great price not with Gold and Silver and other corruptible things but they are bought with the precious blood of the Son of God they are as precious to God as thee Apple of his eye so precious that he hath given Christ for them and to them so precious that he called them his Jewels his peculiar treasure his Jedidiahs and therefore God will not suffer them to perish but gather them to himself before the evil day come as the Husbandman gathers in the Corn before the Beast go out into the field Secondly Learn hear what reason we have to be comforted in the death of a righteous man or woman because their death is not a perishing but a gathering to God and Christ and the society of Saints and Angels The death of a righteous man is no more than if a Merchant that hath abundance of Jewels in a far Countrey he should send for theâ— home Why death to a righteous man is nothing but God sending for his Jewels home Such a phrase there is in Mal. 3.17 In the day that I make up my Jewels they shall be mine In this life they are imperfect Jewels they are like Gold in the Oare mingled with a great deal of dross and death is nothing but a perfection of the Jewels death is nothing more and God doth nothing by death but as a Gold-siner gathers up all his ends of Gold and Silver it is nothing but just as if a Father should send for his Son home that had been a long time absent from him to his own house it is a carrying us to our Fathers house And therefore let us be comforted when our Righteous Friends dye though their death be matter of sorrow to us in regard of the loss that we sustain by their death and because their death is a warning-piece of evil to come yet in regard of them we have no cause to mourn I speak this of those that are related to the righteous when they dye did you ever here of a Husbandman that mourned for the carrying in of his Corn into the Barn or a Jeweller mourn for making up of his Jewels Let us mourn rather that we are lest scattered among the wicked of the earth and from the glorious presence of God and Christ and let us morn for those that are scattered from Christ and from grace and for those that whilst they live are scattered and when they dye are gathered to the Devil and his Angels Let us not mourn for those that dye in Christ but let us mourn for those that live out of Christ let us not mourn over the body the soul hath left but let us mourn over the soul God hath left The third use is of Consolation to all the people of God in reference to evil times that are coming upon us or to the evil of times Whatever befalls a Child of God in this life though he be scattered by wicked men from England into forreign Countries though he wanders up and down in Desarts and Wildernesses though he be scattered from house to prison yet there shall be a gathering time shortly there will a time come when all the Saints shall be gathered to Christ and to one another never to part any more The death of Gods people is not a perishing but a gathering comfort your selves therefore with these words against the fear of death look upon death as a gathering as a gathering to Christ you are here as Daniel in the Lyons Den as Jeremiah in the dungeon yet there will come a gathering and if you dye in a good cause you shall not perish but be gathered to Christ to his Saints and Angels But you will say If I were sure when I dye that I should be gathered to Christ to live for ever with him this would be matter of great consolation to me but you told me the wicked are gathered by death as well as the Godly how shall I know whether when I come to dye I shall be gathered to the Devil and his Angels or to Christ and his Angels How shall I know whether I shall be gathered at death as a bundle of tears to be burned in Hell or a bundle of Wheat to be carryed up into the Barn of Heaven I answer You may know it by four things 1. If you are righteous then you shall be gathered to Christ at death For the Righteous shall go into everlasting life Heaven is entailed upon righteous men by Righteousness I mean the imputed Righteousness and imparted Righteousness of Jesus Christ I wave the explication of them because time will not give leave Know you not saith the Apostle that no unrighteous man
Be stedfast and unmoveable knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Mal. 3.13 there is the like instance Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord yet ye say what have we spoken so much against thee this God is always quarrelling with us and laying things to our charge what have we said in the 14 verse Ye said it is in vain to serve God and what prosit is it that we have kept his Ordinances we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts and now we call the proud happy yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered well now what follows They they that feared the Lord spake often one to another as if they had said let not these things take any thing off the edge of our affections or quench any flame of our love did God take any notice of this now that he had any such friends in the world yes saith he God hearkned and heard and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name and they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him there is a time coming the day will declare whether it be serving God or the Devil well then beloved as ever you would hold fast the profession of your Faith take heed of the error of the wicked never think it vain to serve God though you may lose bâ— it for if ye lose for him ye shall never lose by him Thirdly Would you hold fast the Profession of your Faith then lay up the word of Faith in a good and honest heart Luke 8.15 It is said there of the good ground they are they which have heard the Word kept it or hold it fast where do they lay it up now in a good and honest heart so that you must pull out his heart before that you can pull out the Word and will any man suffer his heart to be torn from him you never hold it fast till you lay it up in a good and honest heart if it be only in the hands as a Bible in your hands or in the head it will be gone but if it be in your hearts you will never let it go therefore observe saith he Having heard it they keep it and hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bring forth fruit with patience they had a great deal of sufferings to bring with patience for if they were not under suffering what need were there of patience Well beloved consider a little further as to this the Connection between the verse preceding the Text and the Text saith he Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled with a pure conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Let us hold fast the profession of our faith the purity of the heart is the best preservative of the Faith 1 Tim. 3.9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience a good and honest heart will never part with the mysteries of faith Lastly Would you hold fast the profession of your Faith then look much to and often consider Jesus Christ the Author and finisher of your Faith David had got the faculty of walking with God and how was it saith he I will keep thy loving kindness before mine eyes that I may walk with thee Oh! if we do but keep the loving kindness of God in Jesus Christ before our eyes we shall certainly keep the faith Saith the Apostle having a high Priest over the House of God let us draw near and let us hold fast a high Priest that is Jesus Christ our great high Priest Heb. 3.1 Wherefore holy Brethren he partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and high Priest of our Profession Christ Jesus Heb. 4.14 Seeing then that ye have a great high Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the Shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God! Oh! let us be thinking of and looking to this Jesus You will say what shall we think of him Oh! think of this condescension in the world of that vouchsafement which as was never the like of his how he humbled himself and suffered being God for man Think how he became poor that was rich that we that were poor might become rich think how he became a curse think how he became sin for us think what a good Confession he made before Pontius Pilate even to death and was obedient to the death Think how he conquered death by dying and how he rose again by his Almighty power and ascended into Heaven and ever lives to make intercession for those that come to the Father through him Think how he lived here on earth in a sad condition and joyed in it so that it might be for our good and shall we leave such a Christ as this Oh! can you look upon Christ and leave the Profession of your Faith It cannot be keep Christ before your eyes make him your pattern and you will not you cannot do amiss He that saith he abides in him ought to walk as he walked he walked in obedience all his days and was obedient to the death So must we we must walk in all obedience all our days though we dye for being obedient You see now how many Arguments there are for our holding fast the Profession of our Faith There are many now that might be added but the time is past therefore I shall shut up all in the words of Jude from the 20 ver of this Epistle to the end But you Beloved building up your selves on your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life and of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God and Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power now and for ever Amen Mr. Matthew Newcomen His Farewel-Sermon Preached at Dedham in Essex Aug. 20.1662 Rev. 3. Verse 3. Remember therefore how thou hast received heard and held fast and repent I Began this Scripture the last Lords day in this Congregation I told you then there were three Doctrines obvious in the Text the first was Doct. 1. That it is the Duty of Christians to remember those Truths that they have heard and received Doct. 2.
little business will buy a Priesthood and so they are said to be without the true God without a teaching-Priest and without Law Mark what followes And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the Inhabitants of the Country and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City for God did vex them with all adversity 3. Safety and security goes when the Gospel goes so in the Text but now cited The Ark was taken away their strength and safety was gone When the Jews rejected the Gospel the Romans came and took away both their place and Nation John 11.48 If we let him thus alone the Romans will come and take away both our place and Nation About forâ—y years after Titus and Vespasian took away their City they cried If we let this man alone the Romans will take away our Nation and this was the ready way to bring the Romans upon them 4. When the Gospel goes Civil liberty goes when the Jews slighted the Gospel and turned their backs upon it they quickly became Bondslaves to the Romans 5. When the Gospel goes the honour and glory splendour and beauty of a Nation goes It is the Gospel that is the honour and beauty of a Nation and when that goes all the glory goes As old Eli said when the Ark was taken away the glory was departed from Israel 1 Sam. 4.22 Jer. 2.11 12 13. Hath a Nation changed their gods which are yet no gods but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit that is the Worship of God into the Traditions of men What is it that lifts up one Nation above another but the Gospel Above all Nations of the Earth England hath been lifted up to Heaven 6. When the Gospel goes all soul-happiness and blessedness goes The Gospel you know is the means appointed by God to bring Souls to an acquaintance with Christ to an acceptance of Christ to an interest in Christ to an assurance that he is theirs and they are his Now when this goes all soul-happiness and blessedness goes 7. When the Gospel goes the spiritual presence of God goes for that still goes with the Gospel There is a general presence of God as the Psalmist speaks Psal 139. Where shall I go from thy Spirit Whither shall I fly from thy presence This presence of God reacheth from Heaven to Hell in that sense God is included in no place nor excluded out of any place But alas What is this general presence When the Gospel goes the special presence of God goes This leads me by the hand to the third Query Query 3. And that is this Whether God will remove the Gospel from England or no It is the fear of many but I humbly suppose No whatsoever darkness may be upon it yet that God will not remove it if you please I will offer a few things that signifie something as to my own satisfaction and it may be so to you 1. The rooting that it hath got in the hearts of sinners and Saints in the Judgment Affections and Consciences both of sinners and Saints Certainly it hath got so deep a root in the hearts of many thousands of Saints and sinners that it shall not be in the power of Hell to raze it out 2. The glorious anointings that are to be found upon many thousands of Gods servants in this Nation to preach the everlasting Gospel and who would be glad to preach upon the hardest terms keeping God and a good conscience to preach it freely as the Apostles of old did And certainly God hath not laid in the Treasure that it should be turned into a heap of confusion but that it should serve to the end for which he laid it in 3. The ineffectualness of all former attempts and designs to destroy the Gospel You know what endeavours of old there hath been to darken this Sun to put out the light of Heaven in the Marian dayes and in other dayes since them and yet it hath not been in Prisons Backs Flames Pillories nor any thing else to extinguish the glory of it And then 4. All Designs and Attempts to extinguish the everlasting Gospel have turned to the advancement flourishing and spreading of the Gospel 5. God never takes away the Gospel from a people till the body of that people have thrust the everlasting Gospel from them When indeed they have been so bold as to thrust away the everlasting Gospel God hath been severe unto them But till the body of a people have thrust away the everlasting Gospel God hath not taken it away from them 2 Chronicles the 36. Chapter from the 15th verse to the end God sent his Messengers early and late they abused slighted and scorned them till there was no remedy So in the 35. of Jeremiah from the first to the twelfth it is a famous Text for this So in the thirteenth Chapter of the Acts and the 45 46 and 47. verses Because you haue thought your selves unworthy of Salvation Lo we turn to the Gentiles till the Jews came to thrust away the everlasting Gospel the Lord continued it to them 6. The spreading of the everlasting Gospel is the special means appointed by God for the destruction of Antichrist First he is to be consumed by the spirit of his Mouth then destroyed by the brightness of his coming the spirit of Faith and prayer in them that would be willing to lay down any thing rather than part with the Gospel God will not put his blessed Church to the blush he will not make them ashamed of their confidence 7. Are there not multitudes of the Children of Believers that fall under many promises And will not God make good his engagements to them I will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your seed and the seed of the Vpright shall be blessed c. 8. The strange and wonderful affections and tenderness that God hath wrought in his children to the Gospel What meltings and mournings and what a spirit of prayer hath God put upon his people 9. There are many young tender plants and buds of Grace such in whom the spirit of God hath stirred a hungering and thirsting and longing after the great concernments of Eternity I would upon these grounds and others of the like import hope and believe that the Lord will not remove his everlasting Gospel however he may correct his people for their trifling with and slighting the glorious Gospel I have several times thought what a day of darkness was upon the World in respect of sin and superstition When Christ brought the everlasting Gospel what a day of darkness and superstition was on the whole Earth But you know what the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 1.21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe When it is nearest day then it
that a Christian by inherent grace is able to do himself is through Christ I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me 2. Because if there be any acceptance of what a Believer doth with the Father this also is through Christ the gift is accepted not for the gifts sake but for the sake of the Merit of Christ 3. If so be a Believer should glory in his graces there is a possibility of falling but being clad with and resting in the power of Christ there 's an impossibility of miscarrying Thus the Saints of God have their infirmities frailties their multitude of frailties and infirmities yet have they reason to glory in that power of Christ which rests on them on Earth but much more reason if they will look up and see the tongue of Christ engaged for them i. e. interceding for them in Heaven And that lets me into The Third Sermon John 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil I Pray not that thou shouldest not take them out of the world Let them stay there and glory even in their very infirmities But I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil In this Scripture you have our Saviors Intercession for his Disciples Preservation and in this his Intercession two things observeable 1. In the Negative part for what Christ doth not pray Not that thou shouldest take them out of the world 2. In the Affirmative part That thou shouldest keep them from the evil of the world For the Negative part wherein you have 1. Something implyed Not that thou shouldest take them out of the world This implyes That God hath the disposal of our continuance in the world else Christ would never address himself to his Father that he would not take them out of the world If so then 1. Live constantly Believer above the flavish fear of Death Times are not in thine Enemies hands no not in the Devils hands but in Gods hands 2. Be patient under the loss of thy dearest Relations God hath taken them who hath the disposal of our continuance 3. Seek to God for a blessing on all those means which at any time are prescribed or used for your preservation 2. There 's something mainly intended I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world and tha't this That God will have his people oftentimes continue in the world though they should meet with much trouble in the world And if so this should teach you for ever how to carry your selves in the midst of a sinful wicked rude God-hating Saint-persecuting World that is 1. Patiently to wait Gods leisure you must stay his time 2. Carry your selves Innocently be sure you in a salt Sea like good fish retain your freshness 3 Carry your selves Wisely you walk among Devils Snares c. walk Wisely And 4. Walk Serviceably continue you must but 't is Gods time how short you know not therefore walk serviceably For the Affirmative part But I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil of the World Wherein something Absolutely and something Relatively Take the words Absolutely thence these four Notions That thou shouldest keep them from the evil 1. Sin is an eminent evil the evil of evils 2. That we are utterly unable to keep our selves But 3. God can keep his people in and from the evil of a sinful World 4. That 't is the Godly onely that are kept from the evil that is in the World but Relatively especially I pray c. No great matter of their sufferings but their sins that 's the thing let them be preserved from that Thence observe Preservation from sin is a far greater mercy than exemption from suffering And so then 1. See the folly and madness of those that embrace sin to avoid suffering take a stab in their hearts that they may avoid a scratch upon their finger 2. See the folly of those that desire the removal of their sufferings rather than of their sins take away the Frogs not my hard heart 3. This shews what should be our greatest complaint in the midst of a troublesom world not my sorrows plunderings imprisonments Lord but the scarcities of my soul c. 4. This shews the grand mistake of the nature of true safety Men think safety to be meerly to sleep in a sound skin but 't is not safety to be preserved from danger but from sin True the men of the world yea the best of Saints are too too apt to mistake in this case there 's a heart within them that is very apt to think sometimes sinning to be chosen rather than suffering not in wicked men only but in the best of men for As in water face answereth to face so the heart of man to man Which lets me into The Fourth Sermon Prov. 27.19 As in water face answereth to face so doth the heart of man to man IN this Proverb two things 1. The Proposition and that by a Similitude As in water face answereth to face 2. The Reddition So doth the heart of the man to man Or in the words these two Generals to be observed 1. A Glass 2. An Object to be seen in this Glass 1. A Glass a notable one that 's two-fold a dead Glass Water a living Glass the Heart of a Man 2. The Object to be seen in these Glasses in the dead Glass the face of man is to be seen in the living Glass the heart of man there 's all the Species and Complexions of the Sons nay of the Souls of the Sons of Men to be seen That as by looking into the Water you may discern your own and other mens countenances and that plainly and clearly So by looking into your own hearts if you could have a Casement into the hearts of other men there may you see of what Spiritual Complexion Constitution and Make you are as clearly as a man may see his face in water As in water c. From these words this great Truth that the Heart of every man in the world is a Looking-glass 'T is such a Looking-glass wherein he may see himself his Condition Constitution special Complexion whether it be Morally Spiritually Scripturally Good or Evil. For the right improvement of this Looking-glass three things necessary which are optick Principles but clear to those that have either Physical or Natural Light 1. There must be an Object that must be seen And oh what visible Objects are there in the hearts of men Man is called a little World a Compendium of the whole World The heart of man is the Man The heart of man is like the Ark of Noah which contains all sorts all kindes of clean and unclean Beasts 'T is an Epitomy of Heaven and Hell What is there in the heart of man Who but God can fathom the depth of it There are more Objects in the hearts of men than Stars in Heaven or drops in the Ocean
here Object This is a Doctrine that tends to loosness Answ Not so It did not work loosness in Paul Job c. I laboured more than they all Nothing under heaven so soveraign to stave off and preserve from lust as the assurance of Gods love to the Soul Such assurance comes from the highest act of Faith and one of the great things of Faith is to purifie the heart and life Such an assurance must needs constrain the Soul The love of Christ constrains us Nay so far is it from inclining to loosness that it casts the soul upon its knee lifts up the Souls hand sends him to Heaven continually constantly arms it with petitions resolutions never to let the Lord of Heaven and Earth alone gives him no rest begging of him as for other things so especially for this Lord as thou art pleased to give me the priviledge of enjoying promise so give me the power to perform duty Thus saith he Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven And so I am come as far as The Sixth Sermon Matth. 6.10 Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven THere is a two-fold Will of God 1. Preceptive to be done by us 2. Providential to be done upon us The Minister carried the words in the last sense the will of God be done upon us Hence 't was observed Gods children must not onely do but submit to their Heavenly Father's providential will They must not onely do his will the will of his precepts but they must submit to his will the will of his providence Let God do what he will they must lay down their head upon the block and with patience and resignation say Thy will be done There are but two grand instances wherein Saints ought to shew this submission First When God deprives them of spiritual priviledges and enjoyments they must submit now they must not murmur then and that upon these considerations 1. Suppose a deprivation of publick Ordinances yet the holy Scriptures are left 2. The holy Spirit too that shall bring home the Scriptures to the Conscience 3. There are old experiences of former love to live upon 4. Yet none can detain or debar us from making secret addresses unto God 5. 'T is a most noble thing it becomes a Christian exceedingly to live upon pulse yet thrive 6. By the want of such publick Ordinances God thinks fit to convince his people of their folly in sinning away the Gospel Secondly When the Lord makes a breach upon our temporal comforts and estates now for submission and that upon these accounts 1. Come what will come yet no strange thing doth or can happen to us no temptation but what is common to man 2. With what comely submission have those old Believers behaved themselves to the will of God Elijah Job Samuel Daniel and the Captain of our Salvation our blessed Savior Not my will but thy will be done 3. There 's a glorious day coming when God will un-riddle all his dark providences and shew you that there is love in the bowels of them 4. God hath made a breach upon some of thy comforts how many Comforts hath he yet left thee 5. Thou art now deprived of thy comfort thou hast enjoyed it twenty years thou hast reason to be thankful it was continued so long and not to murmur that it is taken away now 6. Thou hast some goods the best of goods there 's no plundering a man of his grace no putting him out of Gods favor 7. God doth thee a kindness in this were it good for thee it should be continued to thee He with-holds no good thing he takes away nothing but what is evil or would be so This life is a transitory vapor and hadst thou enjoyed it thou couldst not long do so 8. Compare thy self with thy self and others The other day thou wert a pittiful poor brat and what shalt thou be Compare thy self with others We are low how many thousands are beneath us 9. All outward things are not properly formerly good or evil As we fancy them to be good or evil so they are they are but fancies Vse Labour after this submissive frame of spirit Get but this and this will evidence that though he frowns yet he favours thee this will make thy faith appear to be a glorious faith it will shew that the Kingdom of God is not only come to thee but in thee and rules in thy heart to that end But What shall I do to submit 1. Let not a day of adversity take thee unawares 2. Do not over-value thy self do not think too great of thy self that the wind must not blow on thee 3. Retract the superlative of thy desires do not look at so much as what is necessary 4. Design nothing as thy main end and business but the honour and glory of God mind but his honour and let him alone to take care of thy external comforts Believer who art so much in his heart in his book in his soul that he numbers the very hairs of thy head And thus we fall upon The Seventh Sermon Matth. 10.30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbred FRom this Text you had this great Conclusion The special and distinct Providence of God extendeng to the smallest things and creatures and in a special manner to the smallest concernments of Believers is a great Argument to remove their fears and inordinate cares and to quiet and confirm their souls in confidence upon God The very hairs of c. Is it so Then 1. We have no reason to repine at wicked men when they prosper let them ruffle puff throw and sweat what then They will cut off the head no they cannot touch a hair 2. Be not over-much troubled with any particular changes or passages in the world they are all managed by a particular and distinct Providence 3. Fear not man slavishly this use our Saviour makes of it 4. This rebukes our inordinate and distracting cares thou art mighty inquisitive what shall I eat what shall I drink wherewith shall I be cloathed Friend thy hairs are numbred content thy self God will take care c. 5. In all the passages of the World observe and acknowledge not only a general but be sure to observe a particular providence and then conclude 1. That nothing shall befal thee for want of faithfulness sufficiency knowledge love of God 2. Nothing shall come unto thee that shall in the least damnifie or injure thee 3. That all the plots designs contrivances attempts of the Devil and all his Party against Gods Church are all under a Providence they are all numbred All the hours of thy sufferings all thy tears fears griefs pains wants every one numbred Thou tellest the Clock at midnight under thy pains and God tells thy pains more than thou the Clock Nay more the hairs of thy head are numbred therefore not the meanest Believer in the greatest croud is over-looked by God And then
the World for their choice the Spirit and Son of God that this is their choice Therefore no wonder c. But how do they chuse God Answer They chuse God as the object of their souls love as the chiefest of ten thousand as the lot of their inheritance as the companion of their souls to converse with him as the Commander of their ways to bt guided by him as a shelter of their hearts as a refuge to fly unto in the time of danger The first Vse was by way of Examination Is God chosen as the chief object of our souls love Can we truly say There is none in Heaven but thee none upon Earth I can desire besides or in comparison of thee Can we say in having God The lines are fallen unto me in a pleasant place yea I have a goodly heritage Is communion with God our Heaven upon Earth Is God the Commander of our ways as well as we hope to be the Saviour of our souls Is God our shield or buckler our retreat in danger The second Vse was by way of Consolation Believers have you made choice of God Happy are the people that are in such a case thou hast the best assurance in the world to come to the best possession in this world peace and joy Peace within if not Peace without And Joy the best Joy in the world Joy unspeakable and full of glory And truly if so be that this be thy portion in having chosen God 't is no wonder thou dost not Apostate from him It is no wonder that whatever comes upon a Believer yet for that his heart is not turned back neither his steps declined from Gods way And this leads to The Fourteenth Sermon Psal 44.18 Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way FRom these words two Observations 1. In times of sufferings and afflictions true Christians are to make a narrow inspection into their hearts to see how they stand affected Thus did the Church here 2. To keep stedfast and close with God notwithstanding all afflictions and sufferings we undergo either from or for God is the duty and commendation of Saints 'T was our duty and 't is our honour Lord c. In prosecution of this point these seven preliminary Theses were laid down 1. When man was first created his heart stood rightly bent towards God as his great centre and mark 2. When man fell his heart immediately drew off and turned back from God 3. Though this be the case of fallen man yet poor creature he sees it not 4. The very Formalis Ratio of sin that wherein the Formality of sin consists is in this not so much in finning against God by outward Acts as in the hearts departing from God 5. All true Conversion to God begins at the Heart 6. It is an Argument of infinite love in God to bring back our hearts to him 7. When once the heart of a Believer is brought back to God no suffering or affliction is able to turn that heart from him Quest When may a mans heart be said not to be turned back notwithstanding all sufferings and afflictions Answ 1. When a man still retains the same esteem and estimate of God that ever he had When Job looks upon God as a God fit to be lessed though God be plundering of him 2. When a man still retains the same affections the same love to him delight in him fear of him as much as ever 3. When we hope and trust in God as much as ever Though he kill me yet will I trust in him 4. When we have the same resolutions to cleave to God as ever If a God in Israel as long as a God in Israel 'T is all one makes not to the God of the Philistims this is for a mans heart not to be turned back from God By way of Vse 1. Learn The heart of man is very apt to turn from God in dayes of affliction our heart is not though theirs were 2. It concerns us in time of affliction and suffering to see if our hearts be not turned back from God But what means shall I use that I may not turn a base Apostate Answ 1. Be watchful over your hearts they are exceeding slippery and deceitful The veriest Thieves in the world 2. Be still bending of your hearts from the world and the flesh unto God as you bend a crooked stick to make it streight 3. Do not only bend but bind your hearts tie them shackle them as you would one that hath broken Prison by holy serious Scriptural necessary vows 4. Converse much with God That man that converses much with God it is not the frowns of men shall bring his heart off from God To spur you on to this duty with these motives 1. If you turn from God the soul of God will turn from you If any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him 2. Keep close to God in such a time and God will keep close to you Here 's a people that not all their sufferings could make them fall from me God glories in such a people 3. This will be one of the greatest comforts by way of argument of your sincerity that your heart is upright with God This will make an Hezekiah look up to God in the time of sickness with a Lord remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart 4. If you will not turn from God by way of Apostacy you may run to God and find in him a Sanctuary And so you have it in The Fifteenth Sermon Isa 8.14 He shall be for a Sanctuary THe words are an allusion to a City of refuge and from hence this Observation Jesus Christ will be for a sure refuge to all those that make him their fear and dread And the truth is there is the greatest reason in the world Christ should be so Saints stand in greatest need of this Sanctuary They are a poor weak helpless generation of Creatures but they have a Rock of refuge The Conies are but a feeble folk yet make their Houses in the Rocks Christ bears dearest love to them they are most precious to him they are his Jewels what will a man preserve if he will not preserve his Jewels Will Christ be a Sanctuary Then 1. See the true reason why the Saints of God are of such an heroick Spirit even when troubles look them in their faces and ring in their ears they have a God to fly to a Christ to rest on 2. See the reason of that consternation of spirit that seizes on wicked men in times of troubles Hide me from the wrath of the Lamb why they have no refuge to go to and however it is with them now you shall hear nothing but howling and lamenting when God shall come to avenge the blood of his Saints 3. Be exhorted to make Christ your Sanctuary get into this City of Refuge and for Motives
faithful laborious Ministers and People I say the abounding of these and such like abominations is a very sad evidence that there are very few that have God for their Heavenly Father in this special and peculiar manner and that are his children by Adoption and Regeneration Lastly wouldest thou know whether God be thy Father and thou his child by this whether thou art couragious in the ways of God and in the practice of Godliness they that have God for their heavenly Father they have a noble and Heroick spirit they are such as will not be ashamed nor afraid to lead a holy life notwithstanding all the mocks and taunts and threats of the world they that are of a base timerous spirit that are afraid of owning the ways of holiness for fear of being reproached reviled or opposed by the prophane world they that are afraid to cleave to the wayes and people of God in discouraging times they are not of the right strain say not then that thou art born of God unless thou canst prove thy noble extraction by thy noble and heroick courage resolution notwithstanding all the trouble calamity persecution thou maist meet with in the world Thus much for Examination 4. Vse for Exhortation Fourthly Is it so c. Then here is a word of Exhortation First Unto those that are Unregenerate that have not God for their Father in this peculiar manner and that is that they would never be in rest till they come to be united unto Jesus Christ and to have him to be their Father by Regeneration it is a sad thing to be void of this when we cannot go to God as to a Father and cannot expect any thing from him as from a Father Oh! how little do thousands think of this whether they are the Children of God and have God for their Father or no they care not for it they make not out after it Or take it for granted when they have no true and real ground so to do Oh! then labour to get into this state of Son-ship close with Jesus Christ by a lively operative heart-purifying faith that thou maist thereby be invested into Gods family and become his Child consider that before thou art thus by faith ingrafted into Christ thou hast woful Parents thou art a child of disobedience Ephes 2.2 A child of wrath Verse 3. A child of Satan John 8.44 Secondly Here is a word of Counsel and Exhortation to the Godly that are the Children of God by Adoption and Regeneration First To those m◠first councel is that you would make it your greatest care and diligence to please your Heavenly Father and have a care of sinning against him consider that the sins of Gods Children are very grievous to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Caesar to his son Brutus when he saw him among his betrayers What and thou my son so will God say to his children when they grieve him by sin what and thou my son my child one whom I have Adopted my Heir what will you sin against me I thought you had had more love have I loved you so much and do you love me so little hath my spirit comforted you and will you grieve it have my bowels yearned towards you and will you kick against them have I been crucified for you and will you crucifie me again afresh by your sins The nearer the Relation is that the soul beareth to God the greater is the aggravation of the sin against God Secondly Labour to shew forth your noble extraction by your noble and raised affections it is beneath the son of a Prince to be taken up with trifles it is beneath one that is heir to a Kingdom to set his affections upon low and base things things of nought So it is beneath the Children of the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords to let their affections run out inordinately after the world and the enjoyments thereof they are born from above and therefore should set their affections upon things above and not on things on earth Colos 3.2 What an unsutable thing is it for a Christian to be taken up with the inordinate love of the world it is a Degradation to the heirs of Heaven to have their minds taken up only or mostly with Earth and earthly Vanities they are ad majora nati born to greater things it is unbecoming such to soil their affections with Earth which are born to an inheritance incorruptible which fadeth not away Oh that the children of God and such as do profess themselves so to be would manifest their holy and heavenly extraction by their holy and heavenly affections and that such as are the Sons and Daughters of God by Adoption and Sanctification would not walk so far beneath that Relation Thirdly Labor to imitate your heavenly Father Be you followers of God as dear Children Ephes 5.1 Be ye mercifull as your heavenly Father is merciful be ye holy as he is holy be ye compassionate as he is in all things labor to imitate your Heavenly Father it is a Christians honor to be like God and to imitate him Fourthly Labour more and more to obey your heavenly Father our natural Parents may require obedience of us and it is our duty to give it them much more may him that is the Father of spirits require it of us and it is much more our duty to give it him Walk as obedient Children 1 Pet. 1.14 Yea you must obey him chearfully too The obedience of Children is herein differenced from the obedience of slaves in that slaves are drawn to their duty out of a slavish fear but children come to it willingly out of a fillial affection Oh therefore let your obedience to God be chearful and voluntary Take delight to do the will of your heavenly Father Lastly Submit to your heavenly Fathers chastisements this is the Exhortation of the Apostle to the Hebrews Heb. 12.5 6 7. My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him For whom the Lord loveth be chasteneth and scourgeth every Son he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with Sons for what Son is he whom the Father chasteneth not But if ye are without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye Bollards and not Sons Let us not then murmur and faint under our afflictions and chastisements but let us submit to them and labour to grow the better for them Thus much for the first Observation That God is a believers heavenly Father the other observation that I proposed to insist upon from this Text was the last of the five mentioned in the beginning and it contains the chief sum and scope of the whole verse and is most suitable to our Times and to this Occasion you may remember was this Doct. That the consideration of a Believers interest into the Kingdom of Heaven should make him chearful and couragious in the practise of holiness and
under their afflictions and tribulations tells them that it is a blessed thing thus to be dealt withal by the World Mat. 5 10 11 12. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven And Luke 6.22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate from you their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of mans sake rejoyce in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in Heaven The consideration of our interest in the Kingdom of Heaven should keep us from being dismaved though we are hated persecuted reproached by the prophane world but should make us rejoyce rather and leap for joy Thus much for the second thing which is That the people of God are dehorted from fear and dispondency and exhorted to courage and magnanimity in the ways of God from the very consideration of their interest in the Kingdom of Heaven Thirdly I shall give you the Reasons why Believers those that have an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven should not fear not be dismayed at any outward trouble opposition or tribulation that they meet with in the world First It is very unsutable for one that hath secured the heavenly interest and his title to eternal glory to be dismayed at thing of nought how unsutable is it for one that is an Heir of Heaven to be excessively grieved and disconsolate because he meeteth with some rubs in his way thither Oh how unseemly is it for a child of light to walk in darkness and heaviness because somewhat of the world falls a cross to his expectation or desire for one that is to enjoy eternal happiness in the life to come to be dismayed and perplexed at every petty cross that he meeteth here below how unseemly is it for a child of God and Heir of Heaven for one that shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Heavenly glory to go up and down drooping at inconsiderable crosses and light afflictions which are but for a moment For a worldling that hath all his good things here and hath no other portion but in this life to be grieved and perplexed at his external losses and troubles this is not so much for such a one to be grieved when he is thwarted in his designs and when the world falls a cross to him this is but sutable and agreeable to such a one because he hath placed his Hope his Contentment his joy and delight in these things and therefore being deprived of them he is deprived of his best things his Portion his All. But for a Child of God one that hath an interest in eternal life and glory to be cast down and dismayed at such small things as the affliction trials and tribulations of the world Oh what an unseemly thing is this as if their Heavenly interest did not give them greater cause of joy and rejoycing then those external worldly afflictions do give them cause of sadness and disconsolation The Frantick mirth of the prophane World that are in the high way to Damnation and the groundless perplexities of the regenerate Children of God are both alike unsuitable and unseemly although not both alike dangerous To see a Worldling that hath nothing else to comfort and support him but the fading enjoyments of this present life to be merry and jovial as if all were well and on the other hand to see a believer that is an heir of Heaven to live in a drooping and disconsolate state because of these outward troubles is cause of pity and lamentation Secondly As it is unsuitable for a child of God that hath secured his eternal state and made sure of his heavenly interest to be dismayed at the afflictions of the world so it is very unwarrantble believers are commanded to be much in holy rejoycing Rejoyce saith Christ to his Disciples because your names are written in Heaven Luke 10.20 Be glad in the Lord Oh ye righteous and shout for joy all ye upright in heart Psal 32.11 Rejoyce in the Lord oh ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright Psal 33.1 Rejoyce evermore 1 Thes 5.16 Oh how exceeding unwarrantable is it then for those that have an interest in the heavenly Glory to be discouraged at their outward afflictions by which they do disparage Religion and frighten away others from the doors of grace Thirdly It is irrational for one that hath secured his interest in the Heavenly Kingdom to be afraid of his worldly afflictions and tribulations seeing all the losses and crosses in the World are as nothing comparatively to such an one Let a Child of God but weigh and ponder such things aright and compare the cause of joy that he hath by virtue of his heavenly interest on the one hand with the cause of sorrow that he hath by reason of the crosses of the world on the other and he will see that he hath a thousand times more cause of joy than of sorrow and therefore the thoughts of his heavenly interest should swallow up those of his worldly troubles and disappointments I reckon saith the Apostle Paul that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 1.18 And the same Apostle tell us elsewhere Our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Now is it not unreasonable for a believer to be grieved and disquieted with those light afflictions which shall be recompenced with an eternal weight of glory What can a child of God lose as long as his God his portion his interest in Heaven is safe and secured to him What are all the losses that he can sustain in the World as long as he is interested in the Eternal Kingdom of Glory I must tell you Believers ye that walk holily and closely with God and have a title to the Kingdom of Heaven for you to be grieved and discontented because all things do not concur according to your desires in the World is unreasonable and absurd as if a rich man that hath a great Estate and fair Houses and Orchards should be disquieted because the winde bloweth away a few leaves from his Trees Is not the Kingdom of Heaven that thou art entitled to enough to make thee amends for all thy troubles and calamities in the end Art thou troubled by the profane World and vexed up and down by thy Enemies and not suffered to rest in quiet And is it not enough for thee that the Kingdom of Heaven is the place of thine eternal rest and happiness where thou shalt be for ever advanced above their reach Art thou
exposed to the loss of thy place and estate in the World and will not an incorrupted Crown of glory and an eternal inheritance among them that are sanctified make thee amends for those petty losses that thou sustainest here Art thou the off-scouring of the World here and is it not enough that thou shalt be glorified in the presence of Saints and Angels hereafter Art thou slandered and reproached by the World And is not this enough to support thee that thou shalt be acquitted at the bar of Christ Dost thou suffer the loss of liberty And art thou under restraint and imprisonment and is not this enough to comfort thee that thou art free from the captivity and dominion of sinne and art rid of those chains and fetters by which so many thousands in the World are led captive by Satan at his pleasure and that thou art free from the prison of Hell Put case which is the greatest trouble that a godly man can undergoe in the World thou art to lose thy life for the sake of Christ and of a good Conscience however a Believers interest in the Kingdom of Heaven should keep him from being dismayed at that loss an eternal life of happiness and glory will be enough to recompence thee a thousand fold for losse of this frail life Thus you have the third Reason it is irrational for a Believer that hath an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven to be dismayed at those outward crosses and losses that he sustains in the World because they are very little and inconsiderable while their God their portion their heavenly interests is safe and secure to them Lastly One that is an Heir of Heaven and hath a title to the Heavenly Kingdom should be couragious in the ways of God and not be daunted at his outward troubles because of the short continuance of them as the joyes and pleasures of the World are but for a little moment of time so the sorrows and tribulations of the World are but for a small moment of time neither the troubles of the godly though they may be sharp yet they are but short death will quickly put a period to them all all the tryals and tribulations of the Saints will be at an end when they come to enter into their everlasting rest The Saints in Heaven are perfectly freed as from the evil of sin so from the evil of suffering they will be out of the reach of their most powerful and malicious adversaries Now what little reason hath a Believer that hath an interest in the Kingdom of Glory to be dismayed at his worldly troubles which shall so soon be done away when he hath a title to everlasting happiness to support him Who is there that would be dismayed at the sufferings of a few years or weeks if he were assured of an eternal weight of glory to make him amends for it Thus much for the Doctrinal part VSE 1. Is it so that a Believers interest in the Kingdom of Heaven should make him chearful and couragious in the wayes of God and keep him from being dismayed at the sufferings and afflictions that he meeteth withal in the World Is it so that one that hath a title to Heaven hath cause of joy in the midst of his greatest forrows and troubles Then First of all Here is matter of tryal and examination for us to try our selves whether we have a title to Heaven or no We would all rejoyce to have somewhat which might effectually support us and bear us up under troubles and afflictions in the World and it is sad when we are in trouble if we have nothing to support us but if we have secured our heavenly interest and have cleared our title to the Kingdom of Glory we have then the greatest ground of comfort and joy in the World and we may upon right grounds rejoyce under the sharpest tribulations that we meet with from the hands of men I shall therefore give you some marks and characters how we may know whether we have an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven or no. And here I might refer you back to those characters propounded in the application of the former Doctrine if we can truly say that God is our Father by Adoption and Regeneration and that we are his Children then we may safely conclude that we are some of those that have an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven if we are the Children of God then we are coheirs of God Rom. 8. are entitled to Heaven try then whether you can conclude that you are the Children of God But because I know not whether ever I shall have libertâ— to speak to you again from this place I shall propose some other characters also to help us to pass a right judgment upon our selves in a matter of so great concernment First Then whosoever thou art that wouldest try thy title to the Heavenly Glory thou maist try it by this If the design of thy life be to glorifie God and to promote their Heavenly interest then thou art one of those that are intitled to the Heavenly Inheritance if thou drivest a Trade for Heaven and if that the obtaining of Heaven be the principal part of thy care and business and the great design that thou drivest at in all thy actions then by this thou mayest try thy title to Heaven Apply now this home to thy soul what Trade and design art thou now driving in the world Is it thy main business here to promote thy temporal or thine eternal state Art thou striving more after Earth or Heaven If thy design here be after Riches Honour or Greatness in the World and makest all thy actions subservient to thy design then thou art none of those that have a Title to Heaven But if it be the business of thy life and the Trade that thou drivest in the World to advance Gods glory and thine eternal salvation and dost care for no more of this World than may tend to promote Gods glory and thine eternal happiness then thou maist safely conclude that thy name is written in Heaven and that thou hast an interest in that Kingdom It is the grand mistake of Thousands of souls every where that they pretend to seek after the Kingdom of Heaven but they seek it only by the by and their main design in the World is somewhat else as to grow Rich or Great or Honourable here They do not make it their principal business and their great design to secure their Title to Heaven But the look upon Heaven onely as a reserve for them when they can enjoy the World no longer And therefore they will have some glances and some faint endeavours that way But if ever we will enter into Heaven we must first of all seek Gods Kingdom and his righteousness Mat. 6.33 Luke 12.31 Secondly Wouldest thou know whether thou hast a Title to the Heavenly glory or no Thou mayest know it by thy heavenly mindedness They that have an
interest in the Heavenly Kingdom they have Heavenly hearts if their Treasure be in Heaven their hearts will be there also Mat. 6.20 21. Lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven where neither Moth nor Rust can corrupt and Thieves break through and steal for where your Treasure is there will your hearts be also And is it so with us are our hearts taken up with the Heavenly glory Are our meditations and contemplations much on Heavenly objects Or else are they taken up only or mostly with earthly vanities Are our hearts on our Riches Pleasures c. Or else are they placed upon Heaven and Heavenly things If we have a title to the Kingdom of Heaven our hearts minds and affections will be Heavenly and taken up with Heavenly Objects Col. 3.1 2. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Set your affections on things above and not on things on the Earth Thirdly Wouldest thou know whether thou hast an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven or no How dost thou like the employment of Heaven if thou likest the employment of Heaven then thou mayest comfortably conclude that thou hast an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven Canst thou say thou delightest to be employed in serving and in glorifying God and in worshipping of him in spirit and truth according to his word Canst thou say in truth that thou delightest to do the will of God here on earth as it is done by the Angels in heaven and the spirits of just men made perfect there Dost thou take delight to be employed in that employment that the Saints of heaven are and shall be for ever employed in Dost thou take pleasure to adore and praise and magnifie the ever blessed God Dost thou take pleasure in the duties of Religion and rejoyce to be conversing with God in prayer and in other holy exercises and to be enjoying communion with him if it be thus with thee as I have now described this this will evidently make out thy Title for Heaven Many Thousands pretend that their designs are to go to Heaven and they presumptuously conclude that they have an interest in that Kingdom when as they like not the Heavenly employment in themselves or others and they care not to get acquaintance with God here on earth and are strangers to the duties of Religion and to a life of holiness and perhaps spends and hour in a week or it may be in a moneth in secret prayer or in other holy exercises and it may be neglect the worship of God in their Families too but if we are unacquainted with the imployment of Heaven which is to praise and magnifie worship and adore God if thou delightest not so to do thou canst not conclude that thou hast a Title to Heaven but if thou hast an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven then thou dost most of all delight in that imployment which hath most of Heaven in it Fourthly If thou hast an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven thou hast a special love to the heirs of Heaven and thou hast a near and dear affection to the people of God though they be despised rejected scorned and persecuted by the prophane world and thou dost delight in the company of those on Earth which are like to be thy companions in Heaven and thou hadst rather have the society of those howsoever mean and low in the world that have the trueth of grace in them than of all the stately and glittering gallants of the World that are strangers to a Life of holiness and the more holy and heavenly they are in their hearts and lives the more amiable will their company be to thee 1 Job 3.14 Psal 15.4 Put thy self to the question whether it be thus with thee or no and thou shalt finde out thy title to heaven thereby Lastly If thou hast a title to Heaven then thou art so far at a point with all the riches and pleasures and enjoyments of the World as that thou wilt rather forgo them all than forsake Christ and rather part with them all rather than they shall hinder thee in thy way towards Heaven and if thou art brought so far at a pinch as that thou must either forsake thy interest in Christ and Heaven or to forgo thy worldly accommodations thou art very willing to forgo them all that thou mayest stick close to Christ and go forward in thy way to thy Heavenly Inheritance thus it was with the Apostle Paul Phil. 3.7 8. But what things saith he were gain to me those I accounted loss for Christ Yea doubtless I account all things but loss for the exceâ—ency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do account them but dung that I may win Christ And is it so with us then when riches honour and pleasure do stand in competition with Christ and hinder us in our progress in grace and holiness are we willing and ready to cast them away as we would cast away Dung if it be thus with us in reality then we may conclude we have a title to Heaven and an interest in the eternal glory By these things Beloved you may try whether you have an interest in Heaven or no. Having finished the Use of Examination I shall come to the next Use which is the last that I shall speak unto which an Use of Exhortation Is it so that the consideration of a Believers interest in the Heavenly Glory is enough to bear up his spirit under all the trials and tribulations of this Life then Oh that you which cannot upon Trial finde that you have a title to Heaven that you would labour after an interest in the Heavenly Glory if thou hast no interest there what good will all the enjoyments of the World do thee how quickly will all thy comforts and pleasures leave thee and what little cause hast thou to rejoyce in the abundance of outward things if thou hast no title to the durable riches if thou art void of the riches of grace here and hast no title to the riches of Glory hereafter what wilt thou do in a day of Tryal and in an hour of trouble and calamity What wilt thou do when Losses Crosses Troubles and Vexations shall compass thee about if thou hast not an Heavenly interest to support thee under them What wilt thou do when Pains and Anguish when Diseases Sickness and Death shall seize upon thee if thou hast not a Title to thy Heavenly inheritance These things will certainly and speedily come upon us how far off soever we may put them in our thoughts the proud looks of the lofty will quickly be turned into an earthly paleness though they look as big and carry themselves as high as if they had a protection from Hell and the Grave and those bodies which we now take so much care to please and pamper will
is such as shall endure for ever Your Riches your Comforts your Friends may be with you to day and be gone to morrow but with whom God is once graciously present to them he continues the presence of his grace his love and his favour for ever God may indeed withdraw the light of his countenance for a time but totally and for ever he will never desert those that walk in obedience with him All things without God are full of vanity and change onely the Lord will never utterly absent himself from us if once he be graciously present with us He is a faithful Friend loving at all times his favour is a Sun that knows no setting and his presence a Well of comfort springing up to eternal Life John 4.14 13.1 So that if you regard a Treasure that shall never be taken from you that favour which shall never end in frowns make sure of God's gracious presence by walking in obedience with him according to what you have heard and learned and received from him 9 Consider Such is the presence of God with those that walk in obedience with him that it 's every way suitable and correspondent to their souls necessities What ever the soul can desire what ever it stands in need of may be found in God's gracious presence this is beauty to adorn this is gold to enrich this is balm to heal this is bread to strengthen this is wine to comfort and make glad the soul in the time of heaviness Are we in danger this is a shield Are we disconsolate this is a Sun If in a word we be pursued by any calamity this is like the munition of Rocks an hiding-place against the storm and a Tower wherein we may find safety If then God's gracious presence be thus proper to our wants and so suitable to all our necessities how ought we to labour for it by walking in obedience with him according to what we have heard and learned and received from him 10. And lastly Such is the presence of God with those that obey him according to what they have heard and learned and received that it fit them for everlasting Communion with him in Glory God's people they go from Communion to Communion from Communion with God in a state of grace to Communion with God in a state of glory For with whomsoever God is graciously present here they shall hereafter enjoy his blissful soul-ravishing and beatifical presence to all Eternity If then you desire to be with the Lord for ever where you shall see his glory enjoy his presence and be satisfied with pleasures at his tight hand for evermore then see that you walk in obedience before him For those onely shall enjoy God's presence in a state of glory with whom he is now present in a state of grace There is no commencing Saints either Militant on Earth or Triumphant in Heaven per Saltum If we draw not nigh to God in a way of obedience here we must hereafter be punished with everlasting destruction from his presence and from the glory of his Power Thus by Divine assistance I have shewed you the excellency of Gods presence with all such as obey him according to what they have heard and learned and received from him Now then do not deprive your selves of so glorious a privilege but see that henceforth you walk in obedience with God giving diligence to practise those things you have learned But that you may not at length be disappointed neither finding God graciously present with you here nor enjoying his presence in glory hereafter be sure that in doing what you have heard learned and received you observe these following directions 1. Be sure that of all which you have heard and learned and received tither of me or of any other you practice that onely which you find to be of God and according to the unerring Rule of his Word We have one Heavenly King and must therefore observe one Law we have one God and must Worship by one Rule We have one Shepheard and must be commanded by one Voice We have in a word one Head and must follow upon that account one direction All that builded Noah's Ark builded by one pattern so all that intend to build themselves an Heavenly and Spiritual House to GOD must build by one Rule All Israel travelled to the Land of Canaan by the light of one fiery Pillar So all that will travel to the Heavenly Canaan of God's gracious presence must make his Word a light to their feet and a lanthorn to their paths All the passengers in a Ship sail by one Compass so all that will fteer a right course to the Haven of Eternal Rest must keep close to the unerring Rule of Gods Word as their onely Compass Phil. 3.16 For it 's Gods Prerogative to prescribe and mans duty to conform our service is no service not will God be present with us in any thing that we do farther then we have heard and learned and received it from him Mat. 15.9 Let then every man amongst you that desires Gods presence either in grace here or in glory hereafter be like those noble Bereans examining the ground of their Faith and obedience Oh do not offer to God a sacrifice without eyes your Religion must be Scripture-Religion and all your obedience commanded therein would you ever be accepted of God in what you do 2. Be sure that what ever you have heard received and learned you do it cordially without dissembling The obedience of the life without when integrity of heart and the life of grace is wanting within finds no acceptance with God nor will he ever be graciously present with those who onely draw nigh unto him by an external conformity Obedience without the heart and to practise what we have heard and learned and received but not in sincerity will bring neither glory to God nor comfort to us Do not then dissemble any longer with the God of Heaven Oh be not industrious to plot your own death and through your hypocrisie go to Hell in the way of duty but what ever you have heard what ever you have learned what ever you have received be sure that you do it heartily as unto God 3. Be sure that what ever you have heard and learned and received you do it univerfally without any reservation True obedience is universal doing many things and neglecting others will not save one leak in the ship of thy Soul is enough to sink it in eternal perdition Psal 119. The hypocrite will walk in some of Gods Statutes but with David you must have respect to all his Commandments if you ever desire the Lord to be present with you as he was with David Every duty therefore commanded be sure that you do it and every sin forbidden be sure that you shun it as Hell it self Many wholsom Doctrines have been taught and many soul-saving Truths have been made known among you well of all that you ever
Martyrs 7. And lastly the Remish religion is a self-contradicting religion One of their Canons saith a man in some cases may take the Sacrament at the hand of an Heretick another Canon saith he may not A learned and judicious Writer observes above an hundred Contradictions in their Religion Therefore again I press the words of my Text Wherefore my beloved nay let me say my dearly beloved flee from Idolaâ—ry To shut up all let me exhort you to these two or three things First Hold fast the Doctrine of the true Orthodex Protestant Religion the very filings of this gold is precious Keep all the Articles of the Christian Faith if you let one fundamental article of your Faith go you hazard your Salvation When Samson pulled down but on Pillar immediately the whole Fabrick tumbled so if you destroy one Pillar if you let go one Fundamental of Truth you endanger all Secondly Hold forth the profession of the Protestant Religion I say do not only hold fast the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion but hold forth the Profession of the Protestant Religion Be not ashamed to wear Christs Colours Christians remember this one thing those Persons that are ashamed of Christ are a very shame unto Christ The Religion I exhort you to flee from is a novelty that which I press you to stand to is a verity it is consonant to Scripture it is built on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and hath been sealed to by the blood of many Saints and Martyrs Thirdly and lastly do not only hold fast and hold forth but also adorn the Protestant Religion this is holy Pauls Exhortation to Titus Tit. 2.10 Adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour Adorn Religion with a holy Conversation There is nothing hardens Papists so much as the loosness of Protestants Therefore adorn your holy Religion with a holy Conversation Do as Christ did tread in his steps make your Saviour your Pattern Let me assure you I can hardly think they do truly beleeve in Christ that do not really conform unto Christ The Primitive Christians Sanctity did much-what propogate Christianity And this is that beseech you carry home with you Hold fast and hold forth the Protestant Religion and adorn it with a Holy and Bible-Conversation and when you do not hear me Preaching to you yet let me beseech you hear this good Word speaking in you Wherefore my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry Consider what hath been said and the Lord make it advantagious to all your Souls The Prayers of several of these Divines Mr. Calamy's Prayer at Aldermanbury OH most Holy thou ever blessed Lord God thou fillest Heaven and Earth with thy Presence We pray thee fill all our hearts with the Presence of thy Grace and let it appear that thou art in the midst of us with that powerfull assistance of thy Spirit that we may receive a token of thy love from thee at this time It is a singular favour that the doores of thy Sanctuary are open to us and that yet we may meet together in thy Name we pray the continue it to us and sanctifie it to us that every Sabbath may add to our stature in Jesus Christ We confess we have forfeited all our mercies wee have heard much of God and Christ and Heaven with our ears but there is little of God Christ and Heaven in our hearts We confess many of us by hearing Sermons are grown Sermon-proof VVe know how to scoff and mock at Sermons but we know not how to live Sermons It is a miracle of free grace thou hast not taken the Gospel from us ere this time but thou art a merciful God and though we cannot please thee yet Mercy pleaseth thee and we have no argument to bring along with us to beg thy favours but thy Mercy in Jesus Christ We pray thee that thou wilt glorifie thy Soveraignty in being gracious to us and pardon our many and great transgressions Thou makest use of the malice of men for thy Glory Thou killest Goliah with his own Sword O help us to put our trust in thee thou that canst kill and cure by killing Blesse these Nations of England Scotland and Ireland and find out yet a way to save us Pour down thy blessings upon the head and heart of our Sovereign Charles by thy Grace King of Great Britiain thou hast done great things for him let him do Great things for thee Bless him in his Royal Consort in his Royal Relations in his Council Bless the Magistrates and Ministers of this Realm Lord forgive us for we live as if we had been delivered to work wickedness we cannot sin at so cheap a rate as others do we pray thee humble us under our great and grievous sins give us repentance unto Salvation and a lively Faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ Quicken our graces forgive our sins make alive our Souls let us be such as thou wouldst have us to be make us Christians not only by an outward Profession but an inward Conversation that we may live in Heaven while we are on Earth and come to Heaven when we shall leave the Earth To that purpose bless thy Word unto us at this time and give us all grace to make conscience of what we hear and how we hear and all for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with thy blessed Self and Spirit be all Glory and Honour Amen Mr. Nalton's Prayer at Foster-lane ETernal most Mighty and most glorious Lord God thou art God alone and besides thee there is no Saviour or helper our strength stands in thy Name who hast made both Heaven and Earth of our selves we are able to do nothing that is pleasing in thy sight we can pollute thy Name but we cannot honour thy Name we can run away from thee but we cannot run unto thee unless thou dost powerfully draw us by the holy spirit We can grieve thy spirit but we cannot grieve for grieving of thy spirit Oh let thy strength be manifested in our weakness look upon us with the favour thou bearest to thy children Enter not into judgment with thy servants for we cannot answer thee one of a thousand not one thought of a thousand thoughts not one word of a thousand words most of our actions have been reproveable and the best of our services have been unprofitable our omissions commissions and presumptions have been multiplyed intolerably Oh! how often have we take 〈◊〉 Name in vain while we have been confessing our sins how often haâ—â— we run from confessing our sins to the committing of sins and from committing sins to the confessing sin again as if we had but mocked thy sacred Majesty Though we know thy Favour is better than life we have parted with it upon easie terms Oh the pride and stubbornnesse that is in our hearts All the mercies thou hast bestowed upon us have not melted us into tears for our unkindnesse and all those blows that have fallen upon our backs have
wholly flesh totally opposite to the holy Laws of thy Majesty and were it not for thy renuing and restraining grace we should break forth into as vile abominations as the vilest of men our lives have been a continuall piece of rebellion against God who did make us and doth feed and cloath us all thy paths have been paths of mercy to us but we have requited thee evil for thy good and hatted for thy love Oh foolish men and women that we have been I we acknowledge our Gospel-sins are of a deep dye Thou hast not been a VVildernss or Land of darkness to us we have been exalted to heaven in the means of salvation but Oh! how short do we come of knowledge to the time and means we have enjoyed and our obedience comes short of our knowledge we have not walked up to that light which thou hast given us We desire to lay our selves low before thee Oh do thou open our eyes and present us to our selves show us the vilenss of our lives Blessed be thy Name that thou hast laid help upon one that is mighty to save all that come to thy Majesty by him and thou hast promised all that beleeve on him shall not perish but have everlasting life Oh help us to receive him in all his Offices in our hearts help us to give him the keys of our hearts and help us to live and die to him that died for us and let our souls be united to thee by him that his death may be ours and his life ours and his intercession ours Oh let our unity to Christ be demonstrated to us by our communion with and conformity to him in grace and holiness And we pray thee dearest Lord pardon our sins in the Court of heaven and in the Court of our own consciences besprinkle our conscienees in the blood of Christ and say to all before thee at this time that desire to fear thee more and serve thee better Sons and Daughters be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you And do not only justifie us but sanctifie us purge our consciences from dead works inform our understanding conform our wills to thy holy VVill let our hearts and lives be comformed to the Image of thy Son that beholding thereof we may be changed from glory to glory and let us have more knowledge of thy will that we may do thy will und suffer thy will with more patience and be filled with the fruits of Righteousness which are to the glory of God Let us not be empty Vines that bring forth fruit to themselves but let us bring forth fruit to God whereby thou maiest be glorified Oh plant that great grace of Self-denial in our souls and let us take the Cross of Jesus Christ and follow him wheresoever he goes Remember all thine extend thy favour to those thou hast cast on beds of sickness and let there be a saving change wrought in them before that change by death shall come and they that are drawing nigh their time of Travel let the arms of the All-sufficient God be under them and be better to them than their Faith or our prayers and look graciously upon poor children entitle them to an inheritance that fadeth not away make them a blessing in themselves and a blessing to their Parents And those that deâ—re the conversion of Relations that walk in waies of perdition do not let them find peace in any way against thy Majesty and let them know that sin will be bitter in the latter eud Look upon us that are before thee at this time before we go hence and shall be here no more make thy face to shine upon us let our coming together be for the better and not for the worse to any of us let thy poor Servant be able to deliver thy Message plainly and powerfull and give thy People hearing ears and obedient hearts and let us rejoyce that we did wait upo thee in thy Worship this day and all For Christ his sake in whose Name and Words we call upon thee Our Father ' which art in Heaven c. Doctor Manton's Prayer at Covent-garden O Lord God all that we can do is nothing of our selves we can do nothing Oh let us have the gracious Assistance of thy Spirit as this time let thy love constrain us say unto us Thou art our Salvation Do not say that we shall fill up the measure of our Iniquities and there shall be no hope for us O Lord we are ashamed that we have waited so long in thine Ordinannances and have got no more profit to our toor pouls but we have given up our hearts to the pleasures and vanities of this world that are but for a season even those that thou hast drawn out after thee do not walk worthy of thee anseerable to that blessed hope of future Happiness in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation Jesus Christ is to many of us become a stumbling-blook and a reck of offence while our hearts are caried out after the wirld with such strong affections Oh! when shall we carry our selves so as those that profess themselves to be secke's of a better life We come into thy presence now for strength do thou manifest thy self to us thou hast promised to pour out thy Spirit upon all Flesh Oh let it be unto us according to thy promise O Lord our hearts naturally are averse to thee so that of our selves we shall never be able to do any thing that may be wel-plensing to thee but do thou regulate us by thy blessed Spirit that we may observe thy statutes and do them and that thy Commands may not be grievous to us that it may not be burdensom for us to do the work of God O Lord when shall our hearts be made sound in thy statutes we wait upon thee in the use of thine Ordinances that we may have a new supply from thee that at length we may come to see that thou art at work with us to save our soules O help us to be followers of them who with faith and patience do follow thee to do nothing unbecomming our holy Call suffer us not to swerve from thy Commandments but let us have a constant and earnest desire after thee Let the choicest of thy Mercies come down on our Sovereign Charles King of England Scotland France and Ireland let His heart be guided by thee let him always set the before his eyes that under the shadow of his Goverment we may have Peace in all Godliness and honesty Bless him in his Relations in his Councils Teach our Senators wisdom Be with all thy Faithfull Magistrates and Ministers let them be a terrour to evil doers and an encouragement to them that do well Be with us in the way of thy worship we are here met together to hear and handle thy holy Word Oh do thou command it to light upon all our hearts let it come in the evidence and demonstratian
of wrath will fall upon us O Lord how many ways hast thou used to reclaim us what Arts hath thy blessed Spirit used how many times hast thou approached to our souls and shewed us something of thy glory and the glory of heaven and the terrours of hâ—ll the one to allure us and the other to scare us But Oh! how many times have we grieved thy blessed Spirit who came to seal us and despised thy Son who came from heaven to earth and liv'd a sorrowful life and died a shameful death how often hath he offered us grace and glory if we would how to his Scepter but we have preferred a base lust before that excellency that he hath purchased us Oh how often hast thou condescended so far as to intreat us to be reconciled how easie hast thou been to forgive and how hard have we been to be forgiven VVe confess thou mighâ—est pass an eternal Doom upon us for we are sensible of the dishonour that we have brought upon thy Name Do thou at this time strike upon all these rocks that are in thy presence at this time give us hearts of flesh let our repentance pâ—eprare us for corversion let there be such a through conviction that thy grace and Mercy may be admirable in our eyes VVe intreat thee hear us pardon all our iniquities let us be monuments of thy grace and favour speak peace to our Consciences convey those clear evis dences of thâ—â—â—ve unto us that may inable us to scatter all our fâ—aâ—s that we may rejoice in God and have hope of glory Let the image of thy Son be engraven on all our hearts and let our souls be made subject to him while we are in the world preserve us from the evil of it If thou givest us out ward happiness give us withat inward holiness and if we do suffer help us with patience to bear all knowing we are in our journey and our passage to a better life and let our whole time be spent in a serious Preparation to appear before thy Tribunal and let us consider the unchangableness of that state hereafter Remember thy whole Church make the Name of Christ glorious in the world shed abroâ—d thy light and thy truth heavour back-slidings and love us freely Let thine Ordâ—nances continue among us and let thy blessing descend upon our sovereign Lord the King of England Scot and France and Ireland Defender of the Faith Incline his heart to thy Law make him an instrument of publick good protect his person and give him prosperous affairs Bless his Royal Consort his Relations his privy Counsel let them promote solid Piety and real Godliness Bless the Minister of thy Word and Sacraments Let their labours be precious in thy sight and remember all afflicted ones revive thy Mourners and let thy grace answer all their fears Let thy presence be in the midst of us and help us to hear as our last and let us be raised nearer heaven and make thy word powerful and effectual to all our souls and let thy word subdue our lusts and aâ—l we beg for the sake of Jesus Christ in whose Name and words we sum up our imperfect Prayers Our Father which art in Heaven c. Dr. Jacomb's Prayer at Martins Ludgate BLessed God thou art a God blessed for ever thou givest Mercy to all returning and repenting sinners thou art worthy to be praised by all that draw nigh unto thee Thou hast vouchsafed to us one Sabbath more Oh that we might all of us be in the spirit upon the Lords day that whatever we do we may do it in the strength of God that we may offer spiritual Sacrifices to God this day through our Mediator the Lord Jesus It is a very great condescention that thou shouldst suffer such as we are to come unto thee O Lord we are unclean we are unclean from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot we are overspread with the leprosie of sin all the faculties of our souls are defiled our understandings are darkened our wills are corrupted we have affections but they are carnal we have hearts but they are impure we have consciences but they are seared and as our inward man so our lives are unholy as the fountain is so is the stream besides that our general guilt that we brought into the world we are guilty of innumerable actual transgressions against thy holy Law We think O Lord there are no greater sinners in the world than we our sins are attended with many aggravations We have finned against Prayers against vows and promises we have had as much light shining before us as any in the world have had great is our unbelief Oh that we could lay these things to our hearts We do refuse to come to Christ we go about to establish a righteousness of our own and neglect the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ how are our hearts glewed to the present things of this world Oh! what do we do for thy glory How unreformed are we under all the ways of God that he hath taken to make us a holy people Give us a sight of our sins O Lord we confess sometimes we do make a formal confession but we do not find our hearts melted for sin as they should Oh take away from every one of us this heart of stone give a heart of flesh give us tender hearts make us sensible of all our departing from thee Oh let us look upon him whom we have pierced let us mourn that the Water of penitential sorrow may flow from us we are strangers to our selves we do not see what a hell there is in our nature Oh! how should we put our mouths in the dust and loath our selves if so be there might be hope O Lord convince us of sin give us such a sight of sin as may make us flie to thee give us such a sight of our own guilt that maâ—â— prepare us for the Grace of Godâ— now we are sâ—ung with the fiery Serpents help us to come to Jesus Christ our brazen Serpent give us the holy Spirit to bring us out of the state of nature to let that God that made us Creatures make us new Creatures O Lord we are thine own work but we are dead in trespasses and sins give us grace and speak a word to them that are dead put out thine Almighty Power and draw some sinner to Christ this day and those that have any breathings after thee Oh! thou that gavest them that desire carry on thine own work in them where thou hast begun a good work carry it on let sin as the house of Saul grow weaker and weaker and grace as the house of David grow stronger and stronger Oh! increase our faith O Lord at this time we do not onely stand in need of grace but of a great measure of grace Oh! help us by faith to relie upon God that thou mayest help us at last Bless